"The Bushmeat Crisis" - the commercial hunting of many critically endangered species
(DRC, Africa)
GORILLA HANDS FOR SALE AT A MARKET IN THE
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO... FOR 6 US DOLLARS.
*WARNING: GRAPHIC & DISTURBING IMAGES
This slideshow includes other critically endangered species also for sale.
Some are STILL ALIVE.
Please follow link to 'Endangered Species International' (ESI) for more information & to see what you can do to help..
For the first time, ESI reveal's photos of their field monitoring using undercover methods at key markets in the republic of Congo. Their research reveals that most of illegal bushmeat sold in markets originates from one single region where primary and unprotected rainforest still remains.
ESI estimates about 300 gorillas are illegally killed each year for the bushmeat market in the city of Pointe Noire.
With your help, ESI can stop the illegal commercial hunting of endangered species in Central Africa.
DID ANYONE HEAR THIS?
$6.OO...
THIS IS UNEXCEPABLE!"The Bushmeat Crisis" - the commercial hunting of many critically endangered species... more
KINIGI, Rwanda (AFP) — Rwanda "baptised" 18 rare baby mountain gorillas at what has become an annual event to highlight the plight of the endangered species.
The baby gorillas, however, were not physically present at the colourful ceremony at the edge of a national park where the primates live.
Eighteen masked people represented the gorillas at the event, which included songs and dances, attended by senior government officials including Prime Minister Bernard Makuza.
Tourism Minister Monique Nsanzabaganwa said government was expanding the the size of the volcanic park by 10 percent by the end of the year in a bid to promote the conservation of the gorillas.
"This campaign is to encourage gorilla conservation initiatives and to promote the local tourism industry," she said.
"Tourism remains one of Rwanda's key sectors," she added.
The ceremony was the fifth of its kind in Rwanda in as many years. A total of 103 gorillas have been baptised and officially received a name so far, according to AFP count.
The world's last mountain gorillas are concentrated in the mountains straddling the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.
They number around 700 in all, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).KINIGI, Rwanda (AFP) — Rwanda "baptised" 18 rare baby mountain gorillas at what has... more
International Experts Issue Frankfurt Declaration to Call for Better Protection of Gorillas
Under the title 'Gentle Giants in need” 160 government officials, experts, corporate representatives and conservationists from 20 countries attended a conference in Frankfurt, 9-10 June to mark the UN Year of the Gorilla, a global campaign to help implement the gorilla agreement.
In the “Frankfurt Declaration” they highlighted major threats to gorillas and their habitats, as well as the strategies available for the conservation of the second closest relative to
humankind.
In the Declaration delegates appeal to governments, the international community and industrial companies to enhance activities to reduce threats to the remaining gorilla populations in the wild, which can contribute to peace-making and prosperity in Central Africa.
Why are the gorillas threatened with extinction? Humans.
An omnipresent yet invisible threat to gorillas and their habitats, as well as to countless other species, is the ever-growing human demand for energy and its consequences.
Human encroachment, "bushmeat" hunting, the destruction of their habitat for charcoal, and coltan mining.
Charcoal production is a major threat to gorilla forests in many areas, not least the Mountain Gorilla habitat in Virunga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. To reduce this threat, solar cookers, tree-planting on farms and the spread of fuel-efficient stoves are needed.
The Year of the Gorilla (YoG) is supporting a project in the Mountain Gorillas’ range which enables local residents to purchase highly fuel-efficient stoves for a low price, thereby enabling them to use less firewood, which is often taken from the very same forests that are home to the gorillas.
For more information:
'GRASP' - Great Ape Survival Partnership http://www.unep.org/grasp/International Experts Issue Frankfurt Declaration to Call for Better Protection of... more
Has the recent violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo threatened the populations of lowland gorillas? How many are left?
The short answer is yes, dramatically.
Not to be confused with Western Lowland Gorillas, which are thriving in significant numbers in neighboring Congo (a recent census counted 125,000).
Today fewer than 5,000 Eastern Lowland Gorillas are estimated to remain in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formerly known as Zaire. Some 17,000 inhabited the region as recently as 1994, but today habitat loss, hunting ('bushmeat'), and war and violence are combining to push them over the edge.
Following the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, an influx of refugees, along with bloodthirsty militias, moved across the border into the neighboring DRC. These militias set up training grounds in the very forests the gorillas call home, making conservation work impractical to say the least. Park rangers, game wardens and wildlife researchers either fled their wooded beats or were removed at gunpoint.
