Hunting and logging threatening the Congo Forest



Uncontrollable hunts have occurred throughout the Congo Basin Rain forest  Animals such as elephants, gorillas, and antelopes have been hunted. The animal’s disappearance may not cause any trouble right away but long-term affects follow. Recently, in the past decade, the proliferation of logging roads and the creation of large urban markets has increased the commercial hunting in the region. The killing of these animals has a critical change in the rain forest ecosystem. The demand for ivory, the tusks and teeth of an animal, has made the situation even worse. The animals that are mainly hunted are seed-dispersing animals. The fewer the seed-dispersing animals present in the rain forest  the less diversity the rain forest will have. One solution to this problem is to create a season for hunting these animals. Another solution is to find an alternative animal or area to hunt. A downside to these solutions is that hunters will still hunt these animals and that cannot be controlled. If these solutions are laid out then the ecosystem of the Congo Basin Rain forest will continue to be diverse and produce for the surrounding community in the future.

http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0722-hunting-congo-forest.html