Bonobo meat is sold in a bucket at a street market in Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of Congo. Illegal hunting to resell that meat is gradually wiping out the species.
A total of 14 bonobos were reintroduced in March in a forest in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) after being recovered from the poachers, today announced the NGO “Friends of Bonobos”, which is responsible for the care of these endangered species.
“The freed bonobos, former victims of animal traffickers, have been rehabilitated in “Lola’s Bonobo” dambananear Kinshasa, ”the NGO said in a statement reporting the history of these primates, which are now in danger of extinction.
one of the bonobos he needed 25 years in that sanctuary to overcome the physical and psychological trauma he suffered after being caught by poachers.
A pygmy bonobo cradles his three -day -old calf.
“We’ve worked for decades to bring bonobos back to the wild”, explains the director of “Friends of bonobos”, Fanny Minasi.
According to researchers Suzy Kwetuendaan expert on bonobos, these animals are well adjusted to their new home, and grow They had healthy offspring.
This is the second time the NGO has managed to reintroduce bonobos into their natural habitat rescued at the hands of traffickerssince 2009 he has organized a similar operation.
Bonobos or pygmy primates are characterized by their talkativeness and good predisposition to humans, but they will soon be exterminated by poaching.
Bonobos, primates that look similar to chimpanzees, are a endangered species It lives only in a few forests in the central DRC. Due to the lack of access of those forests, only about 30% of its coverage has been studied by experts, so they don’t know how many bonobos there are.
The NGO “Friends of the Bonobos” has been managing the protection of bonobos for decades to preserve their species.
However, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warns that, due to the degradation and destruction of their natural habitats and, above all, illegal hunting, their population continues to decline.
Bonobos are often picked by communities to sell their meat at local markets. According to a study published in the journal Nature in 2012, people engage in bonobos around 98.7% of our DNA. EFE
Source: Clarin