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In January 2006, a drug dealer was arrested in Cameroon.
In the boot of his car, officials discovered 50 kilograms of
marijuana and a baby chimpanzee wedged between the sacks.
The dealer was also found to be in possession of cocaine, and
admitted that he had been regularly trading other protected
primates, and employed at least five poachers.
In February 2005, customs officials at the Nairobi airport
seized a large crate labelled 'dogs’ that had arrived from
Egypt. Inside they found six chimpanzees and four monkeys
stuffed into tiny compartments. The crate had been refused
by Egyptian authorities at the Cairo airport due to insufficient
permits, and the woman accompanying the crate returned to
Nigeria without her luggage. Although one of the chimpanzees
died almost immediately from hunger and thirst, the rest
were sent to a sanctuary in Kenya.
In December 2005, two travellers in possession of Russian pass-
ports – a Ukrainian and his Congolese companion – boarded an
Air France flight from Kinshasa bound for Russia carrying an
infant bonobo in a handbag. Air France officials accepted their
permit from the DR Congo Ministry of Agriculture as valid,
and it was not until a wildlife activist on the plane reported
the couple that the ape was confiscated. Airport authorities
at first intended to euthanize the bonobo for fear of Ebola or
other deadly diseases, but arrangements were made instead
to send the bonobo to a sanctuary in DR Congo. The travellers,
meanwhile, continued their journey to Russia without delay
or questioning. Passenger records indicated that they were
frequent travellers on the Moscow-Kinshasa route; suggesting
that this kind of traffic was a common occurrence.
Apes and Drugs
Chimpanzees in a Box
Bonobo in a Handbag
2005
2006