Stolen lives: Liberia’s bush-meat and illegal pet trades are destroying the lives of chimpanzees.

© Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue

Introduction: Liberia is home to the second-largest west-African chimpanzee population, with approximately 7,000 wild chimpanzees[1]. This is a significant population, given that there are around only 18,000-65,000 West African Chimpanzees left in the world. However, despite their large population in Liberia, the chimpanzees are in serious danger. The Wild Chimpanzee Foundation explains that one of the three major threats that face chimpanzees is the illegal bush-meat and pet trade markets which have grown despite regulatory intervention. The result is that Liberia’s baby and young chimpanzees face the most harrowing experiences, from having their wild lives and families stolen and killed, to then being forced into chains via the illegal pet trade.

The bush-meat trade and how regulation is failing to protect chimpanzees:

The Act Adopting the Natural Wildlife Conservation and Protected Area Management Law of Liberia 2010defines bush-meat as: “the products of any vertebrate or invertebrate including mammals…”. This can, therefore, include the products of chimpanzees. Whilst communities have consumed bush-meat for centuries, population growth has created an exponential surge in the demand for bush-meat. Over 24 million people now live within the forested regions of Africa, including within Liberia, and most of these communities rely on wild bush-meat as their primary source of protein[2]. Philadelphia Zoo in a 2002 survey found that the bush-meat trade was worth $78 million, $46 million of this from rural areas[3]. From the numbers alone it is evident that unsustainable population growth is a serious threat to chimpanzees. What is also clear is that beyond being a food source, the value of chimpanzees to the natural world has been completely overlooked. Poaching for bush-meat, as a result, is now one of the greatest threats facing Liberia’s chimpanzees, they are in danger “of being eaten to extinction”[4].

Although West African Chimpanzees are critically endangered species and are protected under Appendix I of TheConvention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) which Liberia became a signatory of in 1981, this is about international trade, which does not really help the chimpanzees with regards to the domestic trade of their species in Liberian bush-meat markets. In the Wildlife and National Parks Act of Liberia, S.44 states: “No person shall hunt, capture, or trade any species under S.60”. But, S.60 states: “because our rural dwellers need proteins, it would be appropriate to reduce the number of animals not to be hunted”, as a result, chimpanzees although protected species under the Act, still are killed and the rationale used as an explanation is it is a necessity. Furthermore, weak enforcement of the legislation means that often the killing of protected species slips by the by, and even if one is caught the Wildlife and National Parks Act of Liberia makes it very clear that the fine is not less than $50 and not more than $100 or 7-14 days imprisonment. The reward, simply and crudely put, outweighs the risks and until that changes, chimpanzees will be literally living on a knife edge.

The illegal trade of baby chimpanzees as pets:

Baby chimpanzees arguably suffer the most from the bush-meat trade because this market has caused another illegal market to boom, the illegal pet trade. Baby chimpanzees are subjected to watching their families be butchered and are then smuggled around Liberia, and abroad, to be sold as illegal pets. The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation found that in the past 6 years over 14,000 baby chimpanzees have had their wild lives stolen and been sold into the pet trade. Global Financial Integrity conducted a study in 2018, Illicit Financial Flows and The Illegal Trade in Great Apes, which found that the live trade of young chimpanzees, among other Great Apes, is the most financially lucrative for dealers, and that roughly 92 baby chimpanzees entered the illegal system annually, which brought in around $1.4 million to $6.4 million annually in revenue for these criminal smugglers[5]. The life of a baby chimpanzee as a pet can barely be termed a ‘life’. The Liberian Chimpanzee Rescue Centre in 2017 rescued a young chimpanzee, who they named Mira (MIRAculous). Mira spent years with a 10lb thick metal chain around her neck, so heavy it rubbed all her fur away, and grew into her neck. She had no interactions with chimpanzees, had no kindness, spent her days chained to a post with a limited range of movement. Thankfully, Mira was saved. They also rescued Johnny, although slightly older he had been stolen as a baby, who spent years drinking nothing but gin and vodka, also tied to a post. Johnny, Mira and the 40 or so other chimpanzees rescued by the Desmonds at The Liberian Chimpanzee Rescue Centre are the lucky ones, thousands of other chimpanzees never escape their lives of trauma.

Regulation and legislation again fail the chimpanzees with regards to their suffering in the illegal pet trade. As explained above, chimpanzees are protected under CITES, however CITES has failed to protect them domestically and abroad. As the Illicit Financial Flows and The Illegal Trade in Great Apes report explains, the gaps in enforcement from international level with CITEs down to domestic Liberian private and public sector legislation is just too pock marked with gaps to be able to provide substantive and substantial protection. Liberia has taken steps to try to protect the chimpanzees from the illegal pet trade with legislative intervention. The National Forestry Reform Law 2000 of Liberia sets out at s.9(12)(d)(i): "no person shall possess any Protected Animal, whether alive or dead…without a certificate of legal ownership issued by the Authority.” S.9.12(g)(i) then states: “no person shall keep in captivity any live animal without a valid wild animal permit issued by the Authority.” These same kind of rules are reiterated in S.13 which relates to the international trade in wild animals, protected animals and wildlife. Similarly, the Wildlife and National Parks at s.41(1) makes clear that “no person shall keep in captivity any live wild animal without a permit.” However, all of these credible efforts are completely undermined by the lack of enforcement within the legislation. “Corruption, toothless laws, weak judicial systems and light sentences allow criminal networks to keep plundering wildlife with little regard to the consequences. These factors make illegal wildlife trade a low risk business with high returns. The poachers, often poor rural locals, are usually the ones caught, leaving the real master-minds to strike again”[6], leaving thousands more baby chimps vulnerable to having their freedom stolen and their lives turned into living nightmares.

A light at the end of the tunnel for chimpanzees: Despite what seems like a bleak prognosis for our closest living relatives with whom we share 98% of our DNA, there is a faint glimmer of hope that we can turn the tide on the problems chimpanzees are facing. With the help of charities like The Liberian Chimpanzee Rescue Centre based near Monrovia, the Liberian government are stepping up their enforcement and are working closely with the charity to help bring to justice those involved in the bush-meat and illegal pet trades. Many of those who work at The Liberian Chimpanzee Rescue Centre are ex-bush-meat hunters who have witnessed the horrors that chimpanzee families face at the hands of humans and who have turned their backs on the trade to help rescued chimpanzees regain their lives. In a following blog, I'm delighted to say that Jenny Desmond will be giving her own personal insight into the Liberian Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection charity and the challenges facing chimpanzees. However, until then, you can find out more about The Liberian Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection charity and the work they undertake here: https://www.liberiachimpanzeerescue.org. With charities like the Liberian Chimpanzee Rescue Centre working from the ground-up, assisted with friends like Jane Goodall of the Jane Goodall Chimpanzee Institute, there is hope that we can save the West African Chimpanzees and we can save baby chimpanzees in particular from a life in chains.

[1]https://www.safari.com/news/wild-earth/liberias-bushmeat-trade-affecting-chimpanzees/ [2]http://www.wildchimps.org/index.html [3]https://wwww.liberianobserver.com/columns/environment/consequences-of-illegal-bush-meat-hunting-in-liberia [4]https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2018/november/chimpanzees-are-at-risk-of-being-eaten-into-extinction.html [5]https://gfintegrity.org/report/illicit-financial-flows-and-the-illegal-trade-in-great-apes/ [6]http://www.worldwildlifefund.org/threats/illegal-wildlife-trade