BUSHMEAT CRISIS

SAHRA HAJI, JASMINE RACKLEY, SHANNON WILLIAMS, TRAM

TRUONG

Gorillas, chimpanzees and bats, etc. are the animals

that are killed the most
A picture of a baby gorilla in the forest

Overview of the issue

Bushmeat- bush means wild in African language, bushmeat means meat from wildlife
One million metric tons of wildlife animals is being killed for food in Central Africa
Illegal hunting
Wildlife is being destroyed due the illegal hunting
Habitat loss is a sign of primary threats to wildlife animals
Species is lessened
Illegal trade

Bushmeat leads to many diseases like HIV/AIDs, Ebola, Smallpox, etc.

Issue causes
Population growth
There is not enough food for people because there are many families that have a large amount of
children in the house.

Poverty
Hunters can earn much money by selling meat from forests rather than farming

Traditional culture
The tradition of eating wild meat get passed down in the family generation by generation in many
South America, Asia countries

Lack of government
Many African governments dont really do things to make the crisis decrease

These are the main causes of the crisis

People sell meat freely at trading centers

Women selling monkey meat in a market in Kisangani, Congo. Several tons of illegal 'bushmeat' are being smuggled into Europe
each week

Impacts to the Environment

Species are lessened
Animals keep being orphaned due to the bushmeat poaching
Tropical forests, jungles are reduced

People can get a lot of profits by selling the animals

The men are happy because they got a big gorilla, which will be a lot of meat and a lot of money if theyre selling them

Impacts to Personal Health

Serious diseases
HIV/ AIDs, Ebola, smallpox, chicken pox, monkey pox, etc.
Especially HIV/ AIDs, Ebola- these two are the most serious diseases in the world
There is no certain cure or vaccines for those two
These diseases are transmitted mainly through the animals blood

Ebola disease- originally transmitted from fruit bats

Health workers in Liberia are placing a man who suspected of dying from Ebola into a plastic bag

Impacts to global and local communities

The bushmeat trading is not only happening domestically, its also getting internationally
The trading goes around the world, also means that the diseases are getting spread all around the world
Hunters get really rich by selling the meat
People believe that bushmeat are fresh
Nowadays there are too many chemicals that are being used in animals to make the animals grow faster,
so people think they would eat bushmeat, the fresh one, rather than eat the one with chemicals, but the
reality is totally different

Current solutions
Making the public aware of bushmeat crisis
Having law enforcement
Educate children about the importance of avoiding bushmeat
Create further legislation to prevent the trade of the bushmeat

Medicines have not been developed for diseases like

Ebola, HIV/AIDs, etc.
A child who survived from the Ebola virus is being fed by another survivor at a treatment center in Hasting, Sierra Leone.

Call to action
Spread the word of bushmeat
Help organizations that trying to prevent the bushmeat crisis
Ensure the source of all the meat that you consume
Do not ever eat bushmeat

Shifting baselines
Many years ago, there was a diverse range of animals in the forest
However because of the bushmeat trade, in the Congo basin alone, 295 chimpanzees were slaughtered and if
the trade keeps getting going, the animals will be gone in 50 years
Approximately one million metric tons of animals are killed for food in this region, due to poverty and the lack of
government.
In the future, the animals might get killed more, all the wild animals might disappear in a really short amount of
time compared to the amount of time that the earth had made.
People do not really care about the animals or some of them accepted the fact that there are still animals in the
jungle but not care about the amount of them.
People have shifted their baselines because as time goes on people kill animals more because there are more
people but less animals.
Today, people continue eating bushmeat despite all of the negative impacts

Please go to References tab for

references