david korte photographs

A young man poses with what he says is a raccoon. In Liberia, wildlife seems to be misnamed with American species that don’t actually live in Africa. Duikers are deer, a hyrax a tree goat, crocodiles are alligators, manatees are water cows, pangolins are ants-bears, monitor lizards are iguanas, civets are raccoons…

He wants $20US for the frightened animal, and says the mother raccoon ran away and left him. His sister captured him in Bong County, about two hours upcountry from Monrovia, and passed him along to sell. Within the past year, Liberia has made it illegal to possess, capture, kill, or sell wild animals for bush-meat, or the pet trade. Few people know the current law, for there is little education, publicity or enforcement.