- City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
- Dubai 04:58 06:11 12:09 15:28 18:00 19:14
A nine-day-old gorilla, which was born at the Prague Zoo, rests in the hand of its mother Kijivu. (AFP)
Gorillas in Cameroon are finding an unlikely source of help – a wave of interest in the Czech Republic fed by a primate reality show and a zoo's fundraising drive using recycled mobile phones.
The birth of a baby gorilla at Prague Zoo was broadcast live in April on an internet radio show starring the animals, which has proved a huge hit among the Czech public since it was launched in 2007.
The tiny ape's arrival coincided with the launch of the zoo's new project to raise money for a Unesco-listed gorilla-breeding reserve in the western African nation of Cameroon with cash raised from used mobiles.
"Our class has brought 30 phones altogether. I had old phones at home so I brought five," said Maximilian Kovacs, 11, a school pupil who was among several hundred invited to visit the zoo for just one koruna (Dh0.19) each, on condition that every class brings at least 20 old mobile phones.
"I asked my mum to ask her colleagues at work if they had old mobile. She brought me two," his classmate Tereza Jileckova added.
Filling plastic tubes at the zoo entrance with old mobiles is just a game for the children. But for the zoo, the goal is to "make the kids sensitive to the need to protect the gorillas but also to recycle products which contain dangerous waste", said Miroslav Bobek, director of the Prague zoo.
The zoo gets 10 korunas for each phone from a recycling company and the money goes towards buying equipment for guards at the Dja gorilla reserve in Cameroon. The gear includes shoes, tents and binoculars.
Bobek said there were about 60 "eco-guards" working day and night to protect the precious ecosystem in the tropical rain forest, which covers over half-a-million hectares in south-eastern Cameroon.
Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.