Primates top bush target

BUSHMEAT, widely eaten across Africa, refers to non-domesticated bird, reptile, amphibians and mammal species from tropical forests.

Primates are popular to due to being large bodied and spending long periods in trees – making them easier to target.

Which species is eaten varies. For example, Another orphan brought to the sanctuary was Winner.

The four-year-old was found close to Liberia’s border with Guinea in 2017.

He was kept in a tiny cage for a year, allowed out just once a week. Winner and Rudy now live with 45 other chimps.

Dr Garrod said: “You can’t just walk into a forest and grab a baby chimp.

“You have to kill their mum and others for their meat. Babies are hardly worth eating but are worth thousands in the pet trade. That’s why we see so many orphans, the tragic by-product of the bushmeat trade.”

Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue and Protection co-founder Jenny Desmond told how a mix of minimal penalties, lax borders and culture allows the trade to flourish, despite being illegal.

She added: “This is the biggest threat to our chimp population. The orphans arrive shell-shocked with missing fingers from clinging on to their mothers and often with bits of shrapnel in their flesh from the gun shots to others in the group.

“If we sit back and allow this trade to continue, in the near future this majestic species could be wiped out.” in Liberia it is chimps and in Madagascar they traditionally hunt lemurs. In west and central Africa gorillas and chimps are hunted, leaving traumatised orphans to be sold as pets.

Although much bushmeat serves a domestic market, there is also an illegal international trade, serving African expat communities.