Elisabeth Benkam, Voices of Africa reporter in Yaounde, Cameroon

To fight poaching, the Cameroonian ministry of animal husbandry and fishing launched in 2002 a hedgehog- breeding initiative in favour of the national Association of the breeders of the hedgehog (ANEAC).

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Statistics available to The Statesman in Kumasi from the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission reveals that annual volume of bush meat estimated at 384,992 tons valued at 350 million dollars is harvested in Ghana as against the total annual consumption which also estimated at 225,287 tons and valued at 205 million dollars.  

 http://www.thestatesmanonline.com/pages/news_detail.php?newsid=6944§ion=1

Gabriela Nunez-Iturria,1, Ola Olssonb, Henry F. Howea,c,*

Hunting with firearms decimates primates of large and medium body size (>2 kg) that disperse the seeds of large-seeded trees. In continuous, un-fragmented forests of southeastern Peru regularly hunted with firearms for 30-40 years, large primates are extirpated and medium-sized (medium) primates are reduced 61% compared with protected forests. At hunted sites seedlings and small juveniles (<1m height) of trees dispersed by primates heavier than 2 kg are reduced 46%, a loss of one species m2, and abiotically-dispersed plants are 284% more common, adding eight individuals m2, compared with protected forests. Here we provide evidence consistent with the long-held prediction that commercial hunting changes plant communities. We show that the composition of seedling and small juvenile tree communities that ultimately regenerate future forests differs markedly in forests hunted with firearms compared with protected forests. This opens the possibility of shifts in tree species composition, even in hunted forests that are not logged or fragmented, towards forests dominated by trees dispersed by wind or non-game animals.

The 2003 outbreak of Ebola in the Republic of Congo killed 114 people and up to 800 western lowland gorillas. This outbreak and all outbreaks between 2001-2003 began with human handling of infected animal carcasses. Ebola has since spread, putting the entire gorilla population at risk. An epidemiological model is presented to describe the combined effects of Ebola and hunting on persistence of gorillas. The number of infected gorillas also provides a means of assessing the risk of transmission to humans. Under current harvest practices and the estimated annual outbreak rate, the gorilla population is predicted to undergo a 97% decline within 100 years. Controlling bushmeat hunting may not be enough to prevent extinction if frequent outbreaks occur.

Although deforestation and habitat loss are considered the main causes of wildlife depletion, the bushmeat trade is one of the foremost threats to biodiversity conservation in central Africa. In 1997 and 1998, we set up a bushmeat trade monitoring program in the town of Gamba to assess the pressure exerted on wildlife by the human population attracted by the oil industry in the Gamba Protected Areas Complex. During 279 days of observations, we recorded 19 mammal species, 4 bird species, and 7 reptile taxa, for a total of 2845 animal carcasses with an estimated weight of 189,728 kg. Even though the bushmeat trade is illegal in protected areas, calculation of annual production levels and hunting yields showed that this trade is not sustainable for some species. We calculated the ratio of bushmeat found in the markets of Gamba to the human population. Compared with other Gabonese towns, Gamba had the highest ratio in the country. We suggest that the oil industry is another contributor to the bushmeat crisis in central Africa. It is important to recognize the role of oil companies in the current crisis in order to heighten the awareness of the public and of oil companies and to seek ways of lessening the impact of the oil industry on the bushmeat trade in central Africa.

We provide the first documented case of the extinction in the twentieth century of a widely recognized primate taxon. During surveys in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire in 1993-1999, we were unable to find any surviving populations of Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey (  Procolobus badius waldroni), a primate taxon endemic to the forests of this part of West Africa. We conclude that this monkey, which at least one authority considers worthy of species status, is probably extinct. Hunting by humans appears to be the ultimate cause of the extinction. Until our surveys began, little attention had been paid to the plight of this red colobus monkey, despite its listing as endangered by the World Conservation Union. The extinction of other large animals in the Upper Guinea rainforest region is likely to follow soon unless more attention is paid to the full range of endangered forms and more resources are devoted to their rigorous protection.