A Quarter for My Thoughts

"The clock is standing at one minute to midnight for the great apes," said Klaus Toepfer of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). "Some experts estimate that in as little as five to 10 years they will be extinct across most of their range."                                                                     
ORANGUTANS, GORILLAS, CHIMPANZEES and BONOBOS are decreasing rapidly from our ecosystem as part of a multibillion-dollar trade in wildlife. Over 22,000 primates have been traded illegally over a seven-year period ending in 2011.

As well as the proliferation of logging and mining camps, these mammals are savagely hunted. Taken from their habitats, these apes primarily come from western and central Africa. With the initial destination of Asia and the Middle East, they can be transported by cargo planes from the African bush. In 2005, to site one of numerous examples, the airport in Nairobi confiscated a large container holding apes and monkeys. They were cruelly confined in tight quarters, and several died of dehydration and starvation.Seldom are the poachers arrested as there are few policies in place forbidding these practices. Traffickers get around the minimal regulations by declaring their take as captive-bred. In Asia and Africa, only 27 arrest were noted between 2005 and 2011.

"Local extinctions are happening rapidly and each one is a loss to humanity, a loss to the local community and a hole torn in the ecology of our planet," said Toepfer. "We can no longer stand by and watch these wondrous creatures, some of whom share over 98% of the DNA found in humans, die out."

Thousands of dollars are paid out to privately own an ape as an exotic animal. Unethical zoos and amusement parks are often part of these disreputable dealings, and traveling circuses are known to be offenders. Also purchased to be displayed in gardens and menageries, confiscated primates can be seen in countries around the world. The United Nation report tells of Cambodia and Thailand as harboring apes to be used in clubs and displayed in boxing matches.

The United Nation's census states that traffickers have an upper hand and that all apes are vulnerable... that the survival of these animals is unquestionably threatened. Between the cruelty of some men and encroaching land issues, where will these magnificent animals, cousin to man, find themselves over ensuing time?

"When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future."
Dian Fossey


  [The report produced by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) through the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP)
  countercurrents.org
  Associated Press ]