Madagascar lemurs and forests decimated by gangs

New Scientist reports on the rampant bush meat and illegal logging trades currently happening in Madagascar.

This African island's legendary lemurs and other animals as well as its forests are under threat by loggers and poachers after a March coup that ousted the former president reports the magazine.

In August, Conservation International reported that 15 bushmeat traders, contracted by a restaurant, were arrested carrying hundreds of endangered lemurs, which had been killed and roasted. "This happened in one of the country's best managed parks," says Edward Louis, a conservation biologist at the Omaha Zoo, who has been working in Madagascar for a decade. "If it's happening there, I can't begin to imagine what is happening elsewhere."

Read the full story: Madagascar biodiversity under threat as gangs run wild

Photo from Madagasikara Voakajy a capacity building project