In the wake of this, civilian populations in the affected areas still had to make ends meet somehow. So hunting for so-called “bushmeat,” and cutting down the forest for firewood, charcoal and space for agricultural plots became the means for day-to-day survival, and continue to this day.
Some 91 percent of the human population in the region practice subsistence agriculture. This means that large swaths of gorilla habitat throughout the region have been converted to farms. At the same time, 96 percent of the locals rely on firewood as their main supply of energy for warmth and cooking. “Forested parks are for many of them the last remaining source of fuel,” reports the Year of the Gorilla website.
*please follow link for the rest of this story*Has the recent violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo threatened the populations... more
Undercover officers rescued a baby gorilla from suspected animal traffickers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a national park in the country announced Tuesday.
The gorilla, thought to be about two years old, was hidden at the bottom of a bag and covered with clothes when Congolese Wildlife Authority officers arrested the suspected trafficker on Sunday, Virunga National Park said.
The gorilla, a female, was overheated and dehydrated after six hours in transit. She also had a puncture wound on her right leg, among other injuries, and is malnourished, but is responding to treatment, the park said in a statement.
It is not clear if the young gorilla's mother is alive or dead, park spokeswoman Samantha Newport said.
"You can assume that a gorilla family was attacked in order for the traffickers to obtain a baby -- but it is impossible to know if a whole family was wiped out, just a few individuals, or none at all," she said. "In most cases gorillas have to die to get a baby -- but we cannot know specifically for this case."
The animal is now being looked after by specially trained carers, Newport said.
"This is of course not an ideal replacement for a mother -- but the best option we have," she told CNN via e-mail. Carers often have some veterinary training, but are not fully fledged vets, she added.
But gorillas do not do well in situations like this, she warned.
"Gorillas, it is worth noting, are notoriously difficult to keep alive," she said. "Chimps are fighters, as are bonobos. But gorillas -- when the going gets tough -- tend to just shut down. So it really is a critical time right now to ensure she gets the veterinary attention and human warmth that she needs to get through this."
The suspect was getting off a plane from the interior of the country, near the gorillas' habitat, the park said.
One person has been charged under the country's law forbidding the destruction of flora and fauna, Newport told CNN. The park did not name the suspect.
Gorillas can fetch up to $20,000 on the black market, the head of Virunga National Park said.
"Investigations have yet to reveal where these animals are being sent and who is buying them, but on the ground sources tell us that a baby gorilla can fetch up to $20,000," said Emmanuel de Merode, the director. "We must remember that for each trafficked baby gorilla, several gorillas have probably been killed in the wild."
He led the three-month undercover operation that netted the suspect and the gorilla, the park said.
The gorilla is a lowland eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), also known as the Grauer's Gorilla, a subspecies of Eastern Gorilla only found in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the park.
Virunga National Park calls itself the oldest national park in Africa, established in 1925. It lies in a region that has been badly affected by the long-running war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The gorilla section is in a strategically important area near the borders of Rwanda and Uganda.
A ranger was killed earlier this year, and rangers lost control of a large part of the park to rebels for over a year.
But a census earlier this year suggests mountain gorillas are surviving despite poaching and war.
Officials have long said that the 250-square kilometer gorilla reserve in the southern part of Virunga National Park is where around 200 of the world's 700 mountain gorillas live.Baby gorilla rescued from suspected traffickers -
Undercover officers rescued a... more
Many Orang-utans and gibbons are are kept in zoos in appalling conditions.
Illegal-trade devastates Sumatran orangutan population.
Lack of law enforcement against illegal trade in Indonesia threatens the survival of orangutans and gibbons on Sumatra, a new study by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC shows.
Despite considerable investment in wildlife conservation, numbers of the critically endangered orangutans captured, mainly for the pet trade, exceeded the levels of the 1970s. A lack of adequate law enforcement is to blame, TRAFFIC says.
Just 7,300 orangutans left on Sumatra -
Records of orangutans and gibbons put into rehabilitation centres serve as an indicator of how many of these animals were illegally held. Meanwhile numbers continue to decline in the wild, with the most recent estimate of just 7,300 Sumatran orangutans surviving.
Orangutans, which can weigh up to around 90 kilograms and reach 1.5 metres in length, end up in such centres after they become too old and big to be held as pets. But owners of the reddish-brown coloured apes do not face any legal consequences.
