Man's exploitation of the gorilla

Abstract

For hundreds of years the gorilla has been exploited and utilised by man in one form or another, its uses as a natural commodity ranging from raw protein to circus performer. Indigenous man in Africa has long hunted this near-relative, sometimes in reprisal for the destruction of his crops but more often simply for food, while so-called civilised man has hunted and slaughtered it in the name of sport and science. More recently, animal dealers have made fortunes by supplying living infant gorillas to zoos, laboratories and wealthy private owners, but the final trauma may well be one that the gorilla will not survive—the total destruction of its natural habitat in the never-ending quest for raw materials to supply the insatiable industrial nations—and only international intervention will save it.