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This
letter is but one of various notes received | The Jane Goodall Institute Dear Friend, They are our closest living relatives. And they are being driven to the very brink of extinction by humans who think of them as food instead of friends.
“They” are chimpanzees, who share 98% of our genetic heritage and many of the characteristics that we think of as human. As a primate biologist who has spent more than 40 years studying these remarkable animals, I have seen them form strong family bonds where big sisters “adopt” younger siblings after the death of a mother. I have seen them laugh and play, nurture and teach their young and display a wide range of emotions including profound grief over the death of a family member. But these special qualities don’t protect chimpanzees from greed, inhumanity and the desperate conditions that drive people to hunt them. You see, they and other endangered species are targets of the “bushmeat” trade — the hunting of wild animals to supply the growing demand for wild meat. This appalling practice is not driven by the need to feed starving local people or bring them a better way of life. Instead, this meat ends up in city markets and expensive restaurants throughout Equatorial Africa. And if you think that the bushmeat trade begins and ends in Africa. think again. “Delicacies” like gorilla hands also find their way to tables of the wealthy in Europe and the United States. By some it is considered a status symbol. I consider it a crime. I know that you are as outraged as I am by this monstrous treatment of these thinking and feeling beings. That’s why I’m asking you to help me put an end to the bushmeat trade and other practices that are pushing chimpanzees closer to extinction every day. First, I ask you to please sign the enclosed petitions urging your senators to support legislation that would prohibit the hunting of endangered species and discourage irresponsible logging and other destructive activities in protected areas. And second, I ask you to please support the Jane Goodall Institute’s Community-Centered Conservation Projects across the Congo Basin — which are leading the fight against the bushmeat trade through effective public awareness and conservation efforts — by including a generous tax-deductible donation of $15. $20. $25 or more when you return your petitions. For more than 25 years the Jane Goodall Institute has been dedicated to helping indigenous people protect the fragile forests of Africa and the endangered species that inhabit them. And I can tell you that of all the threats we’ve faced in that time, the bushmeat trade is by far the most horrifying — which is why your immediate support is so critical. The bushmeat trade became profitable only during the past decade, when roads built by logging companies made previously remote areas of forest accessible. The result has devastated many species besides chimpanzees — including rare lowland gorillas and African forest elephants. Each year, poachers remove one million tons of illegal bushmeat from African forests. This cruel practice has already wiped out one primate species — Miss Waldron’s red colobus monkey, which formerly existed in the forests of the Ivory Coast and Ghana. And unless you and I work together to stop the bushmeat trade, it could drive chimpanzees and other endangered species into the abyss of extinction in as little as 15 years. The rapid decline in the population of wild chimpanzees is truly frightening. A century ago. roughly two million chimpanzees lived in the forests of Africa. And when I began my chimpanzee research in 1960, there were probably still well over a million alive. But today. at most, there are only an estimated 150.000 wild chimps remaining. While other factors, such as habitat destruction, have played a role in this drastic decline, the bushmeat trade has accelerated the rate of loss to the crisis point. And the chimpanzees killed and sold as bushmeat are just the beginning of the casualties. Many chimps who manage to escape from poachers’ illegal snares lose hands or feet in the process— crippling their ability to find food and safety. Others die slow and painful deaths from gangrene poisoning or infections. In fact, between 20-25% of the chimpanzees in Uganda’s Kibale National Park have serious injuries from snares. In addition, the bushmeat trade has spawned a grisly side business that makes life a living hell for the record numbers of baby chimpanzees being orphaned by hunters. Because they weigh too little to fetch much of a price as meat, live orphans are sold by poachers to increase their illegal profits. Unless these orphaned chimpanzees have the good fortune to make it to a sanctuary only about one in ten they are destined for lives of intense cruelty in captivity. Some are trained for ~~entertainment” purposes with the use of lead pipes, burning cigarettes and electric probes. Others are sold as pets until they grow too large and dangerous to be “cute” at which point they might be sold to medical research labs, where they are intentionally infected with painful, contagious human diseases, killed for meat or just left to live in appalling conditions sentenced to a life of heglect. And the impacts of the bushmeat trade go far beyond the animals targeted by poachers. Overhunting of antelope and other prey animals is also having a catastrophic effect on predators like leopards, golden cats, large snakes and birds of prey, which depend on them for food. And the loss of seed-dispersing animals is also profoundly aftècting plant distribution — altering the makeup of forests and causing dangerous ecological damage. Meanwhile, the bushmeat trade’s toll on wildlife and natural habitat is bringing about a simultaneous ruin to people whose lives are inextricably tied to the land and its creatures. In exchange for short-term economic gain for a few individuals, indigenous Africans are being robbed of their culture, their natural heritage and their economic future. Won’t you please help me put a stop to the wildly destructive bushmeat trade? Your petitions to your senators will send the clear message: you demand that they act now to end the bushrneat trade — by introducing legislation discouraging the practice and activities like irresponsible logging that make it possible. And by supporting the work of the Jane Goodall Institute with a generous contribution, you will help us light on the front lines to save chimpanzees and other imperiled wildlife — by assisting African governments in developing sound conservation policies ... aiding park staff in the removal of illegal snares ... and raising local awareness about the terrible consequences of the bushmeat trade. Your contribution will support crucial conservation, research and education projects that benefit the animals, people and habitats victimized by the bushmeat trade by: • Providing sanctuary for chimpanzees orphaned by poachers at sanctuaries in Uganda and Congo where young chimpanzees can live together, with as much freedom as possible, in the care of experienced and loving keepers. The sanctuaries also provide employment for many local people and contribute to local economies by purchasing fruit and vegetables from villagers to feed the chimpanzees. • Improving the lives of captive chimpanzees through Chim anZoo, our international research program dedicated to the study of chimpanzees in zoos and other captive settings — designed to increase public awareness and improve the lives of captive chimpanzees. • Protecting important wild chimpanzee populations by working with local people and governments to protect key areas of forest where wild chimpanzees live, through promoting sustainable agriculture and conservation education. Your generosity will also support research on wild chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream Research Centre in Tanzania and the Jane Goodall Center for Primate Studies helping to ensure that wild populations of these remarkable animals continue to grace the forests of Africa forever. The key to our success lies in the personal commitment of concerned individuals like you. That’s why I hope I can count on you to join me in the crusade to save chimpanzees and the other African wildlife facing extinction from the bushmeat trade. So please take a moment to sign the enclosed petitions to your senators and return them today iii the envelope I have provided. And please support our critical campaign to stamp out the bushmeat trade by including a tax-deductible donation of $15. $20, $25 or more when you return your petitions. When you join the Jane Goodall Institute you will receive biaiinual project updates to show you how your support is being effectively put to work saving chimpanzees and other imperiled wildlife. Thank you for answering the desperate cries for help from our closest living relatives.
Sincerely, Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE UN Messenger of Peace
P.S. Each day the horrific hushmeat trade drives chimpanzees, elephants and other beloved wildlife species closer to extinction. Please help us put an end this appalling practice by becoming a member of the Jane Goodall Institute today. Thank you for your support.4245 North Fairfax
The petition con be obtained at: 4245 North Fairfax Drive~ Suite 600 Arlington, VA 22203 1-800-592-JANE www.janegoodall.org |
