Cleve Hicks gives account of central African wilderness under imminent threat of destruction by rapidly-emerging commercial bushmeat trade sweeping across Democratic Republic of the Congo, describes struggle to save orphaned chimpanzees from torture, sale and slaughter

Cleve Hicks

Published:

04.16.09, 08:26 / Israel Activism

To see article with photos, visit http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3700963,00.html

Elisabeth Benkam, Voices of Africa reporter in Yaounde, Cameroon

To fight poaching, the Cameroonian ministry of animal husbandry and fishing launched in 2002 a grasscutter breeding initiative in favour of the national Association of the breeders of the grasscutter (ANEAC).

By Gabriel Amoah.

Statistics available to The Statesman in Kumasi from the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission reveals that annual volume of bush meat estimated at 384,992 tons valued at 350 million dollars is harvested in Ghana as against the total annual consumption which also estimated at 225,287 tons and valued at 205 million dollars

Gabriela Nunez-Iturria,1, Ola Olssonb, Henry F. Howea,c,*

Hunting with firearms decimates primates of large and medium body size (>2 kg) that disperse the seeds of large-seeded trees. In continuous, un-fragmented forests of southeastern Peru regularly hunted with firearms for 30-40 years, large primates are extirpated and medium-sized (medium) primates are reduced 61% compared with protected forests. At hunted sites seedlings and small juveniles (<1m height) of trees dispersed by primates heavier than 2 kg are reduced 46%, a loss of one species m2, and abiotically-dispersed plants are 284% more common, adding eight individuals m2, compared with protected forests. Here we provide evidence consistent with the long-held prediction that commercial hunting changes plant communities. We show that the composition of seedling and small juvenile tree communities that ultimately regenerate future forests differs markedly in forests hunted with firearms compared with protected forests. This opens the possibility of shifts in tree species composition, even in hunted forests that are not logged or fragmented, towards forests dominated by trees dispersed by wind or non-game animals.

The 2003 outbreak of Ebola in the Republic of Congo killed 114 people and up to 800 western lowland gorillas. This outbreak and all outbreaks between 2001-2003 began with human handling of infected animal carcasses. Ebola has since spread, putting the entire gorilla population at risk. An epidemiological model is presented to describe the combined effects of Ebola and hunting on persistence of gorillas. The number of infected gorillas also provides a means of assessing the risk of transmission to humans. Under current harvest practices and the estimated annual outbreak rate, the gorilla population is predicted to undergo a 97% decline within 100 years. Controlling bushmeat hunting may not be enough to prevent extinction if frequent outbreaks occur.