Jody Bourton, BBC News 20 Aug 09;
Shocking pictures of slaughtered lemurs killed for bush meat have been released by Conservation International.
A breakdown in law and order due to the recent coup in Madagascar has resulted in poachers killing lemurs for profit.
The dead lemurs are sold to restaurant owners seeking to serve new delicacies, says the conservation group.
It fears this upsurge in the bush meat trade may have been triggered by the suspension of conservation aid by international bodies during the coup.
The graphic pictures taken by local non-government organisation Fanamby and released by Conservation International show hoards of crowned lemurs ( Eulemur coronatus ) and the golden crowned sifaka, ( Propithecus tattersalli ) that have been trapped and killed.
The crowned lemurs are considered a threatened species, while the golden crowned sifaka is even rarer, being considered endangered.
The lemurs affected are from the Daraina area, a new protected region in the far north of Madagascar.
Shot then smoked
Conservation International reports that Madagascar's unique wildlife is being targeted by gangs who are taking advantage of the lack of law and order due to the recent coup.
Since March 2009 there have been many instances of environmental crimes in one of the world's most important biodiversity hotspots.
Illegal logging in protected parks and the collection of animals for the pet trade has been reported.
Now the first evidence has emerged since the coup of the hunting and sale of lemurs for bush meat.
Poachers use traps and slingshots to catch and kill the animals, which they then smoke for easy transport.
Authorities on the island have already arrested 15 people in connection with hunting lemurs.
"What is happening to the biodiversity of Madagascar is truly appalling, and the slaughter of these delightful, gentle and unique animals is simply unacceptable," says Dr Russ Mittermeier, the president of Conservation International and one of the world's foremost lemur experts.
"Given the very limited ranges, the sifaka could easily be eliminated by such poaching," he says.
Dr Mittermeier also voiced concern about the wider impact such activities may have.
"The poaching of lemurs can increase the 'taste' for lemurs and result in an increase of the illegal hunting of this animal, especially if the market for them grows," he explains.
"More than anything else these poachers are killing the goose that laid the golden egg, wiping out the very animals that people most want to see, and undercutting the country and especially local communities by robbing them of future ecotourism revenue."
Conservation plea
After the recent coup earlier this year many international bodies including the World Bank and the US government suspended conservation and development aid to the island.
Conservation International believes that this has weakened environmental governance in the country and provided the right conditions for these types of incidences to occur.
Dr Mittermeier calls for the international community to review their policy and help the conservation efforts in Madagascar as soon as possible.
"The problem of illegal killing of lemurs in Madagascar will only be solved when authorities act and are empowered. Also, the big donor agencies, the United States and Europe need to reinstate funding for conservation activities there immediately, or the advances of the past 25 years will forever be lost."
Bushmeat trade threatens Madagascar's rare lemurs
Richard Lough, Reuters 21 Aug 09;
ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Endangered lemur species found only in Madagascar are being slaughtered and served up in local restaurants as poachers take advantage of a security vacuum on the island after a coup earlier this year.
Pictures of the blackened remains of scores of crowned lemurs and golden crowned sifakas, smoked in preparation for transport, have been released by the environmental protection group Conservation International.
James Mackinnon, technical director at the group's Madagascar office, said gangs were pillaging the forests of precious hardwoods and trapping rare animals for Asia's pet market, unwinding hard-fought conservation gains on the island.
"Lemurs have always been hunted on a small, subsistence scale. This is bigger, more organized and systematic and it's typical of what we've been seeing with the breakdown in law and order," he told Reuters on Friday.
Conservationists say biodiversity on the world's fourth largest island is being wiped out on a shocking scale.
Foreign donors, who provided the bulk of funding for the country's national parks and environmental programs, suspended aid after Andry Rajoelina toppled the island's president with the help of renegade troops in March.
Operating on a shoestring budget, the authorities have been unable to control the surge in criminal activity.
The Indian Ocean island, isolated from other land masses for more than 160 million years, is a biodiversity "hotspot" home to hundreds of exotic species found nowhere else in the world.
ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE
Poachers are using slingshots and traps to hunt the lemurs in Daraina, a newly-protected region in the far north of Madagascar. Only 8,000 golden crowned sifaka, found only in Daraina, remain in the wild and risk being wiped out in weeks.
"More than anything else, these poachers are killing the goose that laid the golden egg," said Russ Mittermeier, president of Conservation International.
