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There are strong cultural reasons why some people choose to eat apes or other endangered species, but whether it is a tradition or a modern whim, buying and selling apes and ape meat is illegal. Moreover, anyone who eats ape meat today must recognize that he or she will stop eating apes in a decade or three. They can choose whether to stop eating now, and leave the ape populations to recover and play their role in the ecology of the forests we all need, or they can stop when Africa’s apes become extinct.

Fashions often change because of celebrity role models, and in Central Africa football stars are among the biggest celebrities.

Thus, it is exciting that Cameroonian star Geremi kindly agreed to record this message to encourage his fans to avoid endangered species Bushmeat. As the WildAid/ACAP slogan says, "WHEN THE BUYING STOPS, THE KILLING STOPS TOO"

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: "I am proud to play for Cameroon, a country full of amazing/extraordinary wildlife. Chimpanzees, gorillas and elephants make of Cameroon and its neighbouring countries a place unique on earth. Sadly, these animals will disappear. The worldwide consumption of bush meat means that our natural fauna could disappear forever. Together, we must stop buying this meat, because by doing so, we prevent the slaughter of these animals (or when the buying stops, the killing stops too)."

This section is concerned with the hunting and killing of apes for food - "bushmeat". The bushmeat killing of great apes is the greatest threat to the survival of the species in most of their African range states. It also threatens orangutans, who are already under great pressure from loss of habitat and poaching for the pet trade. It causes immense suffering in those great apes who are shot or snared, and in the infants who are orphaned when their mothers are killed.


The Ape Alliance 'Recipes for Survival: controlling the Bushmeat trade' report, funded by WSPA is now available for NGO's and governments.
This review co authored by Ian Redmond, Tim Aldred, Katrin Jedamzik and Madeline Westwood set out to examine the current state of knowledge of the Bushmeat trade and how conservation community has reacted to the Bushmeat crisis.

The appendices for the review can be downloaded here:


Visit the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force web site at: www.bushmeat.org

Another source of information on the bushmeat tragedy and crisis is The Bushmeat Project.

Read the 1998 Ape Alliance Report on The African Bushmeat Trade. (PDF file 549Kb)

VideosClick here to view Bushmeat related videos.

Archive of scientific articles: Click here to download and read Bushmeat Working Group related articles.

© WSPA/K Ammann Titus and family, mountain gorillas in Virunga Volcanoes, DRC. PhotoIanRedmond.co.uk

Science news & articles relating to the Bushmeat Working Group.
Bushmeat poaching reduces the seed dispersal and population

Ecological Applications, 19(4), 2009, pp. 854-863 2009 by the Ecological Society of America


Abstract. Myriad tropical vertebrates are threatened by overharvest. Whether this harvest
has indirect effects on nonhunted organisms that interact with the game species is a critical
question. Many tropical birds and mammals disperse seeds. Their overhunting in forests can
cause zoochorous trees to suffer from reduced seed dispersal. Yet how these reductions in seed
dispersal influence tree abundance and population dynamics remains unclear. Reproductive
parameters in long-lived organisms often have very low elasticities; indeed the demographic
importance of seed dispersal is an open question. We asked how variation in hunting pressure
across four national parks with seasonal forest in northern Thailand influenced the relative
abundance of gibbons, muntjac deer, and sambar deer, the sole dispersers of seeds of the
canopy tree Choerospondias axillaris. We quantified how variation in disperser numbers
affected C. axillaris seed dispersal and seedling abundance across the four parks. We then used
these data in a structured population model based on vital rates measured in Khao Yai
National Park (where poaching pressure is minimal) to explore how variation in illegal
hunting pressure might influence C. axillaris population growth and persistence. Densities of
the mammals varied strongly across the parks, from relatively high in Khao Yai to essentially
zero in Doi Suthep-Pui. Levels of C. axillaris seed dispersal and seedling abundance positively
tracked mammal density. If hunting in Khao Yai were to increase to the levels seen in the
other parks, C. axillaris population growth rate would decline, but only slightly. Extinction of
C. axillaris is a real possibility, but may take many decades. Recent and ongoing extirpations
of vertebrates in many tropical forests could be creating an extinction debt for zoochorous
trees whose vulnerability is belied by their current abundance.

23/05/2009
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Congo's chimps threatened by bushmeat trade

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

16/04/2009
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Cameroon seeks alternatives to bushmeat

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).

21/08/2008
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Ban on hunting takes effect

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

05/08/2008
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Hunting reduces recruitment of primate-dispersed trees

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.

18/06/2008
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Modelling the impact of Ebola and Bushmeat Hunting on Western Lowland Gorillas

 


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.

20/06/2007
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[ Click here for archive of all Science 4 Apes... ]

The following organisations are involved in the Bushmeat Working Group.


International Fund for Animal Welfare
Bushmeat Working Group Secretariat
87-90 Albert Embankment
London
SE1 7UD
Phone: +44 (0)20 7587 6700
Fax: +44 (0)20 7587 6720
Web (en): www.ifaw.org
Email: click for contact form

Ape Action Africa, formerly Cameroon Wildlife Aid Fund
Ape Action Africa CWAF , YAOUNDE CAMEROON
B.P 20072 Yaounde
Phone: (+237) 220 75 79
Web (en): www.apeactionafrica.org

Born Free Foundation
Will Travers CEO
3 Grove House
Foundry Lane
Horsham
West Sussex
RH13 5PL
Phone: +44 (0)1403 240 170
Fax: +44 (0)1403 327 838
Web (en): www.bornfree.org.uk
Email: click for contact form

Bushmeat Crisis Task Force
Heather Eves
c/o The Wildlife Conservation Society
2300 Southern Boulevard
Bronx, New York 10460
718-220-5100


Web (en): www.bushmeat.org
Email: click for contact form

International Primate Protection League (U.K.)
Gilmore House
166 Gilmore Road
London SE13 5AE
Phone: +44 (0)20 8297 2129
Fax: +44 (0)20 8297 2099
Web (en): www.ippl-uk.org
Email: click for contact form

Tropical Forest Forum
Jane Thornback
c/o The Royal Botanic Gardens
Kew
Richmond
Surrey TW9 2AB
Web (en): www.nri.org/TFF

World Society for the Protection of Animals
89 Albert Embankment
London
SE1 7TP
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0)20 7587 5000
Fax: +44 (0)20 7793 0208
Web (en): www.wspa.org.uk
Email: click for contact form
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