4 March 2013: The Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) has launched a report, titled “Stolen Apes: The Illicit Trade in Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Bonobos and Orangutans,” which was developed in cooperation with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The report was launched during a side event at the sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP 16). The report analyzes the scale and scope of the illegal trade in great apes, noting the links to sophisticated transboundary crime networks. The publication emphasizes that since 2005, more than 22,218 great apes have been either sold, killed during the hunt, or died in captivity, with chimpanzees comprising 64 per cent of that number. Key recommendations include: establishing an electronic database that includes the numbers, trends and tendencies of the illegal great ape trade, and monitors arrests, prosecutions and convictions; and targeting organized crime by investigating traffickers and buyers.

Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director, highlighted that the current scale underscores the importance of conservation. At the side event, Doug Cress, GRASP Coordinator, called for the need to establish baseline figures for the illegal trade in great apes. Ofir Drori, founder of the Last Great Ape Organization in Cameroon, noted that the ape-poaching and illegal trade are not linked to poverty. As the report indicates, the animals are often taken for the entertainment industry, disreputable zoos or as exotic pets. [Publication: Stolen Apes: The Illicit Trade in Chimpanzees, Gorillas, Bonobos and Orangutans] [GRASP Website] [UNEP News]