Diri’s aide expresses concerns over illegal poaching of chimpanzees in Edumenum National Park, calls for concerted action in safeguarding wildlife of Bayelsa

By Amgbare Prince, Yenagoa

Following increased hunting and poaching of chimpanzees in forest reserve in the state, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Bayelsa State Governor on Tourism, Mr Piriye Kiyaramo has called for concerted efforts to protect endangered species in the Edumenum National Park.

The park covers 86.76 km2 and it is home to chimpanzees.

There is also Apoi National Park, covering 64.77 km2, where the critically endangered Niger Delta Red Colombus is found, among several species.

While expressing his displeasure in an interview with newsmen in Yenagoa, on Wednesday, over recent killing of chimpanzees in Edumenum National Park in the Nembe axis by locals, Mr Kiyaramo said all great apes, including chimpanzees, were either endangered or critically endangered.

The governor’s aide, who lamented that bushmeat had always been a primary food source in Central and West Africa, pointed out that in recent years poaching had become commercialized to satisfy the appetites of wealthy urban residents, with infant chimpanzees being frequently taken alive and sold in cities as pets.

He added that promotion of chimpanzee tourism had the potentialities to generate funds that could even be used to protect wildlife habitat and help the adjoining communities to the national park to see value in protecting native wildlife.

He reiterated that wildlife tourism would greatly benefit the endangered populations of the chimpanzees in Edumenum National Park.

Mr Kiyaramo further suggested the introduction of small-scale chimpanzee tourism programme as part of efforts to create the awareness of the importance of protecting wildlife for ecotourism, reasons where few visitors would be allowed to spend brief time to observe the chimpanzees without disruption of their natural behaviours in the wild.

While calling for effective collaborations and partnerships among relevant ministries, departments, agencies and the park’ adjoining communities to design and implement wildlife tourism programmes to promote chimpanzee conservation, he regretted that creating awareness on the significance of conservation among community folks still presented a unique challenge.

He said that Chimpanzee tourism offered exclusive opportunities for private tours companies in the Edumenum National Park, as according to the governor’s aide, chimpanzees which were friendly to humans, remained some of the most sought-after primate species in the East African region, pulling primate lovers to visit the East African region with excitement to see chimpanzees in their habitats.

Mr Kiyaramo noted that: “Sadly, there are very few places left where you can still see chimpanzees in the wild.

“The best countries to see these endangered creatures in Africa are Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.:

He added that although all of the chimpanzees in these places were wild, many groups of chimpanzees had become fully habituated to humans.

He further explained that because of their evolutionary proximity to humans and the behavioural similarities between humans and apes, people all over the world were fascinated by great apes and wished to see them in the wild, saying that in many parts of Africa, the result had been the development of tourism, the main goal of which was to observe habituated chimpanzees or gorillas in the wild.

“This form of tourism is often regarded as ecotourism which provides alternative income for local people who would otherwise use forests for agriculture, housing materials, firewood, and medicinal plants and sometimes hunt wild animals, including great apes, for meat. Such tourism initiative can also serve as an important source of funds for the conservation budget.

“For example, in Uganda, tourism has become the principal internal source of foreign exchange, and chimpanzee and gorilla tourism are responsible for 52% of the tourism revenue. The project could bring in tourism to sustain a community and attract interest from funders. Concerted efforts to sufficiently habituate chimpanzees for tourism is necessary here”, the SSA reiterated.

Recall that in 2020, the federal government approved 10 additional National Parks, bringing the number to 17 parks in the country.

Parts of the places approved were Apoi Forest Reserve, now Apoi National Park, 64.77 km2 and the Edumenum Forest Reserve, now Edumenum National Park 86.76 km2.

Consequently, the federal government approved the sum of N500 million take-off funds for the 10 newly-approved National Parks.

David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation’s (DSWF) position on the international trade in chimpanzees is that in the last six years, over 14,000 chimpanzees have been lost to the illegal wildlife trade, with one chimpanzee being poached every four hours to satisfy consumer demand.

While the Niger Delta red colobus which is confined to the Apoi Creek National Park, a patch of marshy forest in southern Ijaw Local Government Area in Bayelsa state being a critically endangered monkey that numbers as few as 500 in the wild, there is the urgent need to deploy security personnel to the national parks in the state to curb the incessant poaching of chimpanzees and other wildlife that are endemic in the state.