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The term bushmeat, also called wildmeat and game meat, refers to meat from non-domesticated mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds hunted for food in tropical forests. Commercial harvesting and the trade of wildlife is considered a threat to biodiversity, and also provides a route for a number of serious tropical diseases to spread to humans from their animal hosts.

The volume of the bushmeat trade in West and Central Africa was estimated at 1-5 million tonnes per year at the turn of the century.

Nomenclature

Today the term bushmeat is commonly used for meat of terrestrial wild or feral mammals, killed for sustenance or commercial purposes throughout the humid tropics of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. To reflect the global nature of hunting of wild animals Resolution 2.64 of the IUCN General Assembly in Amman in October 2000 referred to wild meat rather than bushmeat. A more worldwide term is game. The term bushmeat crisis tends to be used to describe unsustainable hunting of often endangered wild mammals in West and Central Africa and the humid tropics, depending on interpretation. African hunting predates recorded history; by the 21st century it had become an international issue.

The bushmeat trade refers to the sale of any wild or feral species, though Western sources tend to focus on the trade specifically involving great apes. Though some bushmeat hunters have been targeting gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and other primate species, great apes constitute less than 1% of bushmeat from all species sold on the market. The high rate of harvest, combined with habitat loss and alteration, has led to very severe population declines. Some research suggests that if this trend is unchecked, extinction is likely.

The issue of bushmeat hunting is highly politicized. International efforts to stop it have been launched, especially in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada.

Contributing factors

Logging concessions operated by companies in African forests have been closely linked to the bushmeat trade. Because they provide roads, trucks and other access to remote forests, they are the primary means for the transportation of hunters and meat between forests and urban centres. Some, including the Congolaise Industrielle du Bois (CIB) in the Republic of Congo, have partnered with governments and international conservation organizations to regulate the bushmeat trade within the concessions where they operate. Numerous solutions are needed; because each country has different circumstances, traditions and laws, no one solution will work in every location.

Role in spread of diseases

The transmission of highly variable retrovirus chains causes zoonotic diseases. Outbreaks of the Ebola virus in the Congo Basin and in Gabon in the 1990s have been associated with the butchering of apes and consumption of their meat. Bushmeat hunters in Central Africa infected with the human T-lymphotropic virus were closely exposed to wild primates. Results of research on wild chimpanzees in Cameroon indicate that they are naturally infected with the simian foamy virus and constitute a reservoir of HIV-1, a precursor of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in humans. There are several distinct strains of HIV, indicating that this cross-species transfer has occurred several times. Researchers have shown that HIV originated from a similar virus in primates called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV); it is likely that HIV was initially transfered to humans after having come into contact with infected bushmeat.

The Ebola virus, for which the primary host is suspected to be fruit bats, has been linked to bushmeat. Between the first recorded outbreak in 1976 and the largest in 2014, the virus has transferred from animals to humans only 30 times, despite large numbers of bats being killed and sold each year. In Ghana, for instance, 100,000 bats are sold annually, yet not a single case of transmission has been reported in the country. Primates may carry the disease, having contracted the disease from bat droppings or fruit touched by the bats. Like humans, it is often fatal for the primate. Although primates and other species may be intermediates, evidence suggests people primarily get the virus from bats. Since most people buy pre-cooked bushmeat, hunters and people preparing the food have the highest risk of infection. Hunters usually shoot, net, scavenge or catapult their prey, and studies indicate that all hunters handle live bats, come in contact with their blood, and often get bitten or scratched.

In 2014, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa originated in Guéckédou in south-eastern Guinea and was linked to bushmeat after it was learned that the first case came from a family that hunted two species of fruit bat, Hypsignathus monstrosus and Epomops franqueti. A two-year-old child from that family, dubbed "Child Zero", died from the disease on December 6, 2013. Despite the risk, surveys pre-dating the 2014 outbreak indicate that people who eat bushmeat are usually unaware of the risks and view it as healthy food. In Western Africa, bush meat is an old tradition, associated with proper nutrition. Because livestock production is minimal, people often consume bushmeat in a way comparable to how European societies consume rabbit or deer meat. Media coverage of the 2014 outbreak and its link to bushmeat has been criticized because it has failed to focus on the primary risk of infection, which is person-to-person. This was exemplified when a major Nigerian newspaper implied that eating dog meat was a healthy alternative to bush meat. However, as human populations grow, the interactions between humans and wildlife will increase, making events like the 2014 outbreak more likely.

Animals used as bushmeat may also carry other diseases such as smallpox, chicken pox, tuberculosis, measles, rubella, rabies, yellow fever and yaws. African squirrels (Heliosciurus, Funisciurus) have been implicated as reservoirs of the monkeypox virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The bubonic plague bacteria can transfer to humans when handling or eating prairie dogs.

