There was a shootout. Andy and I weren’t there, but we learned through satellite text messages that Colonel Gui and his soldiers from the Congolese army ran into the bandits somewhere between Kisangani and Obenge—likely the brothers of Colonel Toms, a convicted war criminal and poacher. A gunfight ensued. One poacher was injured and two others were apprehended. Colonel Gui, with his prisoners in tow, is still coming to Obenge to route out poachers in the region. We should see them tomorrow.
I got the news during a four-day sampling hike through TL2 with Andy and the scientist John Hart [http://www.bonoboincongo.com]. But let me back up. After Kisangani, which is where I last blogged, we flew to Kindu, a town on the border of the 25,000 square mile jungle known as TL2. It’s the region Elephant Ivory Project-lead Samuel Wasser [http://depts.washington.edu/conserv/Director.html] wants elephant dung samples from most (read the previous posts to understand why). From Kindu, the three of us spent two days on the back of motorbikes, riding dirt paths notched into the jungle and savannah. These paths are arteries out of the bush. We saw locals pushing bicycles loaded with everything from pineapples to bush meat in the form of monkeys and okapi, a striped cousin of the giraffe. At the Lomami River, we loaded into motorized pirogues for a supposed two-day trip north to Obenge, the Hart’s research camp in the northern part of the proposed Lomami National Park. John stopped at every riverside village—about a dozen–to explain what the national park meant for the locals.
Bush Warriors 
What is the Bushmeat Trade?
Posted in About, Africa: Primates, Uncategorized with tags Africa: Elephants, Africa: Rhinos with tags News, aids, animal blog, animal blogs, animals blog, Announcements, anthrax, Articles, black, Blog, Blogging, bushmeat, Business, Chimp, Commentary Daily, Community, Crime, cultural, Culture, Current Events, death, ebola, ecological, economic loss, Economics, Economy, Education, elephant, Entertainment, Environment, Event, Events, Faith, Family, Food, gangsters, God, gorilla, Government, Health, History, hiv, Home, human, illegal, Inspiration, international, Internet, Journalism, killing, Law, Leadership, Life, long term, Love, Media, Military, Miscellaneous, murder, national park, national parks, Nature, Opinion, Other, People, Personal, Philosophy, Photo, Photography, Photos, poaching, Politics, Posted in About with tags Africa, Posts, Projects, protein, Reflections, Religion, Research, Review, Reviews, Science, smoke, smokes, Social Media, Society, Stories, syndicate, Terrorism, Thoughts, Travel, Updates, Video, War, white, wildlife, wildlife blog, wildlife blogs, wildlife conservation blog, Zimbabwe on November 19, 2009 by Dori GThe bushmeat trade is the illegal, over-hunting of wildlife for meat and income.
Already in West and Central Africa this trade has resulted in declines and local extinctions of many wildlife species and the economic, cultural and ecosystem services they provide. In addition, a number of human health threats have emerged from the trade in bushmeat including linkages to HIV/AIDS, ebola and the threat of anthrax.
Bushmeat trade is not regulated or managed by any authority. Economic benefits from the trade go mainly to hunters and traders. If current trends continue, future generations of citizens in Africa will not have the opportunity to access benefits from wildlife. Using wildlife to meet protein and income demands cannot be supported in the long term.
The immediate threat of loss of economic opportunity, cultural and ecological services, and other values to a wider community must be addressed today.
(Taken From: www. bushmeatnetwork.org)
Here are some images from the Bushmeat Trade for you to get an idea of what we are talking about:
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