A Mongabay investigation has uncovered exclusive details about the clandestine market for gorilla and chimpanzee body parts in northeastern Nigeria, revealing that the trade works in a larger area than previously believed and kills more critically endangered gorillas than previously acknowledged.
Speaking to hunters, traffickers and customers of a trade steeped in both taboo and tradition, Mongabay contributor Orji Sunday found that prices for ape parts have recently skyrocketed, pushing some of the rarest great apes closer to extinction.
The illegal trade targets some of the region’s most threatened species, most crucially the critically endangered Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli), found only in a few isolated forests along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. The IUCN estimates three are killed each year, a devastating rate for a species with fewer than 300 individuals left in the wild.
However, hunters told Mongabay they regularly find and kill gorillas in Taraba state, an area not officially known to host gorillas, suggesting either an undocumented local population, or that western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) are making their way to Taraba. Either way, as traffickers consolidate operations and law enforcement in the region is compromised, the threats are mounting.
Hunters themselves can also pay a huge social price in exchange for the financial benefit of killing gorillas.
Benjamin Dauda, a former hunter from Taraba state, said desperation led him to kill a gorilla in 1997, after his father died and he risked dropping out of school if his tuition wasn’t paid.
“I had to kill it [the gorilla] because of money. It is a terrible thing to do,” said Dauda from the Sunkuru community. “When I came close to the dead body, it was exactly like a human being. The only difference is that we humans dress in clothes but gorillas wear fur. I was scared to touch it. I was shivering.”
After the hunt, Dauda faced social ostracization, with relatives refusing to share meals with him for a time. For locals, a hunter who kills a gorilla may face death, debilitating illnesses or attract grave misfortunes and tragedies, but those who survive are celebrated for their bravery. Dauda eventually became chief of the Ndola-speaking people of Ngada and gave up hunting.
Today, hunting is a booming business.
“If you visit Ose main markets, you can get up to 50 to 100 ape heads if you so desire. Their supply of ape body parts is quite large,” Ekene Ezenwoke, an ape body part trader who operates from one of the major markets in southeast Nigeria, told Mongabay.
Some traditional healers are now shifting to using body parts from domesticated animals like cows and goats, but with skyrocketing prices, the illegal trade continues to drive threatened gorillas toward extinction.
Banner image: The Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) is considered one of the most threatened primate species on the planet. Image by Julie Langford via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Credits