In many instances, catching the diseases mentioned above often occurs due to the cutting of the meat, in which animal blood, and other fluids may wind up on the people cutting it, thereby infecting them. Another way that people get infected is due to the fact that some portions of the meat may not be completely cooked. This often occurs due to the type of heating source employed: open fires over which the meat is simply hung. Improper preparation of any infected animal is often fatal.

Effect on wildlife populations, and countermeasures

The bushmeat trade is considered by some antiglobalization activists to be one of many ways in which globalization affects life on the planet, due to the lumber trade (as described in the Factors section above). There is no way (other than by researching the corporations involved, or their countries of origin) to tell which lumber has been produced in a way that assists the hunting of apes, and which has not. It has been suggested that the only way to eliminate the bushmeat trade might be industry-specific protocols, along the lines of the Harkin-Engel Protocol. Although some argue against Western interference with African culture, claiming that the West should take a value-neutral perspective on eating apes, many African cultures greatly respect or fear apes, and frown on their consumption. Some have suggested that the economic incentive to hunt bushmeat has led to an erosion of these traditional values, and that Western interference is therefore appropriate.

A main method on how the decline of wildlife (caused by the consumption of bushmeat) could be stopped is by legalising the sale of the flesh of self-grown local animals, but keeping the sale of the flesh of animals that were shot in the wild illegal. This approach is thus a bit similar as with aquaculture, as by growing the animals in farms, more such food can be produced, while keeping the wild animal population secure. The legalisation of the sale of certain endangered animal species like the tiger has been proposed by economist Barun Mitra.

It has also been proposed by Peter Arcese, an associate professor of forest sciences at the University of British Columbia, that farming infrastructure needs to be created and the international exploitation of African fishing grounds needs to stop. The fishing grounds are being overfished by mainly EU-subsidized fleets and could collapse within a few decades. Reduced fishery landings in Africa increase demand for bushmeat, which is leading many species to face extinction, and a humanitarian crisis could easily follow. In some locations the biomass of mammals in parks has been reduced by 70% since 1967 because of bushmeat harvesting. Since wildlife monitoring is limited to a few countries, the full extent and future outlook of bushmeat is not currently known.

Effect on great apes

Some species are legal to hunt and not endangered, and others not so. Only about 1% of the bushmeat trade is in ape meat. However, the apes' small numbers and the attractiveness of hunting them (being a large animal, a gorilla can offer a good payoff for each cartridge) means the impact on hunting them is considerable. Orphans of the bushmeat trade are often sold as pets, as young apes do not have enough meat on them to eat. The Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) is a member organization of sanctuaries that provide care for bushmeat orphans and education for local communities.

Armed conflict has a direct impact on the killing of great apes for bushmeat. This is largely because of the breakdown of law and order. A well-documented case was the killing and eating of mountain gorillas during the military insurrection around Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in January 2007.

Apes reproduce relatively slowly, at about one-fourth the rate of most other mammals. A study in Gabon, the wealthiest country in the region, with 80% of its forest cover still in place, showed it had suffered at least a 56% decline in its ape population over 17 years.

Other causes of wildlife decline

Small villages and indigenous communities in Amazonia, sub-Saharan Africa, and other tropical areas still rely heavily on plants and animals for life's necessities (housing, food, fuel) as they always have. The free availability of forest products has long been a sustainable buffer against poverty in tropical forest communities. But as human populations expand, populations of animals diminish, biodiversity decreases, and this relationship grows less sustainable worldwide. “The sad reality is that those who most depend upon wild sources of food are usually the ones who pay the heaviest price for biodiversity loss,” says Dr Susan Lieberman, Director WWF’s International Species Programme.TRAFFIC: The Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network

A major factor in the decline of tropical wildlife species is the harvesting of wildlife for sale, especially by outsiders. This practice flourishes as transportation to markets becomes easier. The wide availability of modern firearms ensures quick kills at the end of a hunt. New logging roads and motorized boats provide quick transport from deep forests to city markets. Markets in cities along the Amazon and other tropical rivers offer a bounty of forest and river animals, alive and dead, for meat, medicine, pets, or for blackmarket traders who will smuggle live animals into wealthy countries such as the United States for the pet trade or medical research.

See also

• Poaching
• African cuisine
• Dog meat

Species:

• Gambian pouched rat
• Greater cane rat
• Cane rat
• Fruit Bat
• Monkeys

Conservation organizations:

• Ape Action Africa

Other wildlife consumption:

• Bushfood - Australian Aborigines
• Country food - Canadian Aboriginals
• Roadkill - American rurals
• Game - Recreationally hunted animals

