Liberia: Post Ebola - Liberian Bush Meat Sellers Want Ban Lifted

Monrovia — With a vast rain forest a several species of animals, Liberia has a large market for bush meat which is a source of livelihood for thousands of hunters and vendors who commute between interior counties including Grand Gedeh, River Gee, Gbarpolu, Lofa and other counties and urban cities. The majority of Liberia's local delicacies are prepared using bush meat which makes the business a profitable one, generating thousands of dollars.

When the deadly Ebola virus broke out in March 2014, it led to an abrupt ban on the trade in bush meat by the government of Liberia through the Ministry of Health, a decision that led to public outcry from the hundreds of Liberians trading in bush meat. The Ministry of Health announced that bush meat is one of the sources of Ebola, a virus known to have some animals mainly monkeys and chimpanzees as its natural host. Many of the marketers who were trading in Bush meat prior to Ebola during the outbreak cried out that have all gone out of business and were living in debts.

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