Analysis of patterns of bushmeat consumption reveals extensive exploitation of protected species in eastern Madagascar

Understanding the patterns of wild meat consumption from tropical forests is important for designing approaches to address this major threat to biodiversity and mitigate potential pathways for transmission of emerging diseases. Bushmeat consumption has been particularly poorly studied in Madagascar, one of the world's hottest biodiversity hotspots. Studying bushmeat consumption is challenging as many species are protected and researchers must consider the incentives faced by informants. Using interviews with 1154 households in 12 communes in eastern Madagascar, as well as local monitoring data, we investigated the importance of socio-economic variables, taste preference and traditional taboos on consumption of 50 wild and domestic species. The majority of meals contain no animal protein. However, respondents consume a wide range of wild species and 95% of respondents have eaten at least one protected species (and nearly 45% have eaten more than 10). The rural/urban divide and wealth are important predictors of bushmeat consumption, but the magnitude and direction of the effect varies between species. Bushmeat species are not preferred and are considered inferior to fish and domestic animals. Taboos have provided protection to some species, particularly the Endangered Indri, but we present evidence that this taboo is rapidly eroding. By considering a variety of potential influences on consumption in a single study we have improved understanding of who is eating bushmeat and why. Evidence that bushmeat species are not generally preferred meats suggest that projects which increase the availability of domestic meat and fish may have success at reducing demand. We also suggest that enforcement of existing wildlife and firearm laws should be a priority, particularly in areas undergoing rapid social change. The issue of hunting as an important threat to biodiversity in Madagascar is only now being fully recognised. Urgent action is required to ensure that heavily hunted species are adequately protected.     

Sustainability indices for exploited populations

Evaluating the sustainability of hunting is key to the conservation of species exploited for bushmeat. Researchers are often hampered by a lack of basic biological data, the usual response to which is to develop sustainability indices based on highly simplified population models. However, the standard indices in the bushmeat literature do not perform well under realistic conditions of uncertainty, bias in parameter estimation, and habitat loss. Another possible approach to estimating the sustainability of hunting under uncertainty is to use Bayesian statistics, but this is mathematically demanding. Red listing of threatened species has to be carried out in extremely data-poor situations: uncertainty has been incorporated into this process in a relatively simple and intuitive way using fuzzy numbers. The current methods for estimating sustainability of bushmeat hunting also do not incorporate spatial heterogeneity. No-take areas are one management tool that can address uncertainty in a spatially explicit way.     

Incentives for Hunting: The Role of Bushmeat in the Household Economy in Rural Equatorial Guinea

Bushmeat is an important component of the informal economy throughout West and Central Africa. In order to formulate effective policy to ensure the sustainability of bushmeat hunting for both development and conservation reasons, there is a need to understand its position within the wider rural economy. We conducted interviews with households and hunters over a 15-month period in a village in continental Equatorial Guinea which supplies substantial quantities of bushmeat to the urban market, to evaluate (1) whether hunting is predominately for income or consumption and through choice or necessity, and (2) the factors influencing household production of and consumption and expenditure on bushmeat. Hunting for trade to urban markets is a major component of household incomes, carried out by around 60% of poor-to-middle income households, while richer households have other income-generating activities. The greater a hunter’s bushmeat offtake, the higher the proportion sold. Bushmeat forms a minor component of household expenditure and is less widely consumed than alternative protein sources. It is a necessity good, with consumption and expenditure on bushmeat related less than proportionately to income. While they prefer the security of a regular wage, hunting is an important source of fall-back income for men in the absence of preferable alternative livelihood opportunities.     

Patterns of bushmeat hunting and perceptions of disease risk among central African communities

There is a great need to determine the factors that influence the hunting, butchering and eating of bushmeat to better manage the important social, public health and conservation consequences of these activities. In particular, the hunting and butchering of wild animals can lead to the transmission of diseases that have potentially serious consequences for exposed people and their communities. Comprehension of these risks may lead to decreased levels of these activities. To investigate these issues, 3971 questionnaires were completed to examine the determinants of the hunting, butchering and eating of wild animals and perceptions of disease risk in 17 rural central African villages. A high proportion of individuals reported perceiving a risk of disease infection with bushmeat contact. Individuals who perceived risk were significantly less likely to butcher wild animals than those who perceived no risk. However, perception of risk was not associated with hunting and eating bushmeat (activities that, compared with butchering, involve less contact with raw blood and body fluids). This suggests that some individuals may act on perceived risk to avoid higher risk activity. These findings reinforce the notion that conservation programs in rural villages in central Africa should include health-risk education. This has the potential to reduce the levels of use of wild animals, particularly of certain endangered species (e.g. many non-human primates) that pose a particular risk to human health. However, as the use of wild game is likely to continue, people should be encouraged to undertake hunting and butchering more safely for their own and their community's health.     

