The Grace Center for Gorillas

The rumors began in early February 2010: Somewhere in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, an infant gorilla was being offered for sale. Some said it was a pet. Either way, the situation was illegal and a very important life was at stake.


By the time the Congolese authorities had confiscated the gorilla, several weeks had passed. And the shivering, terrified, malnourished infant that was delivered into the arms of Eddy Kambale of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP) on February 26th faced a difficult battle for survival.

Gorillas are notoriously fragile animals, and the stress of capture, confiscation and rehabilitation is often too much for them to survive. But this gorilla - nicknamed "Ndjingala", after the area in which she was confiscated from poachers - will not only receive the best care possible, she will ultimately get the opportunity to return to the wild.

The Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education (GRACE) center is a rescue facility specifically designed for the needs of East African gorillas and the first permanent sanctuary ever built for the species. Situated in the Kashugo region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo adjacent to the Tayna Nature Reserve, the GRACE will serve as the focal point of gorilla rescue and rehabilitation in the region and an important link between the in situ and ex situ conservation work in the region.

The GRACE center could not come at a more crucial time in the battle to conserve East African gorillas. Eastern lowland gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) are classified as "endangered" and mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) are identified as "critically endangered" by the 2007 World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List, and experts consider both subspecies at high risk for extinction within several decades.

The GRACE center is the result of a partnership between the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI), the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA), Disney's Animal Programs, and the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN). Funded by a grant from the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Great Apes Conservation Fund, in association with the Neu Family Foundation and the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, the GRACE center grew out of discussions between key players at the 2008 Gorilla Workshop in Orlando, Florida, and quickly became a reality. "This is a critical opportunity for us to help many more young gorillas that have been victimized by unlawful activity or habitat destruction, and also to strengthen our partnership with the people who are the true stewards of the land and the animals", said DFGFI president Clare Richardson. "All gorilla species are threatened with extinction. Both public education and rehabilitation services are critical to their chances for survival."

Over the past decade, it is estimated that at least 25 orphaned gorillas were confiscated in East Africa, but died before they could get proper medical care. The creation of an interim quarantine facility in Rwanda in 2006 - which is a joint venture of DFGFI and MGVP, and ultimately came to care for a mix of eastern lowland and mountain gorillas - made it clear that a permanent facility was required.

After funding was sourced, the GRACE project broke ground on 370 acres of donated land in Tayna in January 2009, and is targeted for completion in May 2010. The initial phase of construction is designed to accommodate 15 gorillas, which is good since there are already 10 being cared for at sites in Congo and Rwanda.

The gorillas - which range in age from 1-year-old infants (such as Ndjingala) to 6 adolescents housed at an interim quarantine facility in Rwanda - will be brought together at the GRACE center through an airlift being coordinated in conjunction with the peacekeepers serving with the United Nations mission in the region, known as MONUC. "Caring for the Earth we all share is not just the job of governments", said Alan Doss, head of MONUC. "It requires us to reach across boundaries and do things we would not normally expect to do."

The land for the new center was donated by the Tayna Center for Conservation Biology (TCCB). The site is adjacent to approximately 222,000 acres of forest in a protected nature reserve.

But the region is also situated in one of the most embattled areas in all of East Africa, and the long-running guerilla war between the government forces and the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) rebel militias of Laurent Nkunda had a heavy impact on the project. Although Nkunda's arrest in late January 2009 seemed to indicate that the conflict would die out, military "sweeps" by the government forces in early 2009 to flush out rebel resistance swept through Kashugo on several occasions, forcing construction to be halted for extended periods and the temporary removal of construction coordinators to nearby Butembo for security reasons.

Brief military exchanges occurred during several of these clashes, and on February 11st, 2009, the rebel forces looted and burned the small radio station that operates from Tayna. On another occasion, a vehicle being used by the GRACE project was attacked and badly damaged by rebel forces. The military actions in the area also slowed the delivery of raw materials to the construction site.

The GRACE project also suffered a heavy blow through the unexpected death on May 29th, 2009, of DFGFI vice-president Alecia Lilly, who served as the director of the project from her base in Kigali, Rwanda. The loss of Lilly badly shook the project, and forced the partners to regroup and devise a new way forward. But the installation of Debby Cox, the former director of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) Uganda and a member of the PASA advisory committee, as the project director in January 2010 quickly put the GRACE center back on target. The project's handling facilities, veterinary block and staff housing are near completion, and a 2-acre socialization yard is being fenced to allow the gorillas to establish social bonds.