"Confiscating these animals without prosecuting the owners is futile," said Chris R Shepherd, Acting Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.
"There is no deterrent for those committing these crimes if they go unpunished. Indonesia has adequate laws, but without serious penalties, this illegal trade will continue, and these species will continue to spiral towards extinction."
Other threats -
The report recommends that the root causes of trade be examined and that laws be better implemented for the protection of orangutans, gibbons and the island's other wildlife. Sumatra's wildlife is also threatened by habitat loss due to deforestation, logging, land conversion, encroachment, and forest fires.
WWF is working to reduce the destruction of wildlife habitat in Sumatra by working with industry to ensure High Conservation Value Forests are not converted for agriculture, empowering local communities to manage natural resources in a sustainable way, and providing alternatives.Many Orang-utans and gibbons are are kept in zoos in appalling conditions.... more
PHOTO: Playmates 'June' and 'Junior'. They are rescued infant orang-utans being care for at "The Infant Care Unit for Orang-utans in Bukit Merah". The non-profit rescue facility is the only one of it's kind. Please note, the missing hair covering the bodies due to burns. June was found still clinging to her burned (and deceased) mother.
A team surveying forests nestled on the eastern edge of Borneo island counted 219 orangutan nests giving a rare boost to one of the world's most endangered great apes.
Experts say at the current rate of habitat destruction, the animals could be wiped out within the next two decades.
The countries are the world's top producers of palm oil, used in food, cosmetics and to meet growing demands for "clean-burning" fuels in the U.S. and Europe. Rain forests, where the solitary animals spend almost all of their time, have been clear-cut and burned at alarming rates to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations.
The steep topography, poor soil and general inaccessibility of the rugged limestone mountains appear to have shielded the area from development, at least for now, said Meijaard. Its trees include those highly sought after for commercial timber.
Birute Mary Galdikas, a Canadian scientist who has spent nearly four decades studying orangutans in the wild, said most of the remaining populations are small and scattered, which make them especially vulnerable to extinction.
"So yes, finding a population that science did not know about is significant, especially one of this size," she said, noting that those found on the eastern part of the island represent a rare subspecies, the black Borneon orangutan, or Pongo pygmaeus morio.
The 700-square mile (2,500-square kilometer) jungle escaped the massive fires that devastated almost all of the surrounding forests in the late 1990s. The blazes were set by plantation owners and small-scale farmers and exacerbated by the El Nino droughts.PHOTO: Playmates 'June' and 'Junior'. They are rescued infant orang-utans being care... more
Recently, eleven smuggled orang-utans were seized by Thai officials in the southern province of Phuket. DNA tests are being conducted in a bid to help the apes be returned to their place of origin.
It was a chaotic scene as wildlife officials and veterinarians helped each other separate the orangutans from the cages for medical check-ups and blood tests for DNA identification.
The primates are seven times stronger than humans and more than five people were required to overpower just one orang-utan. Chloroform was needed for the bigger apes to reduce their pain and stress.
The DNA identification process will take at least one month to identify the orang-utans’ origins. It will help determine whether the apes are native to Indonesia’s Sumatra island or to Borneo, an island shared by Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.
"Orang-utans are a protected animal in Indonesia and Malaysia. So it is illegal to import such an animal into Thailand,"said Pornchai Patumrattanathan, Chief of Khao Prathap Chang Wildlife Breeding Research Station.
In all, 12 orang-utans underwent DNA testing, the 11 dumped on Phuket by the smugglers in fear of being caught and 1 confiscated at a resort in southern Chumphon province.
"Once we have the orang-utans’ blood, we’ll extract their DNA. We’ll then multiply the DNA to decode the genetics. Then, we will find out whether or not they are of Borneo or Sumatra breed, so we can return them to their home of origin," Asso Prof Theerapol Sirinarumitr, a Forensic Veterinary Expert from Kasetsart University.
The confiscated orang-utans are between 4 to 8 years old. Normally, their life span is around 40 years in the wild and 50 years in captivity.
