Illegal online sales endanger Cameroon chimps
Advertisements on the Internet to woo buyers into taking “playful primates” from Cameroon into their homes have become one of the primary means of further threatening already endangered species. Such sales would be illegal, since dealing in primates is forbidden in the central African country. In the past three years, however, the Internet has led to a flourishing trade in endangered species, according to an environmental activist in the front line. Ofir Drori directs a small non-governmental organisation, the Last Great Ape Organization (Laga-Cameroon), which works in conjunction with the Cameroonian ministry of forestry and wildlife to try to stem the lucrative trade in beasts both dead and alive. “Kiki is ready for a new family. He has gentle and charming manners. Kiki is handsome and playful,” reads an advertisement on the Internet to sell a chimpanzee from Cameroon. The ad says that the chimpanzee comes with “veterinary health documents, a “permit” from CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and a year’s health care guarantee.” CITES, whose ban on trade in listed endangered species is a ban on international trade, does not, however, issue such individual “permits”. The seller alleges that he lives in the forested region of Kilum and “is incapable of giving Kiki the good home and all the care that he deserves,” but the whole advertisement is a scam. Laga-Cameroon tries to infiltrate the black market sales networks and carry out investigations in conjunction with the police. They found and partially dismantled eight groups of Internet fraudsters between 2007 and August 2009. “To begin with, we thought that the sellers we found on the Internet were simple swindlers, who extorted money without providing the product announced,” Drori said. But some of the traffickers were genuinely dealing in endangered species, including animal heads and hides for use as trophies, he said. …
