Illegal monkey trade on the rise: up to $100,000 for a chimpanzee

for baby gorilla, prices can go up to $250,000 There are over half a million cases, as detailed in the ‘Blank Forests’ report by independent researcher Daniel Stiles for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. monkeys fleeing international controls and treaties.

In fact, the Spanish association Proyecto Gran Simio, echoing the work, is a ‘serious mistake’ allowing trade and sale of endangered species born in captivityand Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITIES).

“As part of international smuggling, babies caught in the wild are laundered in captivity through counterfeit CITES and fully enter the global sales market. CITES allows the trade and sale of endangered species such as captivity-born great apes,” they explain.

Increasing demand for exotic animals

According to the report, Demand for exotic animals as pets has increased in the last two decadesEspecially young species, a fact promoted by social networks, to this are added the wildlife meat trade or the zoo industry – in some cases self-called “rescue or conservation centres” – as well as safaris that put “incremental”. Pressure on the survival of endangered species” and not only on great apes, but also on primates and big cats.

in local markets, The torso of great apes, especially parts such as the skull or hands, is a highly desirable item. for use in traditional medicine, rituals and even by collectors, academic institutions and artists.

In short, the focus of the pandemic is a large black market – where the virus has been found to have passed from an infected wild animal to human – strictly due to a lack of inspection or sanitary control on illegal importation of monkeys. This is real, ” risk of transmitting one or more zoological diseases to humans in destination countries“, To add.

organized captures

Stiles emphasizes that the poaching system has become “more organized” over timeGangs of hunters led by traders and their intermediaries manage the captures and transport them from the forests where the monkeys live to urban centers, where they are exported to foreign markets for shipping by sea, normally by air transport. It will be “difficult” to successfully complete to the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

The investigator also accuses In most cases, they kill the mother and other monkeys in the vicinity to capture the offspring.. And as for captured specimens, if they do manage to survive prey, many die later from injuries, illness, or mistreatment they received in captivity.

“Baby gorillas are particularly difficult to keep alive. “After separation from the mother,” highlights the document, where it is estimated that between five and 10 great apes died for each captured.

Parallel to this bleeding African sanctuaries increasingly saturated with rise in rescue numbersand they have to welcome the clones that manage to free themselves from illegal traffic.

“The result with habitat destruction is a reduction in the geometric progression of populations in the wild. Stiles and other experts experienced in this dynamic of the international trade of great apes argue that the root cause of such impunity is Corruption polluting the backrooms of authorities and institutions that are supposed to monitor and prevent illicit tradeIt confirms the Great Ape Project, which stresses that the work “does not have an impact in the form of actions necessary to stop great ape smuggling.”

The two countries most active in the illegal trade of monkeys and primates are the Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea.. Among the most in-demand destinations is China, where these animals are used as “photo props” or “actors” in commercial zoos and safari parks.

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Contact address of the environment department: crizclimatica@prensaiberica.es