The bushmeat trade kills thousands of chimpanzees annually across Central and West Africa, with orphaned infants entering a traumatic trade or requiring intensive rehabilitation that can never fully replace wild rearing.
The bushmeat-to-orphan pipeline creates chimpanzee welfare crises across two phases: the violent killing of adults that typically involves prolonged suffering from shotgun wounds, and the acute psychological trauma of infants witnessing their mothers' deaths before entering the stressful trade environment. Rehabilitation can provide physical recovery but cannot replicate the 10-year developmental journey that wild mother-infant bonds provide. Prevention through reducing bushmeat demand and addressing economic drivers is categorically more welfare-effective than rehabilitation, though both are necessary.