Gorillas // Current TV

Mountain Gorilla Expedition | Morris Animal Foundation

Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) withalong with the Mountain Gorillas Veterinary Project... more

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Eaten into Extinction?

Elephants, gorillas and other large forest mammals may become extinct in central Africa within 50 years if hunting meat to feed starving populations continues at the current pace. Each year, rural peoples consume some 2.2 billion pounds (one million metric tons) of so-called bushmeat from wildlife, the equivalent of four million cattle; the flesh accounts for 80 percent of the protein and fat in their diet.

"If current levels of hunting persist in central Africa, the most vulnerable species will become extinct in the near future," cautions Nathalie Van Vliet, a researcher at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) based in Indonesia. The problem is, she adds, that "if the people that currently rely on bushmeat as a source of protein in central Africa had to rely on livestock, we would see the same catastrophe that is destroying the Amazon Basin: deforestation for pasture land and livestock raising."

In fact, there is no simple solution to this problem. CIFOR, in a report released today, argues that a hunting ban would not work, as evidenced by the failure of antipoaching programs, among other things. But it also says that forest species such as elephants, buffalo and apes that are slow to reproduce need to be protected or they will disappear entirely. Already, roughly 40 percent of jungle species are killed in greater numbers than can be regained through reproduction, according to the report "The Bushmeat Crisis."

The report calls for local agreements that allow hunting of species that can rebound quickly (such as various species of duikers, a type of forest antelope) while nixing kills of species with long gestation periods (such as elephants who give birth after 22 months). This is "hunting that can satisfy the demand from the poorest in future generations as well as ensure the stability in the long-term of hunted animal populations," Van Vliet says. But she notes the "success" of such pacts will depend on local communities' willingness to abide by them.

The only examples of such sustainable hunting, however, are either among people who have almost no contact with other human beings, such as the indigenous Aché people in the forests of eastern Paraguay, or those who have already killed off local populations of slow-breeding animals as is evidenced in the bushmeat market in Takoradi, Ghana.

Further exacerbating the problem: illegal and even legal activities in central African forests, such as logging and mining, that carve out new access as well as attract new people who also crave meat. And laws against the wildlife trade have failed to prevent supplies of everything from rhinoceros horns to tiger bones from reaching the estimated $3.9-billion global market.

That suggests that even granting ownership of the common resource represented by a duikers herd might not solve the problem, as some experts suggest. But it also shows that blanket bans are not working either. "In the tropics, they have genuine needs," says entomologist Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University's Center for Conservation Biology, who was not involved with this study but has been assessing the problems presented by expanding human population since the 1960s. "There are desperately poor people surrounding reserves. If I was there, I would shoot the hippo and eat it, too."Elephants, gorillas and other large forest mammals may become extinct in central... more

DeliaTheArtist
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Endangered Mountain Gorillas Featured on Morris Animal Foundation

Endangered Mountain Gorillas Featured on Morris Animal Foundation Web Exclusive, MAF Responded to Dian Fossey's Request for Veterinary Care--

DENVER, Sept 15, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) has posted a Web exclusive, http://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/gorilla/index.html, featuring an up close and personal visit with the magnificent, though highly endangered, mountain gorillas of Rwanda. In the exclusive video, MAF visits the site of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP), an innovative gorilla health initiative first established in 1985 when Dian Fossey asked MAF for help in response to a crisis situation for these gorillas. Their very survival was at stake. MAF accepted the daunting challenge and established veterinary care and health resources in the Rwanda jungles. Thousands of loyal MAF donors and friends also stepped up to answer the call for help. The MGVP is a testament to the kindness, generosity and commitment of people to saving a species.
MAF Chief Operating Officer John Taylor takes viewers to the MGVP headquarters and into the mountains where these gorillas live, explains how the project came about and allows the audience to enjoy these inspiring creatures at very close range. In fact, in one segment Taylor explains how one of the gorillas harmlessly reached out and grabbed one of the human members of the group.
In recent years the program was transitioned from MAF to MGVP, Inc., but MAF remains the primary funding source. Today, ecotourism plays a crucial role in the gorillas' survival and protection, inasmuch as they represent an important economic asset to the nation's economy. Information on how to visit the gorillas is provided as well as some good tips on making the trip.
About Morris Animal Foundation:
Morris Animal Foundation, established in 1948, is dedicated to funding animal health research that protects, treats and cures companion animals and wildlife. MAF has been at the forefront of funding breakthrough research studies benefiting animals in some 100 countries, spanning all seven continents. MAF has its headquarters in Denver. The Foundation has funded more than 1,500 humane animal health studies. Charity Navigator ranks MAF as a four-star charity, the highest rating.
For more information, call 800.243.2345, or visit http://www.MorrisAnimalFoundation.org.
SOURCE Morris Animal Foundation
http://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org
Endangered Mountain Gorillas Featured on Morris Animal Foundation Web Exclusive, MAF... more

julesrs007
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Humans Suffer from 1,415 EID's, Over 60 Percent Zoonotic; Bushmeat

The average man living in forest-prone areas and who depends on meat from endangered apes and other wildlife for his proteins plays the role of a carrying agent for the hundreds of infectious diseases that humanity is suffering from.

Now experts are warning of the danger to humanity this lifestyle may be posing. Most of these diseases, identified in medical terms as zoonotic because of their ability to jump from animal to man, have been labeled as “emerging infectious diseases” or EIDs.

Over 60 percent of the 1,415 infectious diseases currently known to modern medicine are capable of infecting both humans and animals. Most of these diseases originated in animals and now infect people and include viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and helminths, with 175 pathogenic species associated with diseases considered to be ‘emerging’.

