{"id":607174,"date":"2025-12-02T10:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T10:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/607174\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T10:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T10:19:11","slug":"horror-as-beloved-animal-popular-in-uk-could-be-eaten-to-extinction-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/607174\/","title":{"rendered":"Horror as beloved animal popular in UK could be \u2018eaten to extinction\u2019 | World | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the UK’s favourite zoo creatures could be driven to extinction by illegal black market traders selling them to wealthy clients as food, reports suggest. Lemurs have become a staple of zoos around the country<\/a> and wildlife parks in London, Blackpool and the Peak District<\/a> include walks through enclosures with ring-tailed lemurs and other species.<\/p>\n

However, the wet-nosed primates are one of the most endangered species of mammals in the world, and illegal activities on their native island of\u00a0Madagascar<\/a> could further limit their chance of survival. While deforestation has previously played a primary role in their endangerment, a new trend of black market sellers touting the rejuvenating properties of their meat could pose a fresh critical threat.<\/p>\n

Research published last month in the Conservation Letters journal reveals that approximately 13,000 lemurs are sold each year for food, despite being prohibited under both Madagascan and international law.<\/p>\n

The journal identified sales to wealthy East Africans as a major driver behind the trend, with lemur meat reportedly considered a status indicator, a link to rural roots and a health food.<\/p>\n

“It’s the most delicious of any food I’ve eaten,” one buyer said.<\/p>\n

“I would know it even with my eyes closed. Once you eat it, no one wants to stop.”<\/p>\n

“It keeps you young,” another said.<\/p>\n

They added: “That’s what people say in secret in the forest.”<\/p>\n

Researchers interviewed 2,600 people across 17 major cities in Madagascar over four years to compile the report, with key participants including hunters, buyers, sellers and restaurant staff.<\/p>\n

While illegal lemur meat was found on menus in over a third of the cities surveyed, the overwhelming majority – 94.5% – of trade went on behind closed doors between suppliers and clients.<\/p>\n

More than 90% of the 112 lemur species are at threat of extinction, with 31% classed as critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).<\/p>\n

Brown lemurs, classed as vulnerable by the IUCN, and critically endangered ruffed lemurs were the most popular among consumers.<\/p>\n

Conservation biologist Cortni Borgerson, who led the study, warned: “Without a comprehensive data-driven approach, the world’s most endangered mammals may soon be eaten into extinction.”<\/p>\n

The report recommended curbing the illegal activity through stricter firearm laws, targeted advertising campaigns warning would-be customers of disease transmission and other side effects of consumption, and providing hunters with “viable alternatives that give them a dependable income”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the UK’s favourite zoo creatures could be driven to extinction by illegal black market traders selling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[2740,933,70,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-607174","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-animals","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115649469656038209","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}