Wildlife Depletion in a West African Farm-Forest Mosaic and the Implications for Hunting Across the Landscape

Unsustainable hunting is a threat to conservation and rural livelihoods that depend on bushmeat for food and income. To reduce the pressure on forest-dependent vulnerable species, hunting in farmland might complement offtake from forests and provide a sustainable source of bushmeat. To explore this possibility, we investigated patterns of hunting and wildlife depletion, and integration of hunting into agricultural livelihoods, in an intensively managed farm-forest mosaic landscape. Surveys were conducted across 63 households over a year in a Ghanaian cocoa-farming community surrounded by a timber production forest. The findings indicated a high level of wildlife depletion in the landscape and the local extinction of the largest species, especially in farmland. Most hunting occurred in forests and offtake from farmland was low, yet hunting in farmland was disproportionately common relative to its coverage in the landscape. Most farmland hunting was opportunistic and integrated with agricultural activities. Our findings suggest that intensively used farmland provides little opportunity to reduce hunting pressure in forests.     

Identifying Conservation Opportunities among Malinké Bushmeat Hunters of Guinea,West Africa

Bushmeat hunting plays an important role in many rural African households; however, hunting pressures are growing, threatening the survival of many bushmeat species. Wildlife resources are rapidly dwindling; yet effective conservation strategies have been difficult to develop and implement. Many dimensions of bushmeat resource use have not been sufficiently explored and are consequently ignored in conservation interventions. To improve understanding of hunting practice, we conducted semistructured interviews with 74 hunters in three Malinké villages in Guinea, West Africa regarding motivations to hunt and hunting processes. In addition, we investigated the local bushmeat trade in a nearby city. Using data from previous studies, and Robinson and Redford’s (1991) model, we find that Red-flanked duiker, bushbuck and buffalo are unsustainably harvested. Malinké hunters’ perspectives offer both opportunities and obstacles for conservation which will be valuable for the development of conservation strategies in this area.     

Market Hunting in the Taï Region,Côte d’Ivoire and Implications for Monkey Populations

We studied the effect of market hunting on primate species in the Taï National Park and adjacent forests in Côte d’Ivoire. We assessed the impact of hunting by comparing the calculated maximal reproduction rate with the current off-take rate. We assessed the average bushmeat consumption per capita/per year from weekly investigations on bushmeat available in 88 bushmeat restaurants and markets over a 12-mo period in 1999. We derived data on preferences for particular game species from interviews of 162 bushmeat consumers, 25 subsistence hunters and 3 groups of professional hunters. Hunting pressure was highest on the larger primate species such red colobus (Procolobus badius), black- and- white colobus (Colobus polykomos) and sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys). The amount of primate bushmeat extracted from the Taï National Park and surrounding forests was 249,229 kg in 1999. We estimated population densities using line transect surveys. By referring to current population densities we calculated the maximum production of each species using the Robinson Redford model (2001) and assuming unhunted conditions. A comparison of current harvest levels with maximum production suggests that harvest of Procolobus badius is sustainable, whereas current off-take of Colobus polykomos, Cercocebus atys, Cercopithecus diana (diana monkey) and C. campbelli (Campbell’s monkeys) exceeds sustainability by ≤3 times. We recommend that wildlife managers promote programs that encourage the production of domestic animals as a substitute for wild meat.     

Bushmeat hunting in the Congo Basin: an assessment of impacts and options for mitigation

Hunting of wild animals is an important component of household economies in the Congo Basin. Results from the growing corpus of quantitative studies show that: a) bushmeat remains the primary source of animal protein for the majority of Congo Basin families; b) bushmeat hunting can constitute a significant source of revenue for forest families; c) bushmeat consumption by low density populations living in the forest may be sustainable at present; d) demand for bushmeat by growing numbers of urban consumers has created a substantial market for bushmeat that is resulting in a halo of defaunation around population centres, and may be driving unsustainable levels of hunting, even in relatively isolated regions; and e) large bodied animals with low reproductive rates are most susceptible to over-exploitation compared with more r-selected species that apparently can tolerate relatively intensive hunting (Mangel et al. 1996). As urban populations continue to grow and economies revitalise, unless action is taken to alter the demand for, and the supply of bushmeat, the forests of the Congo Basin will be progressively stripped of certain wildlife species, risking their extirpation or extinction, and the loss of values they confer to local economies. Consequently, it is essential that a) logging companies are encouraged or coerced not to facilitate bushmeat hunting and transportation in their concessions, b) we develop a better understanding of the elasticity of bushmeat demand, c) that pilot bushmeat substitution projects are supported and their impact on demand evaluated, and d) social marketing activities are put in place to attempt to direct consumer preferences for animal protein away from bushmeat species that are particularly susceptible to over-exploitation.     

