If you had asked me two years ago where Gabon was, I probably would have struggled to pin point its exact whereabouts in Africa on a map. Now, it’s a different story and I know only too well where this West African nation lies and sadly today, it’s made the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
courtesy of Gabon Embassy
Five people have been arrested in Gabon following what’s believed to be, the largest seizure of great ape body parts in the last ten years. The parts found include the head and hands of a gorilla, along with twelve chimpanzee heads and thirty chimpanzee hands. All of these apes slaughtered are endangered.
The raids were conducted by Gabon’s water and forestry and defence ministries with the help of various environmental aid groups.
Matthew Lewis from the environmental organisation, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), said: “These dried hands and heads imply rather more of an ornamental use or a medicinal use of these parts rather than a food use. So it is disturbing and it indicates that the rest of the animals were probably consumed for food and that these portions probably being traded somewhere else.”
Officials say they do not know what the body parts were intended for.
All of the species identified are supposed to be protected under international law, yet this sort of crime continues at an alarming rate. Illegal wildlife poaching happens all over Africa, in particular in West and Central Africa, where some say law enforcement is harder to implement.
The shocking reality is that not only are primates populations impacted by this trade, but other rare and endangered species suffer too. Among the rest of the confiscated parts were 12 leopard skins, a portion of lion skin, snake skins and five elephant tails. It is never just one animal that is killed, but usually an entire family, certainly for most primates. Species that live in groups will fight to defend those threatened, which inevitably ends in mass bloodshed.
Gabon’s rainforests are rich with wildlife, including lowland gorillas and forest elephants – and national parks make up around one tenth of the country – but this also makes it an attractive target for poachers desperate to earn a living and to feed their families, in the case of the very poor.
WWF has called for a tough judicial approach to act as a deterrent to poachers in Africa; but as I learnt from local prosecutors during my trip to Uganda, law enforcement is hard to implement and sentences are very often short. Those who are repeat offenders often slip through the net, as record keeping is poor and magistrates are none the wiser.
Luc Mathot, founder of Conservation Justice, another environmental organisation, believes the attitude in Gabon is changing though, “Recent ivory poaching prosecutions prove that the judicial authorities in Gabon now regard wildlife cases with high importance. We hope they will do the same for ape and big cat cases such as this one.”
The suspects have been remanded in custody while an investigation is carried out and are expected to appear in court this week.
whogivesamonkeys 
Brian
January 21, 2011
What still amazes me is the fact that there is evidence of illegal importation and yet it still continues! Who is running the customs at CDG airport? Who is actually tackling/monitoring this process and do the have any international powers at all?
urbanprimate
January 21, 2011
Hi Brian,
Unfortunately because bribes are still common place in Africa, the first stage of getting illegal meat/body parts on flights is easy. International customs will argue they can’t stop and search every passenger arriving from Africa, so some traffickers are bound to get through. The researchers whose data was published in Conservation Letters, helped inspect baggage from 29 flights arriving from Africa over a couple of weeks. They found seven percent of the searched passengers had bushmeat in their luggage. They calculated that over a year that could be around 200 tonnes smuggled in.
Most of those endangered species fall under the international protection of CITES. Ironically by giving them this international status, their value on the black market automatically goes up. The rarer a species, the more likely it will be exploited by poachers because it becomes more valuable – in scientific terms this is described as the Anthropogenic Allee Effect. Wildlife enforcers say the only way to stop this from happening is to target illegal traders. If there’s no demand, theoretically supply will slow….but this as we know, is far easier said than done.
Cecilia
January 21, 2011
Very interesting stuff, and sadly shocking that this still goes on.
urbanprimate
January 21, 2011
Hi Cecilia,
Thanks for the message. It is very sad, indeed.
Daisey
January 22, 2011
This is something I need to do more research into, many thanks for the blog post.
urbanprimate
January 25, 2011
Hi Daisey,
Thanks for the comment. I hope your research goes well.