July 19, 2006...4:31 pm
Ape Meat Sold in U.S., European Black Markets
Bushmeat is the term coined and commonly used for the meat of terrestrial wild animals, killed for subsistence or commercial purposes throughout the humid tropics of the Americas, Asia and Africa. Bushmeat species include apes, other primates, ungulates, rodents, birds and some invertebrates. The act of hunting bush meat is very common in sub-Saharan Africa’s dense forests, where endangered gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos, as well as other primate species live.
For quite sometime, it has been believed that bushmeat consumption widespread to only western and central Africa. This ignorance prevails because bushmeat is thought to be a form of subsistence hunting isolated to the poor of Africa, as a cheap form of food their families and villages. However, new evidence from Justin Brashares, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of California, Berkeley and his team, show that they have found the,
“…illegal meat in markets in Paris, Brussels, London, New York City, Montreal, Toronto, and Los Angeles.
The team documented 27 instances of gorilla or chimpanzee parts being sold. They found that most illegal meat is carried in suitcases and also is shipped in parcels and large containers coming through JFK and Miami airports. Inspectors say they can only catch about one percent of the total coming into the country, sadly.
As culturally sensetive as I try to be I can’t believe there are some people that think busmeat is a delicacy. They must be outstandingly jaded. I won’t even touch the argument that the transport of this meat is less than sanitary… but what about the one that primates harbour pathogens that also affect humans? Ebola for instance is epidemic in chimps and gorillas, and spread to humans during the butchering and hunting of such animals. One of the many hypotheses that attempt to explain how HIV crossed over to humans is that the virus passed into people by this hunting and/or butchering of an ape, most probably a chimpanzee or gorilla. Hunting and butchering produces blood splatters that easily create infective aerosols.
All in all, you aren’t disgusted at this, then I don’t know what to say… I’ll just leave with some images of bushmeat from photographer Karl Ammann.
“An early bush-meat picture with a very representative story behind it. That morning we were pulled out of a bush taxi at a road junction to record a statement with the police. Our taxi went on with the rest of the passengers, and we had to wait for the next one the next day. We then met a hunter while walking along the road. He told us that he had killed a female gorilla that morning. The police chief of Moloundou—a town farther south—had sent him the rifle requesting him to ‘get some gorilla meat.’ He shot the female gorilla that morning and sent the gun and the carcass back on the daily bush-taxi run. He was allowed to keep the head and one arm for his efforts. He proved this story by taking us to his kitchen, where I took this picture after he lifted the basket that had covered the head.”
“Gorilla hands are considered a delicacy and are served to the guest of honor at official functions. The Dutch Catholic bishop of Bertoua told me that even after more than a decade in the region, he was still regularly served gorilla hands and feet—even after he consistently rejected them.”
“This person, on the way home from shopping at one of the Libreville bush-meat markets, carries a ‘bagged’ male mandrill. Libreville, the capital of Gabon, is headquarters to many Western conservation nongovernmental organizations. It is the one major town in central Africa where the meat of a wide range of endangered species is still openly on display.”
“This chimp orphan is being kept captive as a plaything for children.
“Crocodiles like this one have the misfortune of being transported alive in this tied condition. Fresh meat earns a higher price than smoked meat at the bush-meat market.”
“A fetish seller in Yaoundé displays snakeskins, many gorilla skulls, and an elephant jaw. A fetish is an object or an animal that is believed to have powerful magic that can help humans.”
“A hunter returning from a morning’s outing with a typical ‘bag’ of guenons. This productivity level will decline fast as soon as commercial hunting takes off.”
“A Pygmy butchers a silverback gorilla. They shot the ape on the way back from an elephant hunt after they lost a wounded bull elephant.”
24 Comments
July 24, 2006 at 10:02 am
I heard a long time ago that there was a very active monkey meat business in California. With the large Chinese population, upscale and specialty Chinese restaurants serve fresh monkey brains, a delicacy. The monkey was kept alike under a covered table, and only the top of the head comes out of the top. A sharp hatchet type instrument was used to slice off the top of the head and the fresh brains are served to the customers. At the time it was done through a black market and customers had to have inside connections to know where it was done. I do not know if ASPCA or some legal organization ever discovered it.
March 17, 2007 at 11:19 am
[...] That is what the CDC has reported in an article over at ABC News. The article, “Bushmeat: Curse of the Monkey’s Paw” reminds us that bushmeat trade is still prevalent, and there is an unusually high demand for this meat here in the US, which I outlined last year. [...]
May 23, 2007 at 3:57 pm
This website is disturbing… Apes should not be treated like this, they are just as human and friendly as we are. If you think about it we pretty much originated from them… I think the killings should be put to a stop and save what little we have of them left to be appreciated.
June 11, 2007 at 5:22 pm
This website is aload of sh#te.
