• Study: Orangutan populations declining sharply
    Orangutan numbers have declined sharply on the only two islands where they still live in the wild and they could become the first great ape species to go extinct if urgent action isn't taken, a new study says. The declines in Indonesia and Malaysia since 2004 are mostly because of illegal logging and the expansion of palm oil plantations. The survey found the orangutan population on ...
  • Newly Discovered Monkey Is Threatened With Extinction
    Just three years after it was discovered, a new species of monkey is threatened with extinction according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which recently published the first-ever census of the endangered primate. Known as the "kipunji," the large, forest-dwelling primate hovers at 1,117 individuals.The authors also discovered that much of the monkey's remaining habitat ...
  • Nigeria, Cameroon Cooperate to Save Most Endangered Ape
    With just 300 individuals left in the wild, Cross River gorillas have found new conservation support from the governments of Cameroon and Nigeria, the only two countries where these great apes live.Representatives from the two nations agreed last week to improve trans-boundary cooperation to protect the critically endangered species, as well as other endangered wildlife.The ...
  • Species Conservation Groups and the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force
    While unsustainable bushmeat hunting impacts a diversity of wildlife, the threat to a few charismatic species brought attention to the crisis in the late 1990’s. African great apes have been hit particularly hard by the growing trade, and their plight forced wildlife conservation groups to evaluate what they were doing about the bushmeat crisis. For many organizations, ...
  • Animal Protection Groups and the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force
    BCTF represents the interests of a diverse membership, with animal welfare groups well represented since inception. The Fund for Animals, Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Human Society International, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Greenpeace, and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) are among the organizational signatories to the ...
  • Rescuing apes from conflict requires more flexibility in CITES rules
    By Christine Wolf, Director of Government and International Affairs, The Fund for Animals The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) governs the trade of certain wildlife species amongst its 163 member nations. Primates are an important focus of CITES, specifically as it relates to orphans of the bushmeat trade and sanctuaries. The current constructs of ...
  • Kenyan officials warn of rise in bush meat poaching
    Officials in Kenya have said they are concerned about rising levels of poaching near the Tsavo National Park. According to Julius Cheptei - Tsavo East senior warden - Poaching for bush meat has reached unprecedented levels in the neighbourhood. Read more >>
  • European Commissions internet site to protect African biodiversity
    The European Commission has launched a Report and an Internet site aimed at providing information for the protection of biodiversity in Africa.In a communiqué released in Brussels, the European Executive said the website would be based on the latest breakthroughs in satellite technologies designed to slow down the decline ...
  • Elephants, rhinos and tigers butchered - The end of the world is nigh?
    In the last few days, we have received reports that poachers have killed 17 elephants in the Virunga National Park in the Congo, at least 6 tigers in Nepal's Chitwan National Park and 6 rhinos in northern India and Nepal. Additionally a Greenpeace ship has confronted an Italian trawler illegally fishing with 10 kilometres of driftnets and an investigation in a market in Thailand discovered ...
  • Monkeys under threat, scientists warn UN biodiversity conference
    The continued hunting of monkeys in many parts of the world has drastic consequences for the affected species and for the wider environment, scientists at the UN conference on biodiversity being held in Bonn said Tuesday. Immediate measures, including stricter legislation to control hunting and larger protection areas, were needed, 92 international researchers from the fields of ecology, ...
  • Nearly half of all the world's primates at risk of extinction
    Nearly half of all primate species are now threatened with extinction, according to an evaluation by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The study, which drew on the work of hundreds of scientists and is the most comprehensive analysis for more than a decade, found that the conservation outlook for monkeys, apes and other primates has dramatically ...
  • Crisis threatens park, gorillas and people of eastern Congo
    The ongoing conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has recently intensified and more than half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park are still without security. More than 50 Congolese park rangers fled to safety from Virunga National Park. There are also reports that the rebels have advanced to just outside of Goma – the regional ...
  • Bushmeat, Health and Conservation Impacts
    by Natalie Bailey, BCTFIn Africa and around the world, policy makers, NGOs and the public are increasingly focusing attention on the threat that zoonotic (cross species) disease transmission poses to human health. Global transportation of people, wildlife and livestock, combined with increasing opportunities for cross-species disease transmission has already resulted in ...
  • Battling a lethal trade
    CI-Ghana takes aim at a practice that is devastating the country's wildlife and poisoning the population by Patrick Johnston, Conservation InternationalReprinted by permission from the Winter 2003 issue of Conservation Frontlines newsletter, Conservation InternationalThe bushmeat sellers had heard ...
  • Collaborative Action Planning Meeting Proceedings
    This unique gathering was attended by more than 150 participants from over 20 countries who collectively represented dozens of government agencies, non-governmental organizations, funding institutions, media, universities, and private industry. It was an extremely important and productive gathering of bushmeat experts and interested professionals, which identified numerous action items for ...
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