European Logging Firms Fuel Trade in Ape Meat
2/26/98
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Title: European Logging Firms Fuel Trade in Ape Meat
Source: Reuters
Status: Copyrighted, contact source for reprint permissions
Date: 2/26/98
LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Africa's great apes are threatened anew by an
explosion in trade of wild animal meat for human consumption fuelled by
European logging companies, animal charities said on Thursday.
A large and generally illegal trade in ``bushmeat'' has developed into a major
commercial activity that threatens the survival of gorillas and chimpanzees,
the Ape Alliance said in a report.
Many other species are also at risk, including the giant pangolin, forest
elephant and dwarf crocodile, according to the report, entitled ``The African
Bushmeat Trade -- A Recipe for Extinction.''
The extent of the crisis was shown in Congo, where 15,000 animal carcasses,
including 293 chimpanzees, were counted at bushmeat markets in Brazzaville, it
said.
The report said that up to 600 lowland gorillas were killed each year to feed
the trade.
It said the rapidly growing timber industry, which has been dominated by
European companies, has been a big factor in generating the bushmeat trade.
Timber companies have destroyed forests where apes live and opened up their
refuges to human encroachment and commercial hunting, according to the Ape
Alliance, a coalition of 34 international organisations and ape specialists.
Chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall was quoted as saying: ``All four species of
great ape are in desperate trouble. It is my firm belief that if action is not
taken now there will be no viable populations of great apes living in the wild
within 50 years.''
The report said loggers supplement their income by hunting wild animals and
using logging trucks to transport them from the forest to urban markets. In
Gabon, it has been estimated that 20,000 chimpanzees have been wiped out as a
result of the logging.
The report also pointed the finger at Asian logging companies in Africa, saying
their conservation records were even worse that their European competitors.