First of all why the term “Bushmeat” why not ‘Survival food’ The term “bushmeat” comes complete with colonial connotation and implication of a sort of existing savergery. What on earth dose this coined-up label “bush meat’ mean? Dose it litterally mean shrubs/bushes made of meat? If followed to it’s ilogical conclusion monkeys live in bushes rather than trees! Since when could lush tropical forests containing far bigger, stronger and greener trees then anything found in the lushest part of Europe (ie Britain) be misrepresented as a bush!
“crocodiles like this one have the misfortune of being transported alive in this tied condition.” Fresh meat earns a higher price than smoked meat at the bush-meat market.”
…sorry but how the hell do you expect someone to transport an untied croc. Crocodiles are routinely tied up before transportation in Western animal prisons/bushmeatprisons (Zoos) On top of that the Zoo’s Gunmen routinely shoot and tranqualise etc it’s captive animals before transportation etc.
“Fresh meat earns a higher price than smoked meat at the bush-meat market.”
…whats the problem and whats with all the bush-isms? fresh meat rightly commands a higher price anywhere you go in the world whether it be so-called food markets, butchers, delicontessent, so-called “bush-meat markets” and ’super’-markets, a bush-meat banquets, bushwar-bushmeat-army-bushmeatcanteens, why pick on Africa for this?
“This chimp orphan is being kept captive as a plaything for children.”
…how the hell do you know that that chimp ‘orphan’ (whose mother may of either naturally rejected it’s newborn or been prayed upon by a predator ie Leopard) is being kept alive as a “plaything for children”. Is this chimp a plaything for a particualar child of an over-loving parent or any child who comes along? Why is it being implyed that people in Africa are incapable of rescuing animals? would you prefer a baby chimp to be scolded all day? Why dosen’t your capation read…’rescued baby chimp’ Anyway judging by the photo (suspiciouly complete with a naked todler in the background) the little chimp looks far happier and healthier than alot of the pets routinely kept as playthings I’ve seen in so-called ‘animal loving’ Britain. Why have you got a chip on your shoulder about people in Africa also being entitled to keep pets has happens all over the world.
Going for calculated titalating primate shots in every photo bar a lone reptile photograph clearly misrepresents what game is actually consumed under eronous titles about “bushmeat” and a layman can easily workout that primate and reptilles form a minscule percentatge of any game hunted.
Whats with the staged severed Gorilla head resting in a bowl complete with a bunch of bannanas prop (which somehow got into the shot) and photoshopped fake blood. Creeps.
Karl Ammann seems to be a lazy-arsed photographer obsessed and profiteering out of dead monkeys. Website is al about ‘karl’s this’ and ‘karl’s that’ complete with watermarks allover the photos.
Rather than use local photographers we have the spectacle of a German photographer leaving behind a whacking big carbon footprint while conducting his ‘commercial blood photography’
Personally if primatology.net, Karl Ammann or any other profiteer from the bogus “bush-meat” industry wanted to invade my space, snoop around my property and take photos of my dinner I would either expect financial payment or tell the photographer to get lost. If Karl Ammann and co can make a killing out of those photos why can’t they…you know the “the person” “the fetish seller” “the hunter” and “the pygmy”.
karl clearly finds choped up ape fotos thrilling so instead of jetseting off why dosen’t he take photos of farmed-primates/farmed-bushmeat in Britain and record the horrors they go through in it’s laboratories while testing their grabbed bush-medecines.
Anyway considering all the gibberish spouted out from the bushmeat industry alot of people seem strangely healthy and full of life in those photos considering how alledgedly bad ‘bushmeat’ is ment to be for humans consumption.
PS could Karl Ammann please try not to include other people’s naked children while taking photos of people’s dinners.
Whoever the bushmeat industry’s target of demonisation and guilt tripping about food are (it especially seems to be Africans for some reason) those men, women and children owe nobody an appology for what constitutes their diet.
The Survival Foods Movement.
June 11, 2007 at 7:07 pm
To the commenter from the Anti Blairofascist League,
You’re right on a few points but in general are so very wrong on the others you bring up. What you are right about about, is that the term bushmeat originated from a colonial description to describe the meat of terrestrial wild animals, killed for subsistence or commercial purposes throughout the humid tropics of the Americas, Asia and Africa.
It literally means the meat that comes out of the ‘bush’ or wild. So don’t be a smart ass and think we associate it with shrubs/bushes made of meat. If you think that’s a valid argument, you need to do a serious reanalysis of your talking points.
Aside from the etymology of the word bushmeat, you raise interesting and sometimes valid arguments. What you are addressing, albeit in a very immature manner, are concepts and critiques related to cultural relativism. As the author of this blog post, I acknowledge that there are some places where cultures and practices should not be intervened with from outsiders — but there are other situations where serious actions need to be taken.
