Conservation & Threats
Bushmeat Crisis
Traditionally, bushmeat has always been utilized by local villagers to feed their families. However, with our increasingly globalized world, the demand for bushmeat in urbanized populations of Africa and around the world has created an unprecedented crisis for many critically endangered species, including chimpanzees and other great apes. The trade of bushmeat is largely illegal, but very profitable for local people who often lack other sources of income. A hunter can earn approximately $300-$1000 annually -- significantly more than the average household income in any region. The meat is sold in rural and urban markets and among logging company employees, who can easily export the bushmeat with other extracted forest products. |
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Commercial bushmeat trade has become the most immediate threat to the future survival of wildlife in the Congo Basin. More than 5 million tons of bushmeat are taken from the Congo Basin forests each year. In 2003, approximately 295 chimpanzees were slaughtered for bushmeat in The Republic of Congo alone. The total value of the bushmeat trade around the world is estimated to be worth $1 billion annually.
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Connections to the Bushmeat Trade
Links to logging and mining |
The expansive timber industry has been a key factor in fuelling and facilitating the commercialization of the bushmeat trade. Logging companies cut roads into previously inaccessible forests, which provides opportunities for commercial hunters to entre the forest, transport and distribute large amounts of bushmeat. Truck drivers are routinely bribed into carrying loads of up to 200kg of bushmeat, including gorillas and chimpanzees, out of the forests. Additionally, logging and mining devastate African forests, and increase habitat loss of chimpanzees. |
Orphaned chimpanzees
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Infant chimpanzees continue to be orphaned because of bushmeat poaching. Because they hold little market value as meat, they are often left to die or are often traded as illegal pets. Many of these infants will die en route or survive only to live in terrible conditions. Learn more about chimps in labs, as pets, and in entertainment. |
Implications for human/wildlife health
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Because of our close genetic relation with chimpanzees, it is possible that many viruses and parasites that exist within chimps may be transmitted when one consumes bushmeat, or comes in contact with an animal’s bodily fluids. Conversely, the close interaction of humans and chimpanzees also poses a threat to chimpanzee health. Viruses such as AIDS and Ebola have been linked to direct contact with apes, while chimpanzees have been evidenced to catch human viruses. Learn more about diseases as threats to chimpanzees. |
What can we do?JGI and its partners work towards effective solutions to tackle the bushmeat crisis and increase awareness in both the public and private sectors. JGI addresses the bushmeat crisis at its source, working with communities that live near wild ape populations, to educate them about our closest animal relatives and to provide them with alternative methods of income generation, such as ecotourism and crafts. |
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