All the 12 orang-utans are currently at Khao Prathap Chang Wildlife Breeding Research Station in Thailand’s central province of Ratchaburi, until the case is concluded.Recently, eleven smuggled orang-utans were seized by Thai officials in the southern... more
Primate Investigation | Undercover Investigation at Research Lab
February 2009: An undercover investigation by The Humane Society of the United States reveals psychological suffering of primates in research laboratories.Humane Society of United States
Primate Investigation | Undercover Investigation at... more
Aid worker staying in war-torn African country rescues starved, tortured chimpanzee held by government soldiers, transfers chimp to local nature institute for treatment
Through the battles that have been raging in southeast Congo and the hundreds of thousands of people uprooted from their homes, Israeli aid worker Eyal Reinich managed to rescue a young chimpanzee that was being illegally held by soldiers in the city of Goma.
Reinich has spent the past six months in the North-Kivu district as the director of Belgian organization Handicap International's office. "On my way to aid at the refugee camps, I noticed government soldiers patroling the area with a chimpanzee on them," Reinich said in a telephone interview from Congo.
"Mafima (the chimpanzee) looked very bad, she would just pick up hear head to smile or make contact, but the soldiers just abused her, and beat her up. It was hard to resist her human face. She looked completely starved."
Reinich approached the soldiers and asked to take Mafima from them, but was told that the chimpanzee was a lucky charm for them. "They said that thanks to her they beat the rebels," he said, "I gently told them that I did not want a confrontation with them and if they would just give me the chimpanzee, maybe I could find a better place for her and that would be a lucky charm for them."
After some negotiation, Reinich and the soldiers set up a meeting, and Mafima was eventually purchased for US$ 130 and brought to Reinich's home.
"Mafima suffered from a gunshot injury in the palm of her hand. She was weak, starved, her hair was falling out as a result of malnutrition and stress," said Reinich, who immediately contacted the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN) to come pick her up.
For four days Reinich and his housemates cared for Mafima thoroughly; cleaning her, feeding her, giving her lice and flea medicine, and of course providing her with the warmth she was missing during her time with the soldiers.
"We even let her sleep in the same bed with us," said Reinich. "She's a real sweetheart."
ICCN representatives arriving to pick Mafima up frowned on the fact that Reinich bought her from the soldiers, fearing it would only encourage the trade of protected wildlife.
What's the alternative? To let her suffer from a gunshot wound and soldiers' abuse?" Reinich said. "That she be a starved living lucky charm? It's not the ideal solution, but it was the best choice in the given situation."Aid worker staying in war-torn African country rescues starved, tortured chimpanzee... more
Another Wire Snare (Part 1) | GorillaDoctors.wildlifedirect.org / Dr Lucy
"When I first read Benard’s e-mail, I didn’t want to believe it. A blackback in Nkuringo Group had a wire snare around his leg. The gorilla had continued to eat, but he’d begun to fall behind the group. One of us needed to cross the border to Uganda before closing time, stay in Kisoro for the evening, and leave for the forest early the next morning to deal with the snare. The drive would take two hours, followed by another hour’s trekking. I wondered why Bernard hadn’t called until I remembered the poor cellphone reception around the parks in Uganda. He must have gotten the message from the park warden and decided the best way to relay it quickly was via the nearest Internet Café. I wrote back asking him to call me as soon as possible to confirm the bad news. This case sounded a lot like the last three snares in Uganda: no chance that it would resolve on its own.
From the bit of information I had, I suspected that this was not a new snare. It takes a few days for lameness to occur, and that could explain why the gorilla was lagging behind his family. Much depends on how tight the snare is and on whether it is indeed made of wire. I think it’s been years since we had a case of a rope snare in Uganda. What was going on? This would be the fourth wire snare in Uganda in six months, the sixth in the past 13 months
Various questions collided in my mind. The most obvious and important one was: Where are the snares coming from? As I’ve explained before, the snares are set to catch game for food, especially small antelope, or duiker. Are more being set, or are the gorillas moving through snare-laden areas more often? If there are more snares in the parks in Rwanda and Uganda—we have no idea what’s going on in DR Congo—is it because there are more hungry people these days? Whatever the answer, many illegal hunters are still getting into the park. Is this because of the leaky and insecure border with Congo? Maybe the poaching patrols have simply not been doing their jobs, or maybe they lack the equipment to do them effectively.
I’d raised these questions during a recent community conservation meeting held by the chief park warden of the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda. I asked them again after little Icyerecyezo’s snare injury. A month earlier, I’d also spoken with the chief park warden in Uganda’s Bwindi and Mgahinga parks and directed Benard to check with the patrols there. Each time the reply has been the same: the wardens have more rangers patrolling more of the parks than ever, and believe they’ve become more proficient at finding snares. That may be so, but given how many snared gorillas we’ve seen recently, there may also be an increased number of snares in the park."
