We cannot forget that, as we campaign for our fellow great apes to be granted the right to life, protection of liberty, and freedom from torture, thousands of gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos are being killed every year in their home forests in Central and West Africa.
The killing is done for profit. The victimsÆ bodies are sold as part of a broader trade in what is known as æbushmeatÆ - wild animals caught and killed in the forests. Killing gorillas, chimpanzees or bonobos is illegal in every country where it takes place. As species, these great apes are classed as threatened or endangered, and are protected by international law. Those involved in the hunting represent a very small percentage of the human population, but prosecutions are almost unheard of.
The catastrophic upsurge in the number of deaths is a result of increased logging activities, mostly by European companies or their subsidiaries and affiliates. These companies have opened up previously inaccessible forests. They have allowed the hunters to travel on company vehicles to remote areas, and away again to transport their prey for sale in the companiesÆ own logging camps and in urban markets. As the logging infrastructure expands, so does the death rate.
For nearly ten years now, efforts have been made to bring the broader bushmeat trade in forest animals to public attention. Until recently, there has been a surprising lack of interest, and even resistance, from the media in various countries to revealing to the public the full horror of what is going on. Some of the glossier ænatureÆ magazines have even refused to carry the story because it is ænot prettyÆ. They say their readers are not ready for this. But the scale and severity of the problem requires in-depth coverage.
The news media are able to æsplashÆ individual stories like the recent discovery of over 200 dead elephants in one spot in the northwestern Congo, but find it hard to give space to report the deaths of thousands of great apes spread over wide geographical areas.
Karl Ammann reports that Garry Strieker of CNN watched some 12 hours of video footage, and called the bush meat trade ôthe biggest conservation issue facing Africa since the Ivory Crisisö. But one looks in vain for the bushmeat crisis to receive the extensive coverage that the ivory trade has received.
One problem for journalists is to decide which æslotÆ the bushmeat æstoryÆ fits into. Is it about the killing of individual great apes? Is it about orphans condemned to a life of isolation and ill-treatment followed by a slow death? Is it about a further threat to already endangered species? Is it about the many other animals affected? Is it about the ill-effects of uncontrolled logging operations, about the rampant commercialisation of a limited traditional human practice, or about a breakdown of law and order? Is it about systematic environmental destruction? Is it an immediate emergency or a long-term problem? Does it come under the heading of current affairs, wildlife or the environment?
The answer to all these questions is: Yes. The bushmeat crisis encapsulates a great many of the issues that have to be faced if anything practical is to be done to stop and reverse the destruction of individual animals, their environments and of entire ecosystems.
On the æpositiveÆ side, the great scope and complexity of the problems involved means there is something for everyone to do. Some practical actions have already been taken and awareness of the issue is spreading. But much greater public awareness will be needed to spur the various governments, companies, organisations, and individuals involved to take adequate action.
Most attempts to address the problem are
in their infancy.
We donÆt have the space to give details here.
The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has produced a booklet about the problem entitled Slaughter of the Apes .
In April 1996 the Cameroon Ministry of Environment and Forests (MINEF) held a conference on ôThe Impact of Forest Exploitation on Wildlifeö. The meeting, referred to as The Bushmeat Conference, was sponsored jointly by MINEF and WSPA and was organized by the Yaoundé based NGO Enviro-Protect.
Dr Anthony Rose of The Biosynergy Institute in California has now set up The Bushmeat Project (Internet pages at http://biosynergy.org/bushmeat/ ). As the name of the institute implies, this is seeking to bring together all the various groups and strands of interest, and to get them working in harmony to bring about constructive change.
While the Great Ape Project maintains that our fellow great apes require moral consideration as individuals, rather than as part of the more abstract groupings called æspeciesÆ - especially when concern for species is often allowed to override concern for individuals - the endangered status of the nonhuman great apes may help draw attention to their predicament.
A press release entitled ANIMALS IN THE RED: Mounting Evidence of Jeopardy to WorldÆs Species, put out by the IUCN in Washington, D.C., on October 3, 1996, says:
ôA quarter of all known mammal species are at risk of extinction, according to the new 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals, the most comprehensive scientific assessment of threatened species ever produced.ö
ôThe most significant threat to the majority of species at risk of extinction was found to be habitat reduction, fragmentation and degradation, reflecting human population growth combined with economic development. A surprisingly important factor was introduction of non-native species, along with exploitation, pollution and climate change.ö
ôOf the 26 orders of mammals, 24 include threatened species, and the six largest orders have more than 50 threatened species each. The highest proportion of threatened species are in the orders that include monkeys and apesàö
At one point, they conclude: ôThe finding that 25 percent of mammal species are threatened with extinction must drastically increase the urgency of conservation initiatives across the globe.ö
We can only hope that this will help produce a response from all the organisations and individuals with an ability to affect the bushmeat trade, ranging from national governments, the World Bank and the African Development Bank, through animal advocacy and conservation organisations, to local groups and lone activists.
It is already too late for the many thousands who have suffered and died. Let us take action now to ensure that others do not share their fate.
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