The GRACE center was designed to accommodate either eastern lowland gorillas or mountain gorillas, but only the former will be coming for now. A small recovery facility for mountain gorillas was recently completed in Rumangabo. Either way, all of the orphaned gorillas in Congo will be seriously considered for reintroduction, which is the act of returning animals to the wild, in accordance with guidelines established by the IUCN.

Although no East African gorilla has ever been successfully reintroduced, two PASA members in West-Central Africa - the Projet Protection des Gorilles (PPG) sanctuaries in Gabon and Congo - have returned western lowland gorillas to the wild with amazingly good results. The PPG projects have collectively reintroduced over 40 gorillas, with survival rates at approximately 84% and 10 wild births. But it will be many years before Ndjingala and the other gorillas leave the safety of the GRACE center and venture out into the forests.

Reintroduction is an extremely difficult, complex, political, expensive and emotional process, and although PASA member sanctuaries have found success with chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and monkeys elsewhere in Africa, there is no need to rush. Having already suffered so much, orphaned gorillas in East Africa need to recover their health - both physical and mental - before proceeding on to the next phase of their lives.

Information and Photos here

The Great Jane Goodall Giveaway

It was the summer of 1960 when a young secretary named Jane first stepped foot onto African soil to study chimpanzees.
She didn’t know it at the time, but she was making history.
In those early years, it was unheard for animals in scientific arenas to be given names. Instead, they were assigned numbers because ‘they were just animals, after all’. Jane would hear none of it. The first chimpanzees she observed were then dubbed David Greybeard and Goliath. None of this number nonsense for Jane, she was on a path of discovery.
During her many years of observation, Jane witnessed what can only be described as world changing. Shortly after arriving in Gombe, Jane observed chimps eating meat. This shattered the myth that chimpanzees were vegetarian and opened the door to the real lives of these creatures that are not so unlike ourselves. She also observed acts of compassion and tool-making, traits which were previously seen as solely ‘human’. Chimps also routinely self-medicated with plants, passed on knowledge within a group and demonstrated planning for future events. One by one, Jane witnessed chimps doing the things we said only humans could do. In 1970, Jane also noted chimps performing a spontaneous dance-like display by waterfalls. Many believe that this exhibited expression of awe runs parallel to early forms of religion in humans.
What I mean to say is, by observing chimpanzees for what they really were, Jane challenged what it meant to be human.
Of course, the scientific community was not always happy about Jane’s findings. Einstein said that ‘great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds’. This was never truer than for Jane’s work. When it comes to declaring the great capacities of humans, we are easy to dole out the compliments. But when it comes to other species, we’re sometimes not so generous. Jane was ahead of her time, but she forged ahead, stated her case and continued her work.
For half a century, Jane has worked tirelessly for animals, conservation and people. She understands that to help the environment, we must also help people and vice versa. Thirty years after her adventures in Gombe, Dr. Goodall created Roots & Shoots, a humanitarian and environmental educational program for youth around the world. To date, the Roots & Shoots program is active in over 100 countries.
Dr. Jane Goodall is a testament to how influential one person can be in the course of history. She opened the door for others like myself to study animals, but have a heart while doing it. She exemplifies integrity, intelligence and compassion for all life. I had the pleasure of meeting Jane once – she oozes serenity and understanding. Her spirit is contagious and she holds nothing but hope for the future of our planet, despite the events we may see unfolding before us. In her eyes, you can see that she is an adventurer at heart.
Today, I’d like to honor Dr. Jane Goodall by having a little giveaway. Recently, I dropped by the Jane Goodall Institute in Toronto and bought some goodies. Along with many other organizations, the Jane Goodall Institute partners with African women through micro-enterprise loans. By supporting Ugandan Paper Bead Jewellery makers, we are giving them economic alternatives to selling bushmeat (chimpanzee meat) in the local markets.
I have one necklace (gorgeous, 3-strand purple beaded) and one bracelet (also 3-strand with black and irridescent beads). To spread the word of conservation and compassion I’d like to give them away! Because I love alliteration, I’m calling it the Great Goodall Giveaway (catchy, no?)
To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment here and answer the following question -
Which animal do you most relate to, and why?

To enter go here

PETA and Washington Humane Society on Opposite Sides Concerning Animal Care At Shelter

By ROBY CHAVEZ/myfoxdc

WASHINGTON, D.C. - There are strong accusations against the D.C. Animal Shelter being made by PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The animal rights group says the staff is untrained. They allege that the animals are poorly treated, and the conditions deplorable.

