$30 gets you a kg of illegal chimpanzee meat in Europe
Out with one, in with another.
This appears to be the motto these days in Europe, where a shuffle of truly bizarre foods is facing consumers. Last Friday, we wrote how one parlour in the U.K. was planning to serve ice cream made from human breast milk, an unusual innovation that prompted one MSN reader to quip, “I would prefer to skip the middleman and go straight to the supplier.”
Funny enough, but Britain’s Food Standards Agency hasn’t found humour in the $23-a-serving ice cream, choosing to step in and test the safety of the dessert before it can be sold to the public. But faster than you can say “Make that two scoops,” a new, even more off-putting food trend has popped up in place of breast milk ice cream.
According to the Daily Mail, a lucrative black market has arisen for chimpanzee meat, which is being sold at restaurants and markets across Europe.
Because the “rife” market is illegal, the paper notes, demand for the meat can boost prices to more than $30 per kilogram.
“From my own experience of Brixton market in London, all you have to do is ask for some ‘special meat’ for a ‘special ceremony’ and you will get what you are looking for,” Adina Farmaner, executive director of conservation agency Jane Goodall Institute UK, told the Daily Mail.
“The bushmeat trade is a huge problem in certain parts of Africa and is one of the main reasons the population in the wild has been reduced from approximately one million about 50 years ago to just a few hundred thousand today.”
While chimp meat may not be on your Death Row “last meal” list, there’s evidence to suggest the curious trade may not soon cease, regardless.
Not only did an independent study last year find over 270 tonnes of bushmeat passing through Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport alone, but smugglers often made no attempts to hide or conceal the meat in their suitcases.
“This could be because detecting and seizing bushmeat is not a priority for customs officials and the penalties for importing it are low and rarely enforced,” a Zoological Society of London source said.
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: SP | Mar 1, 2022 11:22:40 PM
"detecting and seizing bushmeat is not a priority"
in another unrelated paper:
"It is now generally accepted that HIV is a descendant of a Simian Immunodeficiency Virus"
(SIV is the monkey version of HIV)
Thankfully, we know although the greatest proven risk to human life is biological in nature, our government is 'protecting' us from a small risk of T3rr0rism by electronically strip searching everyone or getting felt up by the TSA. ( satire).
We pay for all these government inspectors at airports/shipping ports and post offices, what exactly are they doing?
It seems so similar to road deaths... Lack of seat belts is the problem, proposed solution = speed. cameras. If it wasn't so funny it would be sad.
Posted by: Randy kubbernus | Mar 2, 2022 10:15:24 AM
What a SHAME I was just reading the other day how good chimps are at sign language.So human a animal, boy are we a sad species!
Posted by: Ravenous | Mar 3, 2022 1:40:18 PM
Ummmmmmmmmmm Chimp.
Posted by: Chip | Mar 6, 2022 6:07:05 PM
Is bushmeat anything like pie ???
Posted by: ummmmm deep fried chimp with human breast milk ice cream for desert | Mar 8, 2022 4:14:31 PM
woot