Kept behind bars in this tiny cage for the first year of his life after his mother and family were shot, this chimpanzee is one of the tragic victims of a bushmeat trade being fuelled by UK demand.
Wild animals have been hunted by rural communities in Africa for thousands of years as a much needed source of food.
But now thousands of monkeys are being killed in cold blood and then smuggled into cities in Britain, Europe and the USA - part of a lucrative international crime racket leaving the West African Chimpanzees critically endangered.
Leading primate scientist Dr Ben Garrod warned: “I can almost guarantee that African bushmeat has been illegally smuggled into a city close to where you are sitting.”
Served as a delicacy at British weddings and sold as 'dry-meat' on market stalls, he added: “This trade is not only devastating to the wildlife affected by it also has the potential to be unimaginably dangerous for us too through the spread of serious diseases such as ebola, as the meat is unsanitary and chimpanzees are very genetically similar to humans.”
The amount of illegal bushmeat seized by the Border Forces has doubled in the past five years.
A total of 1,149kg of meat from wild animals was seized at ports and airports and in posted packages in 2018-19, up from 946kg the previous year and 544kg in 2014-15, according to figures released by the Home Office under the Freedom of Information Act.
But this amount is just the tip of the iceberg, Professor Garrod said because much of the meat confiscated is not recorded before it is incinerated.
He called for DNA testing on meat seized by the Border Force to establish the species and origin to target the problem.
The Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement at the University of East Anglia, Norwich and author of The Chimpanzee and Me, explained: “Bushmeat is big business.
“Yes, it represents a much needed source of protein for some of their world’s most poorest people but now there is a different side to the problem forming the basis of a lucrative crime phenomenon.”
Four-year-old Winner, pictured, is one of the countless orphans of this “conservational disaster”.
Found close to Liberia’s border with Guinea in the summer of 2017 he had been locked in a tiny crate so small he could hardly stand and was only let out once a week - caged up for an entire year.
He now resides alongside 45 other rescued chimps in a sanctuary in Liberia but the legacy of being locked up has severely impacted him and now finds it hard to mix.
“Winner’s story is tragic but if you think that is unique, you’ve got another thing coming,” said Dr Ben Garrod.
“You can’t just walk into a forest and grab a baby chimp. You have to kill their mum and others in the group for their meat. Babies are hardly worth eating but they are worth thousands of pounds in the pet trade.
“That’s why we see so many orphans - the tragic by-product of the bushmeat trade.”
Although an estimated 500 species of animals are hunted, gorillas, bonobos and chimpanzees are targeted as due to the time the spend in trees making it easier for them to be shot.
But due to extended childhoods and long periods between births, populations take a long time to recover leaving the West African Chimpanzees now at risk of extinction.
Jenny Desmond, Co-founder of Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue and Protection set up four year ago, explained how although bushmeat is illegal a mix of minimal penalties, lax borders and culture allows the trade to flourish.
“Bushmeat is a rampant trade here. It is openly sold in the markets but also know it is being smuggled out of borders to bigger ports and airports to make its way to the UK and the USA.
“Here in Liberia this is the biggest threat to our chimp population.
"The orphans arrive literally shell-shocked with missing fingers from clinging onto their mothers and often with bits of shrapnel in their flesh as a result of the gun shots to the others in the group.”
She told how her job, alongside vet husband Jimmy, is now as much about law enforcement is it as about animal welfare.
“We don’t want to meet these babies. They should be living in the wild with their mothers, not at our sanctuary.
“If we sit back and allow this trade to continue in the near future this majestic species could be wiped out. Protecting them means protecting the biodiversity of the whole of the forest.”
Liberia’s Forestry Development Authority said: “West African chimpanzees are a critically endangered species, putting them at risk of extinction.
“It is extremely important to note for every chimpanzee being sold, an estimated five to 10 have been killed.
“This criminal activity is decimating Liberia’s wild populations at an alarming rate.
Known as ‘Gardeners of the Forest,’ chimps protect our survival and act as a keystone species for all wildlife.”