It is unusual to have these two groups on opposite sides. Now, the shelter run by the Washington Humane Society is fighting back.

PETA accuses the shelter of gross incompetence, but the shelter says adoptions are up and fewer animals are being euthanized. PETA has now fired off a scathing letter to the Mayor Adrian Fenty demanding action.

"I suspect that some of the things they are doing violate the D.C. cruelty code," said Ingrid Newkirk, PETA President.

It's a stinging criticism from the animal rights group. The complaints allege inhumane conditions at the D.C. Animal Shelter, run by the Washington Humane Society. On Friday, PETA's president showed pictures taken by staff at the shelter.

"You can see dog bite wounds that are really severe. It's a urine-covered pen with a piece of cloth," said Newkirk as she pointed out living conditions.

PETA says their own investigation show animals living in urine, diseased and unsanitary conditions.

"The staff is untrained. They are rude to the public and unresponsive to calls and we're hearing it to all over. Yes. Incompetent," said Newkirk.

"They care about the animals. They are hurt by this. I feel obligation to defend this. This is not the Washington Humane Society," said Lisa LaFontaine, CEO of Washington Humane Society.

FOX 5 wanted to show you the conditions inside the D.C. shelter firsthand, but the city and the health department would not let our cameras inside.

Lisa LaFontaine is the director, and says it's a snapshot that doesn't tell the full story of care.

Fox 5 obtained health department letters where inspectors cite a list of unsanitary conditions as late as last July, calling it dirty and cluttered, extreme overcrowding transmission of disease and offensive smells.

PETA says it goes back two years and they say an inspector from the health department who wrote the report has been banned from the shelter. The health department has oversight over the D.C. shelter.

"Absolutely not. We have not banned anyone. One of the things we hope come out of this, we welcome the community. We want people to come see for themselves. They are malicious and unverified allegations," said LaFontaine.

PETA also says some of the acts are illegal. Its own research of health department documents show alleged acts of animal cruelty. For example, the director of the shelter, Nick Gilman, euthanized an animal with a needle thru his heart.

"In D.C., like many areas, it is illegal to cause unnecessary suffering and this causes unnecessary suffering. It is not an acceptable way to euthanize and animal," said Newkirk.

"That was not true. There was one or two occasions where that method was used on animals sedated and unconscious. That is acceptable means of euthanasia," said LaFontaine

PETA says other memos and its own pictures point to piles of feces and bad smells. Citizens have also complained to PETA. The animal rights groups is so disturbed its taking on the Humane Society and the city's health department.

"It pains me to criticize the Humane Society," said Newkirk. "I don't want to do it and I don't want people to put on street. What I want is a shelter to be proud of. "

"We are upholding the contract. We are working with city and doing the best for people animals and city," said LaFontaine.

A spokesperson for the health department would only say the city is working with the Humane Society to ensure the highest quality of animal care, and did not answer questions about why no action was taken with such serious complaints from its own inspectors.

The Washington Humane Society says it fired one employee cited for neglect in those inspections.

Source

Judge Rules That The 20,000 Exotic Animals That Were Seized Will Not Be Returned, Thanks To PETA

January 6, 2010 | 4:32 pm

More than 20,000 animals seized last month from a business that traded in exotic animals over the Internet will not be returned to the Texas-based company, U.S. Global Exotics -- at least, not if a Texas judge has anything to say about it.

Municipal Judge Michael Smith ruled Tuesday that Jasen and Vanessa Shaw, the owners of U.S. Global Exotics, should not be entrusted with the care of the animals, which included sloths, chinchillas, lemurs, hedgehogs, ferrets, snakes, turtles, lizards, amphibians and spiders. Instead, he granted custody of the animals to the city of Arlington, Texas, where U.S. Global Exotics is based. The SPCA of Texas is currently caring for them.

The animals were reportedly found in appalling conditions; hundreds of animals were found dead at the time of the raid, and approximately 4,000 died later. Jay Sabatucci, manager of animal services with the city of Arlington, reported finding animals that "were not fed, not fed properly, overcrowded and attacking each other. Some were in an environment not proper for them, such as snakes in a 72-degree room with a lamp over them, which is not enough heat and could cause them to die."

