The Wild Africa Fund, an environmental NGO, says that the Cross River gorillas can boost local tourism if there were deliberate policies to protect them.
The fund urged the public to protect Nigeria’s unique Cross River gorillas by supporting ongoing efforts to safeguard their populations and habitat as well as reducing demand for commercial bushmeat that threatens them.
This is contained in a statement signed by Festus Iyorah, Nigeria Representative of the fund and made available on Sunday in Lagos.
According to him, the Cross River gorillas live in the mountainous region between Nigeria and Cameroon and it’s Africa’s most endangered ape species.
He said that available records showed that fewer than 300 individuals of these gorillas remained in the wild, with 100 of them living in Nigeria’s Cross River State and the rest in Cameroon.
He said that the Gorillas were found in Nigeria in the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, the Mbe Mountains, and the Okwangwo division of the Cross…