JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: There are urgent calls to the save the endangered apes, man's closest relatives in the animal kingdom. Correspondent Guy Smith explains why.</s>GUY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Weak and traumatized, this baby orangutan has been orphaned, its mother believed to have been killed by poachers. Here in Indonesian Borneo, the biggest threat to great apes are humans. The rainforest has been destroyed by commercial logging. They're hunted and captured for pets. Today in London, some of the world's top experts on primate behavior are gathering to launch a global campaign. They say some of man's closest relatives could be extinct within a decade.</s>PROFESSOR BIRUTE GALDIKAS, PRIMATOLOGIST: There are enormous problems in Indonesia and Malaysia with destruction of habitat; and we are looking at an animal in the wild that could easily be extinct within the next five to 10 years.</s>SMITH: Gorillas from Africa can easily be seen in captivity, but in the wild it's a desperate fight for survival. Recent civil wars, as in Rwanda, forcing local people to shoot them for bush meat. Now, though, it's claimed apes are even a luxury food in some European restaurants.</s>JANE GOODALL, PRIMATOLOGIST: The odd assignment to some kind of exotic restaurant may have come. I've heard it's been in London, certainly Antwerp and Amsterdam, and also New York.</s>SMITH: Conservationists say pressure must now be put on not just Third World governments, but also international organizations. Otherwise apes like these could be wiped out forever. Guy Smith, ITN.
Pleas to Save Endangered Apes Grow Urgent