References

1. Nasi, R., Brown, D., Wilkie, D., Bennett, E., Tutin, C., Van Tol, G., and Christophersen, T. (2008). Conservation and use of wildlife-based resources: the bushmeat crisis. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, and Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor. CBD Technical Series no. 33.
2. Cowlishaw, G., Mendelson, S., and Rowcliffe, J. (2005). Evidence for post‐depletion sustainability in a mature bushmeat market. Journal of Applied Ecology 42(30): 460–468.
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5. Davies, G. (2002). Bushmeat and International Development. Conservation Biology 16 (3): 587–589.
6. ^ Hassan, R. M., Scholes, R., Ash, N. (eds.) (2005). Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Current State and Trends. Findings of the Condition and Trends Working Group. Island Press. p. 407. ISBN 1-55963-228-3. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
7. Bowen-Jones, E., Pendry, S. (1999). The Threats to Primates and Other Mammals from the Bushmeat Trade in Africa and How This Could Be Diminished. Oryx 33 (3): 233–247.
8. Poulsen, J. R., Clark, C. J., Mavah, G., & Elkan, P. W. (2009). Bushmeat supply and consumption in a tropical logging concession in northern Congo. Conservation Biology 23(6): 1597–1608.
9. Georges-Courbot, M. C., Sanchez, A., Lu, C. Y., Baize, S., Leroy, E., Lansout-Soukate, J., Tévi-Bénissan, C., Georges, A. J., Trappier, S. G., Zaki, S. R., Swanepoel, R., Leman, P. A., Rollin, P. E., Peters, C. J., Nichol, S. T. and T. G. Ksiazek (1997). Isolation and phylogenetic characterization of Ebola viruses causing different outbreaks in Gabon. Emerging Infectious Diseases 3(1): 59–62.
10. Wolfe, N. D., Heneine, W., Carr, J. K., Garcia, A. D., Shanmugam, V., Tamoufe, U., Torimiro, J. N., Prosser, A. T., Lebreton, M., Mpoudi-Ngole, E., McCutchan, F. E., Birx, D. L., Folks, T. M., Burke, D. S., Switzer, W. M. (2005). Emergence of unique primate T-lymphotropic viruses among central African bushmeat hunters. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 102 (22): 7994–7999.
11. Keele, B. F., Van Heuverswyn, F., Li, Y., Bailes, E., Takehisa, J., Santiago, M. L., Bibollet-Ruche, F., Chen, Y., Wain, L. V., Liegeois, F., Loul, S., Ngole, E. M., Bienvenue, Y., Delaporte, E., Brookfield, J. F., Sharp, P. M., Shaw, G. M., Peeters, M., Hahn, B. H. (2006). Chimpanzee reservoirs of pandemic and nonpandemic HIV-1. Science 313: 523–526.
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13. "Scientists find new strain of HIV". BBC News. 2 August 2009.
14. ^ Hogenboom, Melissa (October 18, 2014). "Ebola: Is bushmeat behind the outbreak?". BBC News. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |access_date= ignored (help)
15. "Struggling to Contain the Ebola Epidemic in West Africa". MSF USA. July 8, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |access_date= ignored (help)
16. Shobayo, I. (2014). Jos residents shun bushmeat stick to dog meat. Nigerian Tribune, August 2014.
17. McMichael, A. J. (2002). Population, environment, disease, and survival: past patterns, uncertain futures. The Lancet 359 (9312): 1145–1148.
18. Khodakevich, L., Szczeniowski, M., Jezek, Z., Marennikova, S., Nakano, J., & Messinger, D. (1987). The role of squirrels in sustaining monkeypox virus transmission. Tropical and geographical medicine 39 (2): 115–122.
19. Walsh, P. (2005). Yersinua pestis: Bubonic plague. University of Columbia
20. Williams, E. (2012). Unreported World: The Monkey Business documentary. Channel 4, London.
21. Williams, E. (2012). "African monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV". Health News - Health & Families. The Independent. 25 people in Bakaklion, Cameroon killed due to eating of ape
22. Legalising the flesh of self-grown local animals
23. "Bushmeat". CBC Radio. 2004-11-27. Archived from the original on 2007-03-04. Retrieved 2007-02-21.

External links

• Bushmeat Crisis Task Force
• Bushmeat Trade - Threat of Primate Extinction : Save The Primates
• The Bushmeat Research Programme of the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London
• Ape Alliance - Bushmeat Working Group
• Pan African Sanctuaries Alliance
• Bushmeat Briefings
• Bush Meat Campaign
• The wildlife trade monitoring network

v t e Apes
Extant ape species	Homo Human (H. sapiens) Pan Bonobo (P. paniscus) Chimpanzee (P. troglodytes) Gorilla Eastern gorilla (G. beringei) Western gorilla (G. gorilla) Orangutan Sumatran orangutan (P. abelii) Bornean orangutan (P. pygmaeus) Tapanuli orangutan (P. tapanuliensis) Gibbon (family: Hylobatidae)
Study of apes	Great ape language Dian Fossey Birutė Galdikas Jane Goodall Chimpanzee genome project Human Genome Project Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka Neanderthal genome project Willie Smits Lone Drøscher Nielsen Ian Redmond Elgin Center Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary Borneo Orangutan Survival Primate archaeology
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