Bushmeat and the industry that supports it is one of these situations that needs to be addressed from both the outside and the inside, i.e. the poachers and what not. We do not have a chip on our shoulder about people in Africa who partake in this industry. It is wrong no matter who does it.
I won’t spend much time arguing with you about the use of poignant photos of primates being butchered. They are not photoshopped. If you believe these photos are fake then you are ignorant. These are very real photos, and you should be prepared to accept that if you are arguing in favor of bushmeat.
How bushmeat is defined in our popular culture and how it is used in our language, is to describe is an unethical approach to hunting and sustenance. Bushmeat does not need to be done, especially considering many of the species that are hunted are seriously endangered. It is savage, it is wrong, it needs to be dealt with.
Kambiz
June 11, 2007 at 11:20 pm
[...] So I’ll be straight up honest with you here, I’m still a bit shell shocked with this comment left this evening that basically defending the bushmeat [...]
June 13, 2007 at 6:03 am
I am horrified at the remarks made on this forum by “antiblairofacist league”. What an idiot, when many species of primates are virtually extinct to make sure puerile immature remarks, surely designed just to wind up conservationists. Please keep on educating the world about the horrors the bushmeat trade and help save these remarkable creatures. Yes, the pictures are horrible, yes I am sure they are real and blair… should hang his head in shame and grow up quickly!
June 23, 2007 at 12:58 pm
I can understand the concern with PR; however, I cannot fathom the callusnous with which animals in their natural habitats (shrinking) are addressed by the unkind commenter above. These are real lives, who form communal bonds as tightly as we humans and who are capable of understanding sign language. Please show some restraint. Trying to define wild animals in terms of their geography, irregardless of their culture, is no different than trying to define humans in terms of their biology, irrespective of their environment. We all value the inherent treasures of Africa, its great wildlife being a supreme example.
July 3, 2007 at 5:10 pm
this is a horrific discovery.
October 3, 2007 at 1:43 pm
I hate these people. Earth doesn’t need them…
October 5, 2007 at 5:26 pm
oh, it’s ok. let the poor of africa starve. it’s really much more important to save the lives of animals. in fact, lets just go over and kill all the africans. that could save a lot more animals lives.
October 8, 2007 at 6:31 pm
i hate people who eat animals!!!! human are so freaking selfish all they think about is themselves and wut animal they need to kill to feed there worthless stomach!!! i hate meat eating selfish human beings!!! who the hell do these humans think they are the king of the earth??? yea right god is the king!!! and humans are killing his creations to feed them selves and thats selfish!!! U DAM RIGHT I HOPE ALL THEM AFRICANS STARVE TO DEATH!!!!
October 19, 2007 at 9:12 am
How do you feel about animals who eat animals? Should they die too? Also, how would God feel if he knew that you wanted his children to die? Even if they’re sinners he still loves them. Did he personally appoint you to judge them? At my church we recently made a contribution to “CROP”, A program that educates people like these to cultivate their land and gives them seeds/supplies instead of just giving them food. I think you would be a very influence on a program like this if you redirect you thinking. Your basic feeling may be correct (though I also eat some meats) but you should do a little research and see why things are the way they are. You will probably find that some of your everyday activities and /or purchases force these people to live this way. They can not cultivate their land because they are oppressed. My Pastor, who is white (I’m the only black guy at my church), says that people like these people don’t start the race at the starting line. Some of them start so far back that they will never even see our dust. Others are so far back that they don’t even know which way to run. Some of these people are controlled by forces that are not published in this article but please don’t take my word for it, research it. I want you to see the proof on your own so that you will know that I’m not lying. Who condones this type of market? How can these Africans defy this power? You may make a difference if you can answer these questions. I don’t dislike people like you I just want you to look at booth angles of this
December 7, 2007 at 5:24 am
how rude to show pictures of a gorillas hand that had been chopped also a head think the sight is discusting i came across this site as i was looking for pictures of the gorilla i got pictures alright think its absolutley revolting how people cud be so mean to these beautiful animals horrendus!!!!!!!!!
December 14, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Hey you buch of ape loving dolts , humans are dying and you cry over these filthy animals being shot and eaten. I say we go there and have an orgy of killing apes !!!! Then we can have a barbercue with the living orphans, yummmmyyyy! But don’t cry, I’ll cut the heads off their stressed out little furry bodies and put the next to the baby we are eating. So you know which one you are munching on. Leg or ribs? Oh and just have to have Jane Goodape, and Rachel Hogape over to sample some delicious baby gorilla and baby chimp and as an added bonus we give them the heads of the babies they ate as a memento. So to all of you ape ass kissers MAN RULES!!!!!!
