Do you need some lunch suggestions? Allow us to not recommend the monkey brains.
Chicago has become one of the North American trade centers for bushmeat, according to conservation groups. Bushmeat is meat from wild animals, typically those that are non-game.
Last month, federal wildlife agents raided African Art and Objects near West Flournoy Street and South Cicero Avenue. They found six monkey heads, a chimpanzee head and 14 dead cane rats, reports the Chicago Tribune.
The store owner's husband, Leroy Kuforiji, was in trouble once before for his imported goods. He was sentenced to six months of probation and a $2500 fine in 2000 for illegally importing elephant tusks, reports the Chicago Tribune.
No charges have yet been filed in regards to the federal raid.
While many Americans might respond with "Eww, gross," to monkey meat, they should know is an important part of many immigrants' culture.
"It's fairest to say there is a deep African history of using wildlife that goes beyond just nutrition," Crawford Allan, director of the North American branch of TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network, told the Chicago Tribune. "(They're saying) 'You guys love turkeys for Thanksgiving, we want to keep this as part of our culture.'"
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Conservationists, however, argue that bushmeat hunting is responsible for the decline in population of endangered species.
Matt Bartosik is a Chicago native and a social media sovereign.
