Global News - July 2007
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Sierra Leone acts to protect chimps
Thu 26 July 2007 12:00 UK — Africa
The government of Sierra Leone has made it illegal for people to capture and kill chimpanzees, media reports suggest.
Reuters reports that the west African nation enacted the new law on Wednesday (July 25th) and declared a one-month amnesty for anyone with an offending primate to hand it over to the authorities.
A statement from the country's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Marine Resources - which was read out on national radio - said that anyone found with an illegal chimpanzee in the future could face a fine of up to $1,000 or jail.
According to the news agency, the statement said: "It is now illegal by law to possess, capture, kill or keep chimpanzees.
"To provide the public sufficient time to surrender chimps in their possession a month's notice is hereby given for chimps to be handed over to the authorities."
Experts believe that Sierra Leone's wild chimpanzee population has declined significantly since the 1970s as hunting and deforestation threatened their survival.
However, some think that numbers recovered somewhat during the decade-long civil war which ravished the country until 2002.
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