Between 1972 and 1999, 35 new agents of disease were discovered and since then many more have re-emerged with renewed vengeance after long periods of inactivity, or are expanding into areas where they have not previously been reported, according to World Health Organization (WHO). These include tuberculosis, malaria, and cholera.

Public health professionals from across the globe met in Atlanta in March for the sixth International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases, to discuss these and other emerging pathogens and current work on surveillance, epidemiology, research, bioterrorism and more.

Wildlife Conservation Society reports that as humans progress ever further into the forest, the risk of disease transmission between humans and wildlife becomes greater. Many diseases can move back and forth between species, mutating into more virulent, resistant forms.

Myths aside, it has been claimed that the HIV/ AIDS virus may be such a case, as it is thought that it entered human populations through the consumption of non-human primates. The origin of HIV has been found in wild chimpanzees living in southern Cameroon.

Dr William Karesh, a WCS veterinary expert, believes the threat of potential pandemics such as Ebola, SARS, and avian influenza demands a more holistic approach to disease control, one that prevents diseases from crossing the divide between humans, their livestock, and wildlife.

But this may not be good news to a good number of Africans necessitated by poverty and high food prices to rely on bush meat, including gorilla and other great apes meat, and who may be courting, among others, various new encephalitis and hemorrhagic viruses, Lassa fever, and Ebola virus.

A recent WCS survey in a remote village on the border between Gabon and Congo revealed that about 18 tons of bush meat were sold and consumed in a particular period of time. As wildlife conservationists and medical experts bite their teeth, an average 17 species are killed per day, corresponding to a biomass of 65kg per day.

The average man living in forest-prone areas and who depends on meat from endangered... more

julesrs007
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125,000 Gorillas Find Haven in Mud Swamp But Still Face Extinction : EcoWorldly

Conservationists were thrilled last month that thousands of African Western Lowland gorillas - 125,000 by head count estimates - may have found a safe haven in a mud swamp and probably escaped predators.

This could have doubled the number of the endangered primates thought to survive worldwide.

But it never dimmed the fact that the great apes are still heading toward extinction if the activities of mad rebel groups operating with abandon in the forests and mountainous regions of Africa continue unchecked.

Mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei) are the worst hit among the three subspecies according to their habitant in different parts of Africa. Others are the Western Lowland Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and the Eastern

The Congolese government has consented to remove its forces from the Virunga National Park, an enclave of about 72 mountain gorillas out of a total of 700 worldwide, in spite of an ongoing conflict to help protect the park’s valuable natural resources.

Yet gorillas still have more enemies. They are food to many communities within Equatorial Africa despite the inherent heath risks.

The Ebola virus, among other diseases, is also bearing its toll on them. Conservationists think the disease that causes massive hemorrhaging and organ failure resulting in death in a number of species, including humans, has killed up to 95% of the gorillas in some areas.

Human commercial activity that endanger these animals are the timber trade and the bush meat trade, both of which feed markets in Europe and other parts of the world. But habitat loss due to land clearance for subsistence farming that drives the gorillas further to areas where they are susceptible to numerous physical risks is also to blame.

Ironically, researchers who found the gorillas in their swamp haven were tipped off to their sight by hunters and trekked through mud for three days to reach them.

This does not, however, change the bad news that almost 50% of the world’s primates, including colobus and bonobo monkeys, chimpanzees and orangutans, are in danger of extinction.
Conservationists were thrilled last month that thousands of African Western Lowland... more

julesrs007
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55-year-old gorilla dies at Dallas Zoo

The oldest gorilla in captivity, a 55-year-old female named Jenny, has died at the... more

ivxx
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Do Gorillas mourn for their dead more than humans

Gana, an 11-year old gorilla from Münster Zoo in Germany refused to surrender... more

gracesteban
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Race against time to save Congo's apes

Given the genocidal record of Belgium's King Leopold II in the Congo towards the... more

goldenways
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Gorilla undergoes professional dentist treatment

Pertinax, a silverback Western gorilla weighing 28 st, had to be sedated for two hours... more

JanaPokana
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Gorilla Protection » War erupts around the Gorilla Sector

"Heavy fighting broke out at 3.30am today between rebels and the army around the... more

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Gorilla Protection

Gorilla Silverback Filmed at Gatovu! "This is Innocent. Yesterday I got a call... more

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Gorilla refuses to let go of her dead baby

A gorilla at a zoo in the German city of Muenster is refusing to let go of her dead... more

merasyad
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'the time machine'

'the time machine' (720p version) directed by Paul Stevenson... more

visualhybrid
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Protect Gorillas From Deforestation - The Petition Site

Great news for one of the world's most endangered animals: researchers have... more

julesrs007
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Huge boost for lowland gorillas

A census of critically endangered western lowland gorillas has shown that populations... more

unclepete
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100,000 rare gorillas found in Congo

An estimated 125,000 Western lowland gorillas are living in a swamp in equatorial... more

pigmonkey
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More than 100,000 rare gorillas found in Congo -

SCORE!!!

joebrilliant
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125,000 Rare Gorillas Found In The Congo

(CNN) -- An estimated 125,000 Western lowland gorillas are living in a swamp in... more

IndieArtist
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Driving primates to the edge

Are primates and monkeys sending us the message: if we're dying out, so will you?

gumulder
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More than 100,000 rare gorillas found in Congo - CNN.com

Maybe there is hope for the gorillas after all.

gunnini
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