Howard Goldman, an undercover investigator working on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was a key figure in the investigation and the custody hearing that followed. Goldman worked at the U.S. Global Exotics facility for seven months and provided investigators with photographic evidence and undercover video of the company's operations.

An attorney for the Shaws, Lance Evans, had accused Goldman of purposely neglecting the animals in his care, saying the undercover investigator was "more concerned about helping PETA achieve its goal of putting U.S. Global out of business than actually aiding any animals that he felt were in distress."

PETA scoffed at the notion; the group's co-founder and president, Ingrid Newkirk, responded to Evans' allegations in an e-mail to the Associated Press, saying U.S. Global Exotics was attempting "to pin the blame for a litany of horrors on the one person who actually cared about the animals."

Goldman has said he was responsible for the care of 1,500 to 3,000 snakes at any one time during his employment at the company and testified that the Shaws refused to pay for necessities for the animals, including food and medical supplies. "We never had the proper amount of food. The snakes would go two or three weeks without even being offered food," he said in court. "There were days I found hundreds of snakes dead."

A post on PETA's blog describes some of Goldman's findings, including captured wild animals "kept for days or weeks in pillowcases, shipping boxes, or soda bottles without food or water or even proper heat and humidity," and tree frogs "kept for weeks on end at [U.S. Global Exotics] in soda bottles that were sitting in a cardboard box in the facility's washroom."

PETA alleges that many of the animals seized from the company "were destined for sale at major national chains such as PetSmart and PETCO," according to a statement released by the group.

Interestingly, Judge Smith noted in his ruling that some evidence heard during the hearing "indicated that this facility was operated in accordance with industry standards of the exotic animal trade ... While this may be true, this court is not free to substitute those standards for the standards set by Texas statutes."

Evans told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he expects his clients to appeal the ruling. "I believe neither the facts nor the law support a seizure of all 27,000-plus animals," he said; instead, he had asked in court that the animals for which there was no evidence of cruel treatment to be returned to the Shaws.

Pending the expected appeal from the Shaws, the city of Arlington plans to transfer ownership of the seized animals to the SPCA of Texas, the Star-Telegram reports. Since many of them were caught in the wild, they will not be put up for adoption, but instead will most likely be sent to zoos and sanctuaries with expertise in caring for exotic animals.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Source

PETA Claims Abuse at D.C.'s Animal Shelter

A national animal rights group claims that the Washington Humane Society has shown "gross incompetence" in its management of D.C.'s animal shelter, committing acts of animal cruelty and failing to provide adequate care.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, in a Dec. 31 letter to Mayor Adrian Fenty, detailed "unacceptable conditions" at the D.C. Animal Shelter on New York Avenue Northeast, operated by the Washington Humane Society for the Department of Health. Several of the allegations, PETA said, could merit criminal cruelty charges or at least employee terminations.

Citizen calls to collect unwanted animals are ignored, disease outbreaks are common, and inhumane euthanizations are performed, PETA claimed, citing records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and "citizen complaints and observations."

"The worst thing that people can do is to be upset with the Washington Humane Society and stop taking animals to the shelter," Ingrid Newkirk, PETA president and co-founder, told The Examiner on Wednesday. "This is the time for the District to put its foot down and say, 'Give us service.' All this is is 'please do your job, do it diligently and do it humanely.' "

PETA is best known for its extreme tactics to bring attention to animal cruelty issues, but the group went about its D.C. investigation quietly and hoped to keep it out of the public eye, said Newkirk, former head of D.C.'s animal disease control division.

A "putrid smell" permeating the WHS building that houses adoptable dogs was linked to a failed drainage system, PETA claims. Large piles of feces litter cages to the point that, in some cases, there's no room for the animals to lie down. A sign asked visitors to keep a door closed "due to our HUGE fly problem."

Shelter Director Nick Gilman, PETA reported, acknowledged in meetings that he used intracardiac euthanasia — a painful direct injection to the heart — to put animals down because he couldn't find a vein. The shelter's own standard operating procedures, according to PETA, bar intracardiac injection on conscious animals and require that euthanasia occur in the most humane way possible.

Disease and virus outbreaks occur frequently, PETA found: One of the most recent, a ringworm epidemic reported in WHS meeting notes from October, resulted in dozens of cat euthanizations.

In a statement, the WHS said "most of the allegations" in the report were investigated and "proven completely without merit."

"We are saddened and disappointed that a so-called animal welfare organization would make these false and malicious allegations," the organization said.

The health department did not immediately respond to questions for this story.

