Bushmeat Diseases Now Entering New York

Officials in New York have identified two strains of simian foamy virus in wildlife imported as food — known as “bushmeat” — from three primate species: two mangabey monkeys and a chimpanzee, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). All of these animals are also endangered. Preliminary studies show that humans can contract simian foamy virus, but its long-term effects remain unknown. Could another AIDS-like epidemic therefore be on the horizon? The WCS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others are working now to prevent that from happening. A symposium called “Wildlife Conservation and Human Health” has taken place at Rockefeller University.

Diseases of wildlife origin that have impacted public health through the consumption or trade of wild animals include monkey pox, SARS, HIV/AIDS (stemming from human infection with simian immunodeficiency virus), and others. In addition to health implications, disease risks from the wildlife trade have had enormous economic impacts as well. The SARS outbreak of 2003—associated with trade in small carnivores and ultimately traced to bats —cost the international community an estimated $40-50 billion dollars in reactive health measures, declines in travel and commerce, and other cascading economic factors.

Mangabey monkey (Credit: Keven Law)

Smoked bushmeat for sale at market (Credit: Tom Daspit)

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Tanzania: Tale of Momella’s Giraffes Without Tails

A strange observation has been noted at Momella: Many of the park’s giraffes are either missing their tails or these appendages have been snipped off, leaving severed stumps in their places. Even stranger, the problem is said to be caused by the ‘lack of lions’ in the park. This is according to wildlife experts at the Arusha National Park, which is famous by the name of Momella. The decline in the lion population, caused by poaching and human-wildlife conflict has left few carcasses available for scavengers such as hyenas, which then bite or nibble at the tails of giraffes.

In other areas poachers have been reported to kill giraffes for their tails. These illegal hunters then sell the tails or hides on the black markets. Some tribes have been known to braid the hair from the giraffe’s tail making them into bracelets and then sell them to the tourists. Mass poaching of giraffes in the West Kilimanjaro wild (a corridor which strides between Momella – ANAPA and Kilimanjaro National Park) in the period between 2006 and 2008 was accounted to beliefs by locals that bone-marrow from giraffe could cure HIV-Aids.

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