Bushmeat hunting, especially for apes, is inextricably tied to the pet trade: the majority of live primates offered for sale in markets are infants orphaned when their mothers were killed for food. Current estimates suggest that for each orphaned chimpanzee, bonobo or gorilla entering the pet trade, at least 10 other individuals will have died. Unless confiscated and brought to one of dozens of primate sanctuaries in Africa, the infants which survive to become a pet will suffer poor health and inhumane conditions.
Another animal welfare concern comes from the widespread use of wire snares, which are illegal but common in most of Africa. The snares, generally set for duikers and rodents, can amputate limbs and kill non-target wildlife such as great apes and elephants. Animals with a missing hand or a shortened trunk are not unusual; those that survive infection may die from malnutrition, unable to find or manipulate food. When wire snares are not checked regularly or are abandoned, even targeted species may die a painful and wasted death, rotting on the forest floor.
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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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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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, ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 >>
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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, ...