Another Wire Snare (Part 1) | GorillaDoctors.wildlifedirect.org / Dr Lucy
"When I... more
LOS ANGELES, Sept 24 (Reuters Life!) - The cold-blooded murder of about 10 of Congo's endangered mountain gorillas last year horrified author Craig Hatkoff until one glimmer of hope emerged -- the rescue of an orphaned baby gorilla.
The baby, named Miza, was feared dead as her mother was among the gorillas killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park, home to 380 of the world's 720 mountain gorillas.
But after several days lost in the jungle, Miza was rescued by her father, silverback gorilla Kabirizi, and brought back to live with her family to be raised by her sister and half-brother.
The story inspired New York-based Hatkoff to write "Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Family Who Rescued One of Their Own", along with his daughters Isabella, 9, and Juliana, 13, as the centrepiece of a campaign to help save the gentle giants that range across the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It is not the first animal story by Hatkoff. He has previously written books about the polar bear Knut who became an icon for global warming and about the friendship of a tortoise and hippo, Owen and Mzee, after the southeast Asian tsunami.
"Miza's true story is a life-affirming tale of hope and courage. I think the appeal of this story is that gorillas are about 98 percent human from a genetic standpoint and it is like we are looking into a mirror at ourselves," Hatkoff told Reuters.
"My guess is you could put a name, face and nose print to every mountain gorilla left on the planet and it becomes a powerful metaphor because if we can't save the mountain gorillas what does it say about the other species we have to save."
CAMPAIGNING FOR GORILLAS
Hatkoff wants to use the book, released this week by Scholastic, as a centerpiece of a campaign to raise awareness about the endangered mountain gorillas and help the people living in the Great Lakes area of Africa.
"This is a war-torn area of the world and the loss of habitat and economic problems like the charcoal mafia have created a crisis," said Hatkoff.
"This is not longer just about saving the gorillas but we have to save the people there too who need clean water, food security, education and health care. These are complicated problems but they are solveable."
His company Turtle Pond Publications has joined forces with Scholatic, Wildlife Direct, the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative founded by Bill Clinton to raise awareness about Africa's endangered mountain gorillas.
The book will be at the core of the campaign with a children's summit on gorillas with U.S.-wide webcast planned and websites to get people involved and show how they can help.
"These true stories can create an emotional connection to real animals and the idea here is to say what you can do about it and you can become part of the story," said Hatkoff.
"Mountain gorillas must be the most magnificent species on the planet and if this campaign works, it will work for tigers, for people as well."
LOS ANGELES, Sept 24 (Reuters Life!) - The cold-blooded murder of about 10 of Congo's... more
Moving images of a female gorilla holding the lifeless body of her baby has left many asking whether animals feel similar emotions to humans. Ian Redmond, from UN's Great Ape Survival Project, and Miranda Stevenson, director of BIAZA, discuss Gorilla Gana, who appeared to mourn the sudden death of her three-month-old baby.
Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) withalong with the Mountain Gorillas Veterinary Project (MVGP) .
Up close & personal with the highly endangered mountain gorilla made famous by the late Dian Fossey. There are less than 700 of these incredible, gentle giants.
This video is a web exclusive.Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) withalong with the Mountain Gorillas Veterinary Project... more
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
G4G vice chair Kim & myself are off out to Rwanda and DR Congo on the 25th September. We hope to meet the two G4G trucks as they arrive at Rumangabo - which would be very exciting! However, we have quite a bit of excess baggage free at the moment and a call has come in, asking for Nokia mobile phones for the rangers. They get the SIM cards in DR Congo, so no worries about those. May we ask that if you have or know of any Nokia phones lying around unused and/or unwanted, would you please consider sending them on to us & we can take them out - you’ll make a ranger very happy! Nokia is by far the most popular phone in DR Congo.
Kim & myself leave on the 25th September so not long to go - but please think about any Nokias lying in that drawer!
If you don’t mind popping it / them in the post, we’ll def take them out with us.
Post to:
L. Nunn, 87 Chapel Farm Cottage, Gussage St Andrew, Blandford, Dorset, , DT11 8DL
Many thanks in anticipation - we’ll let you know how many we take out…….
Linda
Chair, G4G Gearing up 4 Gorillas: Nokia Mobile Phones Needed!
This group is part of the... more
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
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