"(They are) wiping out the very animals that people most want to see and undercutting the country and especially local communities by robbing them of future eco-tourism revenue."
The island's wildlife was popularized in the 2005 DreamWorks animated movie Madagascar and its 2008 sequel, voiced by stars including Ben Stiller and Sacha Baron Cohen as the lemur king.
Eco-tourism is the backbone of Madagascar's $390 million-a-year tourism industry, which has been wrecked by months of political turmoil.
Decades of logging, mining and slash-and-burn farming have destroyed up to 90 percent of the island's natural ecology.
Ousted leader Marc Ravalomanana was credited by conservationists with increasing the number of national parks and protected areas, backed by donors including the World Bank and the United States.
Conservation International described the move to cut environmental aid as a "knee-jerk reaction." To deny conservation funding was counter-productive, it said, as it simply encouraged poor governance of natural resources.
Mackinnon warned of impending environmental catastrophe, saying there was a real danger parks would be forced to lay off rangers and cease to function before the end of the year.
"It's very hard to turn the clock back once criminal activities have become ingrained," he said.
(Editing by Daniel Wallis and Janet Lawrence)
Lemurs Hunted, Eaten Amid Civil Unrest, Group Says
Brian Handwerk, National Geographic News 21 Aug 09;
Rare lemurs are being hunted as an exotic delicacy in the midst of Madagascar's political unrest, conservationists say.
Since a March coup d'etat in the island country, long-nurtured conservation measures have quickly fallen by the wayside—making lemurs the targets of hunting gangs.
The criminals are fueling demand for a new bush-meat delicacy in the country's upscale restaurants, according to the nonprofit Conservation International.
No one knows how many lemurs have been killed, but species such as the golden crowned sifaka—considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature—are being targeted.
The poor nation relies on aid from foreign sources—such as the World Bank and the U.S. government—to run agencies that keep its national parks going.
But since the ousting of President Marc Ravalomanana, outside funding has been cut off and a power struggle has gripped the capital.
"With the political unrest, for the past four months or so, no [conservationists have] really worked," said Serge Rajaobelina, president of Fanamby, a Malagasy nonprofit environmental organization.
"There was no government, no police, and people took advantage of that situation" to kill lemurs, Rajaobelina, said yesterday from the field, where he is helping officials arrest poachers.
Squandered Success?
Less than a year ago Madagascar—home to the highest number of plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth—was a different place.
The country "was on the verge of becoming a success story," said lemur expert Russell Mittermeier, president of Conservation International.
There were vast increases in protected areas and ecotourism under the nation's now deposed leaders, Mittermeier said.
But valuable hardwoods, once protected by law in national parklands, began falling to the blades of illegal loggers earlier this year—further denuding a landscape that has already seen staggering deforestation.
Now lemurs are being targeted for the table.
"It's really scary to think of an Africa-type bush-meat trade getting started in Madagascar," said Charlie Welch, conservation manager at the Duke University Lemur Center.
"That's something that hasn't really existed in Madagascar up till now. The bottom line is that an opportunity exists now that wasn't there before."
Ecotourism Sabotage
Conservation International's Mittermeier stressed that the few hunters making money on the lemur trade are sabotaging a growing ecotourism industry that may be the country's greatest competitive advantage.
"People go to Madagascar first and foremost to see lemurs," he said.
If the poachers "are shooting them to make a few bucks, they are undercutting the future of the country as a whole."
Mittermeier also said that international donors trying to punish a few politicians involved in a power grab are doing serious damage to Madagascar's irreplaceable resources.
"If you pull the funding for these agencies, they have no way to patrol or control [areas like national parks]," he said.
"These guys benefiting from the breakdown of law and order do have some money, and they can pay illegal loggers or pay hunters to kill lemurs."
Community Backing
But Rajaobelina, the Malagasy nonprofit director, said that the domestic situation may be improving.
He's working with the new government, which has already fired several environmental and forestry officials in response to the crisis.
"They have reacted to what we've been saying and have really become involved in conservation efforts. We have seen some changes," he said.
Rajaobelina said that local villagers who had benefited from an ecotourism economy oppose poachers plundering their forests.
"People in the communities were scared [of violence against them]," he said.
"But since we arrested a few [poachers] some of the [local people] have started to talk. These communities are really committed to stopping people from outside coming in and killing the animals.
"It's a little bit dangerous," Rajaobelina admits of his current anti-poaching efforts.
But "as long as we have the communities behind us, we're actually more protected by them than by the police."
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