Bushmeat trade threatens Africa wildlife
“Bushmeat is probably the biggest threat to biodiversity in central Africa,” according to Juan Carlos Bonilla, head of the Central Africa program for Conservation International.
Bushmeat, or the poaching of wild animals in Africa for use as food, is threatening many species native to the continent, including the great apes. While it’s been a staple among forest communities for many years, the slaughter has escalated to an industrial scale as migrants from the countryside have settled in cities. In the meantime, the logging industry has been opening up new roads into rainforests, making previously difficult to reach areas more easily accessible by hunters. These two factors have combined to create a system of commercial hunters linked to markets in major urban areas, from which the meat can be exported for large profits - for example, monkey can sell for $150 or more in Equatorial Guinea.
Making matters worse, researchers are increasingly becoming aware of the dangers of animal-based diseases making the jump to humans through the consumption of infected meat, with Ebola in particular being tied to monkey meat.
Other than “stop eating monkeys,” it’s difficult to say what an individual can do to help with this one, but a recent study by Conservation International suggests that job creation and poverty reduction programs might be the best way to counter the problem - despite the large sums commanded for more exotic meats, the hunters are only seeing a small fraction of the money. By making other lines of work more attractive and available, the reasoning goes, the supply of hunters might dry up.
