Karl Ammann; wildlife photographer, bushmeat activist

Karl uncovers Smuggling Ring (click Smuggling Apes headline on this yahoo page) An open letter to CITES re: the export of primates. Recent Books - Eating Apes -by Petersen & Ammann -read excerpts, reviews -buy from U of Cal Press - Consuming Nature -by Rose, Mittermeier, Ammann & colleagues Read National Geographic's detailed and still relevant interview with Karl. Has Karl rediscovered the Bondo Mystery Ape? -->Winter 2004 UPDATE -->Time Magazine piece(01/05) -->New Scientist article(10/04) -Economist article(10/03) -Karl's notes -photographs -comments on the DNA Karl comments on SECO/ITTO evaluation of the PROGREPP project in the Congo. Karl on Hunting in the DRC. Beautiful apes -in natural settings -after horrific death Beautiful Art: Presenting the artwork of Charles Alexander. our photo gallery our writings		these shocking, ugly, tragic photographs are real !! can we stop the slaughter? but we also have great beauty ... the painting of Charles Alexander.


these are but a sampling of the startling, horrific photographs that document the terror and the scale of the bushmeat and related conservation crises in Central Africa today. please examine others in our collection. for ordering information please contact: Harold Goldstein 301.854.0388		Karl Ammann is a wildlife photographer and conservation activist and a leader of the campaign that gained worldwide recognition of the bushmeat crisis in Africa. He is an advisory director to several organizations, including The World Society for the Protection of Animals, The Cheetah Conservation Fund, and The Biosynergy Institute. National Geographic has recently interviewed Karl and their story is a good introduction to his philosophies and opinions on the state of bushmeat today. His photographs and his writings on the African bushmeat trade have been featured in the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Stern Magazine, Natural History Magazine, Outdoor Photographer (USA), Airone (Italy), Focus (Germany), National Geographic's Earth Almanac, and in many other venues. Most recently his work is featured in several National Geographic photo galleries - Gallery 1 and Gallery 2. Lately he has been investigating and making known an extensive wildlife smuggling ring stretching from Central Africa to Egypt. See the YAHOO News video report on this Smuggling Ring. (just click the Smuggling Apes headline on this yahoo page to view the video) Most recently he is co-author of two very important works. Eating Apes, with Dale Peterson, documents the history and present status of the Bushmeat trade and the myriad o issues involved. Consuming Nature, with Tony Rose and others, is a full color coffee table book about the exploitation of African rain forests with a focus on the bushmeat crisis. He initiated and helped produce TV programs on the bushmeat issue for CNN, BBC Newsround, (see the latest BBC news report about bushmeat - it introduces the BBC video that follows Karl as he documents the bushmeat trade) UK Channel Four, National Geographic, and M-Net Carte Blanche. Karl and his photographs are listed in AGPix. After studying at St. Gall Graduate School of Economics, and graduating Cornell University's Hotel Management School in 1974, Ammann worked on new project development and marketing for InterContinental Hotels in Africa and worldwide, travelling to over 100 countries. Karl first recognized the scale of the bush meat trade in 1988, while traveling on one of the legendary Zaire River boats. Hunters and fisherman bring their produce to these boats in dug-out canoes. Some of the meat is consumed on the journey, most is stored by on-board traders for resale in the towns. At the end of the journey, Ammann counted some 2004 smoked primate carcasses and about 1000 fresh ones, stored in special bush meat freezers. Since then he has carried a camera as his sidearm, shooting scenes of chimpanzees and gorillas being butchered for sale as expensive commercial bushmeat. Ammann's reports and documentaries convinced the European Parliament and leaders of over twenty African states to sign a proclamation against the slaughter of apes and caused the government of Cameroon to convene a national conference on the illegal bushmeat trade. For this work he received the Dolly Green Award for Artistic Achievement at the 11th annual Genesis Awards banquet in Los Angeles in April of 1997. In recent years Karl has authored widely distributed photo-essay books, including Orangutan Odyssey (with Birute Galdikas), Gorilla, Cheetah, The Hunters and the Hunted, Masai Mara and Little Bull: Growing Up in Africa's Elephant Kingdom (with Ellen Foley James). He helped edit and provided photographs for the APA Insight Guide Book, East African Wildlife. And, as mentioned, Karl has recently co-authored Eating Apes and Consuming Nature. Awards and Commendations Karl's work has been widely acclaimed in many arenas. As mentioned above, for his work in Cameroon, he received the very prestigious Dolly Green Award for Artistic Achievement at the 11th annual Genesis Awards banquet in Los Angeles in April of 1997. The Ark Trust, the originator of the Genesis Awards has merged with The Humane Society of the United States. You may read about this year's Genesis Award winners. The 1997 awards are also on their site. Karl was responsible for all the photography in the recent Consuming Nature. President Jacques Chirac of France was quite touched by these images and he wrote to us in FRENCH; our ENGLISH translation is available. In 1999 Karl received the inaugural Chimfunshi Pal Award in recognition of his efforts to raise hope, awareness and respect on behalf of chimpanzees. For five consecutive years Ammann has won the "World In our Hands" category in competion for the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, as well as other category prizes. He is one of the leading environmental photographers in the world today. Ammann and his wife Kathy share their fifteen acre game ranch near Mt. Kenya with their adopted chimpanzee orphans Mzee and Bili, a home reared cheetah Sasa, and dozens of visiting elephant, buffalo, monkeys and other local wildlife. writings \| photographs \| about bushmeat

