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The African Bushmeat Crisis
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Earth is home to millions of different plants and animals. The cycle of life is a very delicate process in which every species depends on every other species for survival. Endangered species are living things whose population is so reduced that they are threatened with extinction. Thousands of species are included in this category. The International Union for the Conservation of nature and Natural Resources publishes a list of threatened mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and plants. The causes of extinctions millions of years before humans were inhabiting earth was linked to climate and geological changes, the effects of which were translated into major alternation of the environment. Environmental change is still the primary cause of the extinction of animals, however now the changes are greatly accelerated by human’s activity. Today and especially in the last twenty years their has been an overwhelming problem with the hunting and killing of bushmeat around the continent of Africa. So at this point your asking yourself what is bushmeat and what is the crisis? In Africa, forest is often referred to as the bush’, thus wildlife and the meat derived from it is referred to as "bushmeat". This term applies to all wildlife Species, a number of which are threatened or endangered species used for meat including: elephant; gorilla; chimpanzee and other primates; forest antelope (duikers); porcupine; bush pig; cane rat; pangolin; monitor lizard; guinea fowl; etc. Though habitat loss is often cited as the primary cause of wildlife extinction, commercial hunting for the meat of wild animals has become the most immediate threat to the future of wildlife in the Congo Basin of Africa in the next 5-10 years and has already resulted in widespread local extinctions throughout West Africa (BCTF). Though there are many species endangered by this phenomenon of the killing and trading of bushmeat, the most effected are the Chimpanzee, Bonobo, and the Gorillas which belong to the great apes of Africa. The combinations of Social and economical factors that influence the decline on the populations from the demands of bushmeat could push our closest animal relatives to the brink of extinction in just a few decades unless immediate actions are taken.
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