January 23, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Its very sad the level of ignorance that continues to dominate the worlds human population. If we actually looked at and accepted the facts and science of primatology and listened to its scientists then perhaps all of the surviving cousins of ours wouldn’t go extinct :(. Instead we have society’s built upon living unsustainable and consumption has no limit in our minds and has terrible limits and repercussions on the remaining finite natural resources of the Earth.
February 5, 2008 at 12:16 pm
In response to Anti Blairofascist League’s quite frankly disguisting comments.
I can’t honestly grasp that you could possibly beleive in what you have written! You could be more closely related to a chimpanzee than you are to your spouse! It’s practiacally canabalism!
As for that orphan chimpanzee, to anyone who has any experience with Chimpanzees (which I can tell you have not) it is obviously distressed. It’s most probably witnessed it’s mother (if not it’s entire family) slaughtered! It’ll be emotionally damaged and in need of someone who understands chimps. It’s like you being taken away from everything you’ve ever known and being forced into a different way of living, with no family or proper care.
It makes me so angry and quite sick to think that there are people like you in the world. My question is, what makes human beings the more important speicies? How is is acceptable for humans to kill apes, and not the other way around?
You need to stop being so narrow minded and selfish and seriously think about what kind of person you are. Because if you can believe that bushmeat is okay, then perhaps you’re the one with the animal mentality.
February 22, 2008 at 9:24 am
My name is Terra Hilger I work at Blanchard Middle School as a science teacher and I love that this website is informing people about bushmeat and the bushmeat trade. My classmates and I are trying to inform the bushmeat trade, we dont like what they are doing to these poor animals.
February 29, 2008 at 7:20 am
I hate when people are so crul to animals. It makes me sad too because I think of them as furry humans so thisis murder and it needs to stop. When I grow up I’m gonna be a primatologist and help protect them!!!!!!!
March 7, 2008 at 2:11 am
As someone who graduated with an anthropology degree, who loves the subject. And who deeply believe in the conservation of natural environment on our planet and looking after bio diversity. I have no problem with the idea of “bush meat” be stoped.
However, I feel very angry at the way this post dispicts Africans and the racist diatribe is has engendered.
I am deeply disturbed by that fact an anthropologist would let his or her emotions get the better of himself or herself and be unable to look deeper into the social, economic and cultural reasons for native people eating foods from THEIR LAND, and the problems that is involved in convincing people to do otherwise.
I feel it is ridiculous to expect people who do not have the education opportunities we have in the first world to understand ideas such as conservation and biodiversity without a comprehensive education program to go with the changing of behavior.
But I feel even more horrified that people who have had the education opportunities in the first world would write comments such as “I hope all Africans Starve to Death” in an attempt to be “compassionate” towards animals.
I am deeply embarrassed by this post by both the author and the commenters.
It really is a shame because I have enjoyed looking at this site so far, and I think this post and the commenters have brought the site to a very very shallow and childish level.
March 7, 2008 at 7:02 am
Yan,
No one is forcing you to read this site. That being said, I’m not gonna change my opinions on bush meat just to be culturally relative and accepting of where these people come from.
They are doing something wrong. They need to stop. It just so happens that much of the bush meat problem comes from Africa, but I’ve written how they’re not the sole group to blame. For the most part, they aren’t killing these animals on their land. Rather many of these animals are killed on national, or even international grounds, that have been set aside to conserve the wildlife.
Again, you’re more than welcome to read other sites that match your view points. I’m not making you read this site, nor will I change my tone to appease to you. You’re also more than welcome to continue reading , but please take this advice — as an anthropologist, actually as any academic studying people and culture, subjectivity does no good. I really don’t care about how you feel about people in the bush meat industry when it is obvious they are doing wrong.
Kambiz
March 13, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Africa has neither the infrastrucute, stability or economic flexibility to actively pursue the illegal hunting of endangered animals when much more pressing matters that deal with HUMAN life need to resolved. Africa, unargueably the poorest continent in the world, plauged with political strife and disease will see no improvement with the stopping of the bushmeat trade, and will only see the people who survive on substinence level through the bush trade fall into further poverty. Until Africa begins to produce something that the world wants to buy other than rare skins, endangered meats, diamonds and other raw materials, their will be no practical advantage to stopping the bushmeat trade
June 8, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Anyone who would hurt or kill any of these most amazing creatures in my opinion wouldn’t have a problem doing the same thing to a human. One wouldn’t butcher grandpa to make a dollar if they were starving, I see no difference in the massacre of Great Apes. It’s murder in my view.
June 30, 2008 at 12:05 am
Proof Africans are truly cannibals- it was never a lie.
$600 billion USD pumped into Africa and it remains the greatest sh!thole on the planet, breeding like insects witbout regard to having resourcdes or not to provide for them.
The best solution for Africa is to simply let them starve.
Survival of the fittest- animals that out-reproduce their food face famine- why not these obviously intellectually inferior nuisances?
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