MAKING A CASE FOR 'SACRED' MEAT

During a search of a Staten Island garage last year, federal agents
made a disturbing find: Among packages of smoked fish and clothing
they discovered 33 pieces of African bushmeat, including the arm of a
primate and pieces of a small rodent known as a cane rat.

Now the garage owner, a Liberian immigrant named Mamie Jefferson, 39,
finds herself a defendant in what her attorney believes is one of the
first cases in New York, and perhaps the country, that involves
charges of bushmeat smuggling.

The case pits federal officials who believe bushmeat poses health
concerns against some West African immigrants here who say the eating
of cooked flesh of wild animals is a sacred act that is worthy of
protection under federal religious-protection law.

Federal agents began to focus on Jefferson, also known by the surname
of Manneh, after they uncovered bushmeat in January 2006 during an
inspection at Kennedy Airport of boxes addressed to her. The airport
search uncovered primate parts hidden in a legal shipment of dried
fish from Africa, court records stated. After the airport search,
agents visited Jefferson at her Staten Island home, where she
consented to the search of her garage. Jefferson legally sells the
fish within her West African community on Staten Island, said Jan
Rostal, the federal defender representing Jefferson.

In an unrelated case, Jefferson is serving a 2-year term in state
prison for trying to run over on Staten Island last year a woman she
suspected of being her husband's girlfriend, prosecutors said. As a
result, her husband is taking care of the children - nine of
Jefferson's and two young relatives.

"The entire family and the babies miss her a lot and want her home,"
said her husband, Zanger Jefferson, 40.

As she serves her state sentence, Jefferson is committed to fighting
the federal charges. On Friday, her attorney filed papers in the
federal case seeking to dismiss the charges.

Health risks

U.S. officials say the importation of bushmeat, particularly the cane
rat, could expose the public to diseases such as monkeypox, a viral
infection that causes symptoms similar to smallpox. Globally, the
trade in bushmeat is an environmental concern: Conservationists
believe the trade is endangering many African animals - especially
monkeys and other primates - that already are viewed as threatened.

Federal officials aren't sure how large the market is for bushmeat in
New York or elsewhere. During an interview with federal agents,
according to court records, Jefferson said she had heard that the
meat, which is usually smoked, had been sold in a local African
market on Staten Island. Popular types of bushmeat include the flesh
of monkeys, apes and bats, as well as the cane rats.

Recent statistics provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show
occasional seizures of suspected bushmeat in the New York area and at
other ports of entry such as Hawaii and Los Angeles.

"It is hard to find," said a wildlife service agent who operates out
of Valley Stream. Much of what is confiscated at Kennedy Airport is
found in hand luggage of travelers from overseas. "The big stuff is
shipped in containers," the agent said. "Nobody has the staff to look at that."

Since 2000, agents have made sporadic seizures of what they term
"possible" bushmeat in New York. Usually the items have been
identified as primates, antelope, goat and cane rat from Ghana,
according to the data.

Biologist Justin Brashares of the University of California at
Berkeley, has developed a network of sources on bushmeat. The reports
indicate that about 1,000 pounds of bushmeat, which is usually smoked
before it is shipped from Africa, makes its way each month into West
African ethnic markets in New York City. Nationwide, about 15,000
pounds of bushmeat come into the country each month, he said.

Jefferson's case is promising to turn into a test for the little
known federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 statute
designed to protect groups from prosecution for using controlled
substances as part of religious services. Last year the U.S. Supreme
Court negated an investigation of a small Brazilian sect in New
Mexico for using a psychotropic plant that was made into a tea known
as hoasca. The beverage, which is hallucinogenic, contains
dimethyltryptamine, which is on the federal list of controlled
substances, also known as Schedule One.

"If the Supreme Court says these folks have the right to use a
Schedule One drug in a religious way, why can't these Africans use
this bushmeat in a similar religious way?" Rostal, Jefferson's
attorney, asked in an interview. Rostal sees the use of bushmeat in
the West African immigrant communities as having a religious
significance that escapes many Westerners.

A spiritual meal

A number of Jefferson's fellow congregants at an African church in
the Stapleton section of Staten Island, none of whom want to be
identified because of concerns about immigration repercussions if
they go public, apparently agree. They have given Rostal an affidavit
to explain the spiritual importance of bushmeat.

"Bushmeat is sacred to us because it is the free, wild animals of our
homeland, and these animals are gifts from God and filled with
spiritual power," the congregants said. "When we eat the bushmeat, we
get closer to God and we take in that spiritual power to our bodies."

But federal officials and some health experts say the wild African
meats can harbor disease. Some studies, investigators said in court
papers, have linked bushmeat to HIV, SARS and Lassa fever, a viral
disease passed by a small rodent. Another concern is that Ebola, a
severe and often fatal viral infection, is harbored in some monkeys.

While health experts agree there is a risk of infection from
bushmeat, some of them believe the danger is low, particularly
because the vast majority of the product is smoked. A 2005 report by
a British government advisory committee concluded that, among
immigrants in the British Isles, the risk of disease was "extremely
low" from ingesting smoked bushmeat cooked in "traditional" ways -
such as by stewing for about two hours.

The bigger risk of illness, the British study concluded, was from
contamination in the kitchen of other foods that come in contact with
"disease organisms that may be present on the bushmeat prior to
cooking." The study also noted that food handlers could be sickened
when they handle a carcass contaminated with the microorganism that
transmits monkeypox.

In a recently filed legal brief to dismiss the government's
indictment, Rostal said that if an ecologically sensitive method of
harvesting African bushmeat could be developed, then the flesh could
be inspected here like other imported meats. In any event, the
amounts of bushmeat would remain small, reflecting their use in
religious celebrations, she said.

"It is not about having it sold in supermarkets," Rostal said.

The Animals At Stake

Suspected Bushmeat Animals Seized During The Years By Federal Agents

Cane Rat

Description: Small rodents also known as grass cutters, or cutting
grass. They are widely valued as bushmeat in parts of West and
Central Africa. Their meat is tender and can be of high protein and
low fat content. In

some localities they are considered a pest.

Habitat: Africa, south of the Sahara

Duiker

Description: A small antelope species with an arched body where the
front legs are a little shorter than the hind legs. Their body shape
allows them to duck into thickets for cover. Their name comes from
the Afrikaans word for "diver."

Habitat: Sub-Sahara Africa

Warthog

Description: Wild African pigs that can weigh up to 300 pounds. They
have two pairs of curved tusks in the mouth, which are used to defend
against predators. They have poor eyesight

but a good sense of smell. The tusks give a fearsome appearance.

Habitat: African grasslands

Green Monkey

Description: Medium-sized primates, also known as the Vervet monkeys,
they can weigh about 10 pounds. They live in large groups that can
number as many as 80. They spend much of the day on the ground but
stay in trees at night.

Habitat: Sub-Sahara Africa, as well as the Caribbean Islands of
Barbados and St. Kitts.

Sources: Wikipedia, Court Records