Figures based on a new database to track the illegal trade of great apes (Orangutan, Gorilla, Chimpanzee and Bonobo) shows that a minimum of over 1,800 great apes were rescued from illicit traffic from 2005 to 2011.

The Apes Seizure Database (ASD) has been developed by the United Nations Environment Programme’s World  Conservation Monitoring Centre along with the Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP). The database was launched in September this year at the 17th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, in Johannesburg.

The database also records that 22,218 great apes were lost from the wild between 2005 and 2011.

“Any illegal trade in great apes – whether it crosses international borders or not – needs to be considered a very real threat to the survival of these endangered species,” said UN Environment chief Erik Solheim. The highest number entries in ASD is that of orangutans (67 per cent) followed by chimpanzees (24 per cent), gorillas (6 per cent) and bonobos (3 per cent).

In its updated list of endangered species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature had categorised great apes as Critically Endangered, essentially a step away from extinction.