A new conservation plan calls for $14.6 million in funding to save the world’s rarest subspecies of chimp: the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee, reports the Wildlife Conservation Scoeity (WCS).
Limited to pockets of rainforest habitat in Nigeria and Cameroon, the chimp is endangered by the bushmeat trade and habitat loss. Less than 9,000 — possibly as few as 3,500 — survive in the wild.
The new action plan, which was co-authored by 20 primate experts and conservationists representing 17 organizations, would protect 95 percent of remaining Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees over the next five years at a cost of $14.6 million.
“This plan is a roadmap to the future of the critically endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee,” said James Deutsch, WCS Director for Africa Programs, is a statement. “We commend the governments of Nigeria and Cameroon for their leadership in pledging to save this living example of their natural heritage.”
WCS says protecting the chimp’s habitat would also safeguard the critically endangered Cross River gorilla, the drill, Preuss’s monkey, and Preuss’s red colobus.
The plan is available at www.ellioti.org.
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