The illegal commercial bushmeat trade in Central and West Africa

All of the great apes of Africa, chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas are endangered by human population growth, habitat destruction, illegal trafficking of apes for entertainment, private zoos and hunting. Bushmeat trade is the commercial hunting and selling of wild animals for food. It is very different from subsistence hunting, which comprises killing animals for food for a family or village. Once money is involved, anything goes. Even mothers with babies are shot which is, of course, tantamount to killing the goose that lays the golden egg. It is not sustainable. In the Congo Basin and elsewhere in Central and West Africa this is one of the most serious threats to chimpanzees and other endangered animals, which will result in ever more species becoming endangered.