The bushmeat crisis involves all of us; humans and nonhumans. It is an issue that affects a multitude of wildlife, including chimpanzees. The chimpanzee population alone has declined from about one million to less than two hundred thousand in the last fifty years, and this is largely due to the bushmeat crisis.

Chimpanzees are killed for food throughout the Congo Basin and other parts of Africa. This trade, called the bushmeat trade, is largely illegal. This has been occurring for hundreds of years, but due to logging and other factors, substantially more chimpanzees are being killed by hunters. Many of these chimpanzees are mothers, where their babies are left to either die or be sold into the illegal wildlife trade where their fate is grim. 

Eating bushmeat can transfer viruses and parasites such as AIDS and Ebola, so this has a detrimental effect to humans as well.  Conversely, chimpanzees are just as succeptible to catching viruses from humans.

If we can educate the communities that largely consume bushmeat and provide them with an alternate source of protein, the demand for bushmeat will decrease. Less demand for bushmeat will mean less hunting of chimpanzees.

If you are wondering what you can do besides just signing this petition, you can discourage others from purchasing wild animals as pets, be careful of where the meat you eat is coming from, buy from socially responsible companies, and spread the word about this grave issue. The more people we have to take a stand against the bushmeat trade, the better chances we have of making a positive change.