Bonobos, our closest relatives alongside chimpanzees, face habitat loss and bushmeat hunting that threaten both their survival and the welfare of individual animals in affected communities.
Bonobo welfare is inseparable from their conservation status. As habitat is lost and populations fragment, individual bonobos experience range restriction, food insecurity, and the acute trauma of family disruption from hunting. Orphans who survive the bushmeat trade have witnessed the killing of their mothers and often carry lasting psychological trauma. Protecting bonobo habitat and stopping the bushmeat trade is simultaneously a conservation and welfare imperative for our closest primate relative.