The meat of protected African animals is being sold in Belgium

By Donna Lu

Gemma DiLullo/Alamy

The meat of several protected African animals is being illegally imported into and sold in Belgium.

Sophie Gombeer at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences and her colleagues have identified wild animal meat, also known as bushmeat, being sold in several markets in Brussels.

They identified the meat of three species listed as protected according to CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora: the red-tailed monkey, De Brazza’s monkey and a species of small antelope called the blue duiker. Under European Union law, importing wild meat …