Wild Primates and Bushmeat Hunting

Bushmeat hunting of primates — for food, traditional medicine, and the pet trade — remains one of the most significant drivers of primate population decline and individual animal suffering across tropical Africa and Asia.

Key Facts

Primates are hunted for bushmeat across 41 African and Asian countries
Hunting is a primary driver of population decline for gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and dozens of other species
Wire snares used in bushmeat hunting cause extreme suffering — animals may remain trapped for days
Live infant primates are sold as pets after their mothers are killed for meat
Bushmeat hunting is driven by both subsistence need and commercial profit
Effective conservation combines law enforcement, community benefit-sharing, and protein alternative programs

Welfare Considerations

Bushmeat hunting of primates causes suffering that operates on multiple levels simultaneously. Snared animals experience prolonged pain before death or rescue. Infants witness their mothers' killing and are kept in traumatizing pet conditions. Primate groups lose key individuals whose absence disrupts social structure and offspring survival. Addressing this welfare and conservation crisis requires solutions that work with communities rather than against them: protein alternatives, economic incentives for protection, and law enforcement focused on commercial networks rather than subsistence hunters. Purely prohibitory approaches have repeatedly failed.

What You Can Do

Support organizations working on community-based alternatives to bushmeat hunting
Advocate for increased resources for wildlife law enforcement in high-hunting-pressure regions
Never purchase primate bushmeat or primate pets
Support programs providing protein alternatives in communities dependent on bushmeat
Donate to primate rescue and rehabilitation facilities that care for orphaned bushmeat trade survivors