London: Africa's great apes are threatened anew by an explosion of trade in wild animal meat for human consumption, fuelled by European logging companies, animal charities said.

A large and generally illegal trade in "bushmeat" has developed into a major commercial activity that threatens the survival of gorillas and chimpanzees, said the Ape Alliance in a report.

Many other species are also at risk, including the giant pangolin, forest elephant and dwarf crocodile, according to the report, The African Bushmeat Trade A Recipe For Extinction.

The extent of the crisis was shown in Congo, where 15 000 animal carcasses, including 293 chimpanzees, were counted at bushmeat markets in Brazzaville, it said. The report said that up to 600 lowland gorillas were killed each year to feed the trade.

It said the rapidly growing timber industry, which has been dominated by European companies, has been a big factor in generating the bushmeat trade.

Timber companies have destroyed forests where apes live and opened up their refuges to human encroachment and commercial hunting, according to the Ape Alliance, a coalition of 34 global organisations and ape specialists.

Chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall was quoted as saying: "All four species of great ape are in desperate trouble. It is my firm belief that if action is not taken now, there will be no viable populations of great apes living in the wild within 50 years."

The report said loggers supplemented their income by hunting wild animals and using logging trucks to take them from the forest to urban markets.

In Gabon, it has been estimated that 20 000 chimpanzees have been wiped out as a result of the logging.

- Reuters