Istanbul (AFP) — A baby gorilla who was rescued from trafficking at Istanbul airport just before Christmas will remain in Turkey rather than be repatriated to Nigeria, Turkish officials said Friday.

The young primate was five months old when he was discovered inside a wooden crate in the cargo section of a Turkish Airlines plane en route from Nigeria to Thailand, and taken in a zoo in the hills outside Istanbul to recover.

Named Zeytin — Turkish for olive — he was nursed back to health with the aim of sending him back to Nigeria, where he began his journey, in line with the regulations in the CITES treaty limiting the trade of protected animals.

Following a Nigerian request for his repatriation, Turkey’s nature conservation and national parks directorate began the process but stopped it

See Full Page