Baby gorillas get new jungle home

The gorillas were taken to protected reserve by helicopter

Three hand-reared baby gorillas rejected by their mothers at wildlife parks in Kent have been released into the wild in Africa.

Western lowland gorillas Kouki and Oudiki, both almost two years old, and five-month-old Tiya were bred in captivity at Howletts and Port Lympne.

Staff at the Aspinall Foundation, which runs both wildlife parks, taught the animals how to behave like gorillas.

They were taken to a reserve in Gabon where they will adapt to jungle life.

The Aspinall Foundation was set up by the late conservationist John Aspinall to protect rare species.

His son Damian Aspinall accompanied the gorillas on a nine-hour flight from Farnborough Airport laid on by Virgin businessman Sir Richard Branson.

My father would have been overjoyed to know that we are able to continue his work Damian Aspinall

The group transferred to a helicopter and headed to a protected reserve before being introduced to the forest.

Mr Aspinall said: "They will be taken for walks every day in the forest and in a few years they will be ready for life in the jungle.

"My father would have been overjoyed to know that we are able to continue his work in conservation, breeding and the reintroduction of endangered species as the western lowland gorilla."

It is feared that the western lowland gorilla will be extinct by 2020 if their numbers continue to decline at the current rate, mainly due to deforestation, the ebola virus and the bushmeat trade.

The two wild animal parks in Kent house 74 western lowland gorillas, said to be the largest collection in human care, to help halt the extinction of the endangered species.