Source

The Illegal Commercial Bushmeat Trade-The Jane Goodall Institute

At the heart of the declining chimpanzee population is the illegal poaching of chimps and other great apes for bushmeat. The Jane Goodall Institute is working with governments and local communities to end this horrible practice.

With the increased commercialization of the illegal bushmeat trade across Central and Western Africa, thousands of adult chimpanzees and other endangered wildlife species like elephants and gorillas are killed every year.

The illegal, commercial bushmeat trade is not driven by the need to feed local people.

Instead, this meat ends up in city markets and expensive restaurants throughout Equatorial Africa. Items such as gorilla hands are considered “delicacies” by wealthy elite both in the range countries and in Europe and the United States.

It is an outright crime.

Please help us put an end to the commercial bushmeat trade and support practices to save chimpanzees from extinction by taking these two actions immediately:

Please sign our petition here and consider making a special online contribution to the Jane Goodall Institute to support our efforts across Africa to end the illegal, commercial bushmeat trade, preserve valuable wildlife habitat and work with local communities to protect chimpanzees, gorillas, elephants and other precious endangered wildlife.

VIDEO: BUSHMEAT TRADE:
http://vimeo.com/4984959

Source and Video

The Bushmeat Trade

In the 1970s: Bushmeat Trade Manipulates Pygmy Economy and the Fate of the Forest.

In the 21st century the pygmy net-hunt has become a major source of bushmeat leaking out of the Okapi Reserve in Congo’s northeast Ituri Forest. The Mbuti pygmies are ineluctably depleting the Reserve’s animal resources, their only resources, by hunting deeper and deeper into the forest. Outside traders pack their wares deep into forest hunting camps, to come out as quickly as possible with loads of antelope carcasses they will sell at a phenomenal mark-up to the expanding markets both in the village of Epulu and in distant towns.

Is this new? Perhaps new in the Okapi Reserve, but John reported a similar commercialization of the net-hunt between 1973 and 1976 in the southern Ituri Forest. Fresh out of college, John spent two and a half years living with three different bands of Mbuti Pygmies. Later, 1979, he wrote up his observations as a Master’s Thesis.

John’s passport picture, 1970s, from the period he studied Mbuti hunting economy in the southern Ituri Forest.

Why did John do this? :

Like many college undergraduates in the early ‘70s he was charmed by Colin Turnbull’s romantic anthropology “The Forest People” (Simon and Schuster, 1962). The image was appealing: the Mbuti pygmies living in material simplicity whose daily security was guaranteed by intimate familiarity with a generous forest home. What was glaringly absent from Turnbull’s depiction of Mbuti life was any biological or economic analysis.

John was granted a Watson fellowship – 6,000 USD – to learn the economic-ecology of Mbuti culture in the Ituri Forest. He made the grant last two and a half years, covering his food, clothes and all his transportation. His largest purchase was a one-speed bicycle for occasional trips to larger towns. His second largest purchase was a kerosene lantern, so he could write notes late into the tropical darkness.

His methods:

John lived alone in the camps of three different Mbuti bands, each of which hunted different, but contiguous stretches of forest. He maintained continuous residence in the camps for periods of three to five weeks with only brief village breaks in between. His research tools were a tape recorder, a camera and hand-held spring-scales for weighing the fresh catch on net hunts and for weighing any garden food the Mbuti received in trade for bushmeat.

John spoke Kingwana, a version of Swahili used throughout eastern Congo and used by Mbuti as well, although he also learned to understand the more localized languages of Kibira and Kipakombe.

The question John started with:

1. Was it really possible for the forest to support an Mbuti culture living in isolation from agricultural villages ? This was Turnbull’s ideal.

A question John added once in the Ituri :

2. How able was the forest to support the high bushmeat demand coming from towns in the east? Meat-traders was an emerging reality.

At the Kugongea or the opening fire at the start of the net-hunt where all the men, women and children gather who will take part in the hunt. Photo from John’s 1970s collection.

John found a traditional interdependence between Mbuti and forest bantu.

In the southeastern Ituri forest John found bantu populations for whom the forest is ancestral home. Among these groups, the Bira and Pakombe have been associated with pygmy populations for many generations, for as far back as their oral histories reach.

There are family level relationships between individual Bantu farmers and individual Mbuti hunters. These bantu, known as bakbala (mkbala = singular), provide their Mbuti “partner” with agricultural starches (cassava, plantains, yams) from their gardens. Mbuti provide their bakbala with wild meat from the forest. The bakbala are also the source of tools and clothing for the Mbuti who, for their part, diversify forest products for the bakbala including mushrooms, fish, and honey. They also provide intermittent day labor for the village gardens.

