In a place of poverty and hunger, how do you save a species on the edge of extinction? A difficult question that conservationists have long-been working to tackle, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has come up with a new plan to protect the world's most endangered gorilla, the Cross River gorilla, from poachers by providing locals with an alternate and better income from farming snails.

In a new initiative funded by Great Apes Program of the Arcus Foundation, WCS has selected eight former poachers from four villages to become snail farmers. But why farm snails?

In Nigeria, snails are a highly sought-after delicacy and provide enough to support a family. According to WCS, operating costs to run a snail farm run about 87 US dollars, whereas profit from 3000 snails sold annually runs about 413 US dollars, leaving the snail farmer 326 US dollars a year. On the other hand, poaching a gorilla for bushmeat brings in only about 70 US dollars. Unlike poaching, income from snail farming is reliable and regular.

"People living near Cross River gorillas have trouble finding alternative sources of income and food and that’s why they poach," said James Deutsch, Director of the WCS’s Africa program in a press release. "We are working with them to test many livelihood alternatives, but perhaps the most promising, not to mention novel, is snail farming."

Poachers-turned-snail-farmers received 230 African giant snails from WCS to start their business. The snails reproduce quickly and provide high protein.

Thought to be extinct until rediscovered in the 1980s, the Cross River gorilla ( Gorilla gorilla diehli), a subspecies of the western gorilla, is hanging on by a thread: researchers believe that less than 300 survive today. The Cross river gorilla lives on the mountainous border between Nigeria and Cameroon.

Two years ago, the government of Cameroon created Takamanda National Park to help save the Cross River gorilla.

"Cross-River gorillas depend on law enforcement and conservation efforts to survive," says Andrew Dunn, WCS Nigeria Country Director. "The work of WCS and our dedicated field-staff to develop alternate livelihoods for local poachers is just one step on the road to recovery for these incredible animals."

By Jeremy Hance