Road kill in Cameroon

Joseph's ankles were badly swollen when we reached camp. Some days he walks thirty miles, then hunts by night as well, spotlighting prey with an improvised headlamp. Ammann estimates that the camp has claimed 200 gorillas in the past three years. It also runs three traplines that catch everything from pangolin to duiker to leopard. One leased shotgun reportedly was used by several hunters to kill eleven elephants. But on this day,Joseph's and Jean-Riche's return for six hours of walking was one mangabey, worth perhaps $5.

I was greatly relieved to leave the desperate atmosphere of camp and return to Bertoua for the bushmeat conference. The meeting was well attended, except by loggers, who boycotted it. Ammann and the WSPA came under fire for the "Slaughter of the Apes" brochure. "When Europeans read this, I would not be surprised if Cameroon's timber is banned," said Dieudonne Nguele, the provincial representative of the Ministry of Environment and Forests. "The timber industry is a key source of income at this stage in our development. If there is a ban, what will replace this industry?"

After two days of speechmaking and debate, the delegates drafted a long list of high-minded resolutions--to enforce laws, license weapons, ban the chevrotine, police logging concessions, instill a conservation ethic in villagers. The measures were encouraging, but would they be enforced? And if they were, could laws change the attitudes of people struggling to survive?

"If we ban bushmeat, we will help the animals but harm people who have; no alternative," said Nguele, voicing prevalent opinion. "Sometimes a government must close one eye." He had showed the WSPA brochure to his father, who responded, "What the hell am I going to eat? What about the people?"

That was Joseph Melloh's question, too. Ammann had invited him to Bertoua to discuss "Project Joseph," plan to start a gorilla ecotourism outfit, with him as head tracker. Joseph was interested. "As soon as I have another wet to make a living," he said, "I will forget about bushmeat and hunting. I have no future now."

After mulling over the plan, however, Joseph turned cynical. His worry was for eating today, not conserving wildlife for tomorrow. "People tell me, `Don't hunt-gorilla, chimpanzee, pangolin,'" he said. "Why should I not shoot these animals? They're meat. They're plentiful. In Cameroon, there are a million gorillas. Three weeks ago, I saw sixty in one day. I shot three and then stopped. When I wound a gorilla and he runs away, I feel very sad--sad for me. Why should I feel bad for a gorilla? He is just a stupid animal."

We phoned from our hotel in Bertoua to try to arrange Boumba's transfer to the Limbe Zoo. The telephone lines to Limbe and Yokadouma were down. Ammann left messages for the zoo director, but he could not reach Pierre, who was to have met us at the conference. By the final day, Pierre still had not arrived.