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Illicit trade in Great apes
The primary threat to the Great apes is habitat loss. However,
great apes are also trafficked in various ways. In many cases
wild capture is opportunistic: farmers capture infant apes
after having killed the mother during a crop-raid, or bush-
meat hunters shoot or trap adults for food, and then collect
the babies to sell. Organized illicit dealers increasingly target
great apes as part of a far more sophisticated and systematic
trade. They use transnational criminal networks to supply
a range of markets, including the tourist entertainment
industry, disreputable zoos, and wealthy individuals who
want exotic pets as status symbols. Great apes are used to
attract tourists to entertainment facilities such as amuse-
ment parks and circuses. They are even used in tourist photo
sessions on Mediterranean beaches and boxing matches in
Asian safari parks.
Even conservative estimates suggest that the illegal trade in
great apes is widespread. From 2005 to 2011, a minimum of
643 chimpanzees, 48 bonobos, 98 gorillas and 1,019 orangu-
tans are documented to have been lost from the wild through
illicit activities. These numbers are based on seizures and
arrival rates of orphans at sanctuaries in 12 African countries
and rehabilitation centres in Indonesia, expert reports, and
great ape bushmeat and body parts seized from illegal traders.
Based on extrapolations, it is likely that as many as 22,218
wild great apes were lost between 2005 and 2011 related to
the illegal trade, with chimpanzees comprising 64 per cent
of that number. The annual average loss of 2,972 great apes
could have serious consequences for the biodiversity of key
regions, given the important role great apes play in main-
taining healthy ecosystems. Sadly, law enforcement efforts
lag far behind the rates of illegal trade. Only 27 arrests were
made in Africa and Asia in connection with great ape trade
between 2005 and 2011, and one quarter of the arrests were
never prosecuted.
Prices for great apes vary greatly. A poacher may sell a live
chimpanzee for USD 50–100, whereas the middleman will
resell that same chimpanzee at a mark-up of as much as
400 per cent. Orangutans can fetch USD 1,000 at resale, and
gorillas illegally sold to a zoo in Malaysia in 2002 reportedly
went for USD 400,000 each. Such prices are extremely rare
however, and the poacher who captures a live specimen may
lose it to injuries, illness or stress, or have it confiscated if the
poacher is arrested. At best, the actual poachers may earn only
a fraction of the ultimate sale price of a great ape.
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