Chimpanzee News - Conservation and Threats
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Biology and Behaviour | Evolution and Genetics | Captive Chimpanzees | Other Great Apes
Another chimp born in Rawandan forest
11-03-2010 - Des Moines Register
An endangered chimpanzee group that's at the heart of a Rwanda reforestation effort backed by Great Ape Trust in Des Moines has welcomed its second infant in a year, the trust reported Wednesday.
Gishwati Area Conservation Program field crews discovered the baby last week with mother Nyiramatwi.
"There is a reason we call Gishwati 'the Forest of Hope,' " said Benjamin Beck, project director. "It would have been easy to dismiss the significance of restoring this forest and saving this small population of chimpanzees, but fortunately a group of dedicated people and visionary leaders realized the potential of Gishwati and its critical importance to the Rwandan people."
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DRC army kills protected species
08-03-2010 - News24
Troops killed seven hippopotamuses, four elephants and six monkeys, including two chimpanzees, last month in a national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an environmental group said on Monday.
The local group, Innovation for the Development and Protection of the Environment (IDPE), said that the killings took place in the Virunga National Park between February 7 and 25.
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Cameroon government regulates bushmeat trade
04-02-2010 - VoiceofAmerica
Wildlife conservationists say in Cameroon, protected species are more endangered than ever before. Experts say the continuing popularity of wildlife meat, or bushmeat, is encouraging armed poachers to gun down hundreds of thousands of animals. But the government has introduced new initiatives to halt the illegal trade. "We see people selling bushmeat everywhere...and, it’s more or less putting a shame on our dignity and our commitment to fight illegal poaching." From Cameroon’s hinterlands to the urban centers, vendors openly display smoked monkeys, gorillas, snakes, antelopes, crocodiles and more from the country’s receding forests. For several years, the lucrative trade in meat from wild animals has thrived, despite anti-poaching laws. |
Photo: Divine Ntaryike |
Stopping wildlife trafficking in Congo
01-02-2010 - Mongabay.com
An interview with Naftali Honig, director of Projet d'Appui à l'Application de la Loi sur la Faune in Republic of Congo.
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Rwanda forest to expand 21%, thanks to D.M. groups' efforts
30-01-2010 - DesMoinesRegister.com
Rwanda's Gishwati Forest will grow this year as a result of attempts by Des Moines-based Great Ape Trust and Earthpark to accelerate reforestation in the heavily cleared area.
The east African forest is home to 14 endangered chimpanzees along with rare plant species. It is ringed by impoverished villagers who are being encouraged to shift to jobs that don't involve cutting down trees to make, for example, charcoal or crafts.
The trust announced this week that the forest will grow by 21 percent, which will help the chimps, fight climate change and stem soil erosion that has left streams in Rwanda largely lifeless, ape trust officials said.
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Genetics helps to crack down on chimpanzee smuggling
22-01-2010 - ScienceDaily
The population of chimpanzees across western Africa has decreased by 75% in the past 30 years, due in part to widespread chimp hunting. New strategies are needed to curb this illegal activity, experts say. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Ecology suggests that genetics may provide valuable clues as to how to crack down on the animal smuggling trade, while also helping to safely reintroduce rescued apes into the wild.
A smuggler can get up to US $20,000 for a live chimpanzee on the international black market and around US $100 in the local market in Cameroon. It's perhaps not surprising then that despite the existence of enforced wildlife protection laws, smugglers in this poor country will risk the penalties.
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DR Congo volcano eruption threatens rare chimpanzees02-01-2010 - BBC News |
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Mount Nyamulagira, 25km (16 miles) from the eastern city of Goma, erupted at dawn on Saturday, sending lava into the surrounding Virunga National Park. About 40 endangered chimpanzees and other animals live in the area. But the country's famous critically endangered mountain gorillas are said to be safe as they live further east. Emmanuel de Merode, Virunga's director, said that park staff were working with the civilian and military authorities to assess the risk and take appropriate action. Rangers were deployed to the area to monitor the flow of lava and were due to report back hourly, he added. |
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Unlikely winner emerges from African war
22-12-2009 - Sphere
Africa's longest-running and most brutal insurgency has arrived in the Central African Republic (CAR), and the only possible winners are chimpanzees.The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel force that over the past 20 years has killed at least 12,000 people and kidnapped or enslaved 25,000 more, began terrorizing the southeastern corner of the country earlier this year. Their presence has made life difficult for poachers, who made their livelihood by shooting chimpanzee mothers dead and seizing their babies for sale to zookeepers and private collectors in the capital Bangui or in Sudan. But the hunt has become vastly more dangerous now that killers of humans have moved into the lawless region.
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Ngamba chimpanzee sanctuary wins award
18-12-2009 - New Vision
The Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary has won this year’s International Virgin Holidays Awards for responsible tourism, for its effort to promote wildlife and environmental conservation through ecotourism. The prestigious awards are in collaboration with the UK international travel directory www.responsibletravel.com, the UK’s Telegraph newspaper, Geographical Magazine as well as the World Travel Market. |
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Cameroon: illegal chimpanzees traffickers arrested
27-08-2009 - AllAfrica
Nwa (Donga and Mantung Division) - The Regional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife for the North-West Region is reported to have arrested three traffickers in Kurt village in Nwa, Donga Mantung Division of the North-West Region for killing three chimpanzees. The operations that led to the arrest of the chimpanzee traffickers were carried out with the strong support of the Donga Mantung Divisional Delegation of Forestry and Wildlife and the Ntem Gendarmerie Post.
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