Karl Ammann is a wildlife photographer and conservation activist and a leader of the campaign that gained worldwide recognition of the bushmeat crisis in Africa. He is an advisory director to several organizations, including The World Society for the Protection of Animals, The Cheetah Conservation Fund, and The Biosynergy Institute. National Geographic has recently interviewed Karl and their story is a good introduction to his philosophies and opinions on the state of bushmeat today.

His photographs and his writings on the African bushmeat trade have been featured in the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Stern Magazine, Natural History Magazine, Outdoor Photographer (USA), Airone (Italy), Focus (Germany), National Geographic's Earth Almanac, and in many other venues. Most recently his work is featured in several National Geographic photo galleries - Gallery 1 and Gallery 2.

Lately he has been investigating and making known an extensive wildlife smuggling ring stretching from Central Africa to Egypt. See the YAHOO News video report on this Smuggling Ring. (just click the Smuggling Apes headline on this yahoo page to view the video)

Most recently he is co-author of two very important works. Eating Apes, with Dale Peterson, documents the history and present status of the Bushmeat trade and the myriad o issues involved. Consuming Nature, with Tony Rose and others, is a full color coffee table book about the exploitation of African rain forests with a focus on the bushmeat crisis.

He initiated and helped produce TV programs on the bushmeat issue for CNN, BBC Newsround, (see the latest BBC news report about bushmeat - it introduces the BBC video that follows Karl as he documents the bushmeat trade) UK Channel Four, National Geographic, and M-Net Carte Blanche. Karl and his photographs are listed in AGPix.

After studying at St. Gall Graduate School of Economics, and graduating Cornell University's Hotel Management School in 1974, Ammann worked on new project development and marketing for InterContinental Hotels in Africa and worldwide, travelling to over 100 countries. Karl first recognized the scale of the bush meat trade in 1988, while traveling on one of the legendary Zaire River boats. Hunters and fisherman bring their produce to these boats in dug-out canoes. Some of the meat is consumed on the journey, most is stored by on-board traders for resale in the towns. At the end of the journey, Ammann counted some 2004 smoked primate carcasses and about 1000 fresh ones, stored in special bush meat freezers.

Since then he has carried a camera as his sidearm, shooting scenes of chimpanzees and gorillas being butchered for sale as expensive commercial bushmeat. Ammann's reports and documentaries convinced the European Parliament and leaders of over twenty African states to sign a proclamation against the slaughter of apes and caused the government of Cameroon to convene a national conference on the illegal bushmeat trade. For this work he received the Dolly Green Award for Artistic Achievement at the 11th annual Genesis Awards banquet in Los Angeles in April of 1997.

In recent years Karl has authored widely distributed photo-essay books, including Orangutan Odyssey (with Birute Galdikas), Gorilla, Cheetah, The Hunters and the Hunted, Masai Mara and Little Bull: Growing Up in Africa's Elephant Kingdom (with Ellen Foley James). He helped edit and provided photographs for the APA Insight Guide Book, East African Wildlife. And, as mentioned, Karl has recently co-authored Eating Apes and Consuming Nature.

Awards and Commendations

Karl's work has been widely acclaimed in many arenas. As mentioned above, for his work in Cameroon, he received the very prestigious Dolly Green Award for Artistic Achievement at the 11th annual Genesis Awards banquet in Los Angeles in April of 1997. The Ark Trust, the originator of the Genesis Awards has merged with The Humane Society of the United States. You may read about this year's Genesis Award winners. The 1997 awards are also on their site.

Karl was responsible for all the photography in the recent Consuming Nature. President Jacques Chirac of France was quite touched by these images and he wrote to us in FRENCH; our ENGLISH translation is available.

In 1999 Karl received the inaugural Chimfunshi Pal Award in recognition of his efforts to raise hope, awareness and respect on behalf of chimpanzees.

For five consecutive years Ammann has won the "World In our Hands" category in competion for the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, as well as other category prizes. He is one of the leading environmental photographers in the world today. Ammann and his wife Kathy share their fifteen acre game ranch near Mt. Kenya with their adopted chimpanzee orphans Mzee and Bili, a home reared cheetah Sasa, and dozens of visiting elephant, buffalo, monkeys and other local wildlife.