Mbuti woman with mushrooms she has brought to our house (1980s).

John’s description of this pygmy- bakbala traditional relationship:

1/ Reciprocity is not necessarily immediate. John recorded periods where a mkbala provided his Mbuti with starch on many successive days with no meat in return. This was possible as the relationship was long-standing with confidence on both sides that each would support the other. The Mbuti would eventually provide forest products. The relationship was personal, and based not only on the needs of the other but also based on current availability. When there was meat, the mkbala would be recompensed.

2/ Relationship is one on one. A mkbala has a relationship with a particular Mbuti who then shares garden starch acquired with other members of his enlarged family and band. Likewise, a mkbala receives meat from “his” Mbuti which he will, in turn, share with his immediate relatives and neighbors.

John made a couple other noteworthy discoveries about the kbala relationship:

• The net hunt, the spear, and all iron tools had their origin with the Bantu. Before interacting with Bantu, the Mbuti must have hunted with poison tip arrows and smoked animals out of holes. There would not have been the possibility for large meat surpluses. (this was more than five centuries ago)

• Although there are Bantu ethnic groups living in the forest without relationships with Mbuti; there were no Mbuti living as forest hunters without bakbala relationships. The forest does not provide adequate starch. Wild yams and Mbau nuts are the biggest wild sources of starch, but yams are not abundant and have a very limited distribution whereas Mbau nuts are available only briefly with unpredictable seasonality.

• Historically Mbuti have provided other services for bakbala. In the 19th and early 20th century they hunted elephants when the bakbala were being pressured by Arab merchants and later by Belgian colonists for this commodity. Even earlier the Mbuti were the guerilla warriors essential in the wars between different ethnic groups.

John also found a new commercialization of the net-hunt:

From 1973 to 1975 meat traders became an increasingly prominent part of the Mbuti economy in the southeastern Ituri. These traders from distant towns packed full loads of merchandise directly into hunting camps where they replaced them as quickly as possible with full loads of smoked bushmeat they packed back to the markets. The merchandise they brought was most frequently rice or cassava flour, sometimes liquour, sometimes trinkets.

One of the three bands of pygmies traded almost exclusively with meat traders or bachuuzi. They also hunted the most distant forest

Women wearing traditional Kange “paint”, flowers and twigs along with a trinket available from bachuuzi.

John’s description of the bachuuzi (trader)-pygmy relationship:

1/ The bachuuzi went to the most distant, animal rich camps. They traded exclusively for immediate return and left with their meat as soon as they ran out of trade items. Smoked meat begins to lose market value after a couple weeks so rapid trade was important.

2/Relationships with traders were ephemeral. There was no reciprocity, no willingness to make a loan. The bachuuzi’s goal was immediate profit and return on loans was far too uncertain to be practical.

John made a couple associated observations about the commercialized net hunt:

• Meat trade is exploitative. The value of the meat relative to the value of the starch decreased according to Bachuuzi trading standards. Several spot checks John made in the big markets around the forest showed that meat was running at five to ten times the amount paid by bachuuzi in the forest.

The “prices” meat traders would pay for bushmeat was far inferior (1/3) what the bakbala would give for the same amount. The Mbuti “allowed” this exploitation for the convenience of having the agricultural food brought directly to their hunting camp.

• The commercial net hunt is depleting wild game resources. Over the study period there was decreasing hunting success and the Mbuti had to hunt longer hours and extend their hunting area into ever more remote forest, forest that would have previously been a refuge for animals.

For his two original questions , John found the following answers:

1/ The Mbuti do not live independently in the Ituri Forest . Agricultural starch is an important and regular part of their diet. It is indeed unlikely that Mbuti live exclusively as hunter-gatherers anywhere in the Congo as we have since found that the Ituri was among the richer forests.

2/ Sustainable net-hunting cannot fulfill the bushmeat demands of surrounding towns. The Mbuti with commercial traders are continuously moving into more remote unhunted forest.

Indeed the pattern in the southeastern forest of thirty-five years ago is very like the situation today in the Okapi Reserve. What would be interesting would be to know what has happened to the descendents of these three bands of Mbuti today. We will try to get this information and post it sometime during the next six months.

Photo from John’s 1970s collection.

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