Celebrity ape selfies harming efforts to curb wildlife trafficking, UN body warns

Instagram snaps of celebs such as Paris Hilton and James Rodriguez posing with orangutans and chimpanzees is endangering the survival of the great apes

Instagram snaps of celebrities including Paris Hilton and James Rodriguez posing with apes in the Gulf are damaging efforts to clamp down on wildlife trafficking and endangering the survival of some species, a UN body has warned.

New research by the UN's great apes survival partnership (Grasp) points to an alarming rise in trafficking of orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos stolen from the wild, mostly to feed demand from a boom in macabre Chinese circuses.