Nigerian authorities have decided to divert the  construction of a new superhighway to safeguard the habitat of the gorilla species in Cross River, which is high on the endangered list of animals.

Not only gorillas but also chimpanzees, pangolins and  elephants in the buffer zone on each side of the proposed 160-mile highway envisaged originally. There was a danger of thousands of acres of rainforest and wildlife habitat getting destroyed for that road construction plan.

Sensing this, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) created a petition and received about 135,000 signatures on it. This approach convinced the Nigerian officials that if superhighway is constructed as  designed, it would definitely adversely affect the populations of gorilla in the Cross River area.

A Wildlife Conservation Society  representative informed  that the Cross River State government had agreed to divert the proposed superhighway and it will bypass the concerned habitat of animals in the buffer zone on both the sides, according to reports in the media.

This successful  effort by Wildlife Conservation Society in Nigeria to safeguard an endangered species from bearing the brunt of  development also gives confidence to similar movements around the world, including India