Mapping Bushmeat Hunting Pressure in Central Africa

Hunting and trade of wild animals for their meat (bushmeat), especially mammals, is commonplace in tropical forests worldwide. In West and Central Africa, bushmeat extraction has increased substantially during recent decades. Currently, such levels of hunting pose a major threat to native wildlife. In this paper, we compiled published data on hunting offtake of mammals, from a number of studies conducted between 1990 and 2007 in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Republic of Congo. From these data sources, we estimated annual extraction rates of all hunted species and analyzed the relationship between environmental and anthropogenic variables surrounding each hunting rate and levels of bushmeat extraction. We defined hunting pressure as a function of bushmeat offtake and number of hunted species and confirm that hunting pressure is significantly correlated with road density, distance to protected areas and population density. These correlations are then used to map hunting pressure across the Congo Basin. We show that predicted risk areas show a patchy distribution throughout the study region and that many protected areas are located in high‐risk areas. We suggest that such a map can be used to identify areas of greatest impact of hunting to guide large‐scale conservation planning initiatives for central Africa.     

Determinants of bushmeat supply sources in rural areas of Côte d’Ivoire

The bushmeat trade provides an income to hunters, transporters, and vendors living in the vicinity of protected areas but remains a challenge to wildlife conservation objectives. The key factors driving the source, choice and use of bushmeat vary among actors in the commercial bushmeat value chain, and insights into these determinants are required to facilitate the development of conservation strategies. Therefore, we aimed to identify the socioeconomic factors that explain the source of supply and quantities of bushmeat available in households and local restaurants. We carried out a survey with 144 rural household heads and 24 restaurant owners in 20 villages in the Western part of Taï National Park in Côte d’Ivoire. We found that bushmeat quantity and species diversity were low in households, originating mainly from subsistence hunting. However, both the amount of bushmeat and the variety of species were high in restaurants and primarily supplied by commercial hunters. Furthermore, the quantity of bushmeat was lower in households with other protein sources and in restaurants in villages that had been the target of more conservation awareness campaigns. We highlight the importance of understanding the determinants of bushmeat supply to regulate the bushmeat trade by applying relevant conservation interventions.     

A bioeconomic analysis of bushmeat hunting

Unsustainable bushmeat hunting is a major threat to mammal species, particularly in West/Central Africa. We developed a multispecies dynamic simulation model of hunter behaviour, parameterized using data from the Ashanti region, Ghana. The model distinguishes between two hunting techniques, snaring and gun hunting. We analyse the impact of key economic parameters on off-takes. Economic incentives determine the effort devoted to hunting, the choice of hunting technique, and the species that are consumed domestically or traded in markets. These factors, together with the growth rates and catchabilities of hunted species, determine the ecological impact of hunting. The results suggest that increased bushmeat prices are likely to lead to a switch from snaring, which is cheaper but less efficient, to gun hunting, with a consequent impact on vulnerable species. Increases in agricultural prices have an ambiguous effect on hunter behaviour, depending on the balance between incentives to invest in agriculture and increased consumption as incomes improve. Penalties are more effective if they target bushmeat sales, rather than the act of hunting. This model represents a step forward because it explicitly considers bushmeat as a component of the household economy. This has important implications as regards the development of policies to conserve species hunted for bushmeat.     

Explanatory factors for household involvement in illegal bushmeat hunting around Serengeti,Tanzania

Bushmeat hunting, i.e., the hunting of wildlife for consumption, is a widespread and well-researched phenomenon. Here, we add to the literature on the factors that explain household engagement in hunting by asking how situational factors (such as distance from potential hunting grounds) and household-related variables both at the individual and at the social level (such as perceptions of law enforcement, relative wealth and ethnic background) are related to hunting activities.However, bushmeat hunting is inherently challenging to investigate as it is usually illegal. In this study, conducted in western Serengeti, Tanzania (n = 196 households in 12 villages), we used a variable that can be (and sometimes indeed is) incorporated in dietary recall surveys. This variable elicited the provenance of the bushmeat consumed, thereby avoiding direct statements about hunting activities. Counts of bushmeat sourced from household members were interpreted as a proxy for household engagement in hunting.In a binomial generalised linear model, perceived own relative wealth, perceived effectiveness of law enforcement, distance from the nearest protected area and ethnicity all significantly explained variation in counts of home-sourced bushmeat over 10 months. Our approach is useful for investigating changes in perceptions of household wealth and law enforcement and their effects on hunting over time, and could contribute substantially to a better understanding of the dynamics of hunting in response to conservation and development interventions.     

Capture,Movement, Trade,and Consumption of Mammals in Madagascar

Wild meat trade constitutes a threat to many animal species. Understanding the commodity chain of wild animals (hunting, transportation, trade, consumption) can help target conservation initiatives. Wild meat commodity chain research has focused on the formal trade and less on informal enterprises, although informal enterprises contribute to a large portion of the wild meat trade in sub-Saharan Africa. We aimed to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the formal and informal components of these commodity chains by focusing on the mammalian wild meat trade in Madagascar. Our objectives were to: (1) identify hunting strategies used to capture different wild mammals; (2) analyze patterns of movement of wild meat from the capture location to the final consumer; (3) examine wild meat prices, volumes, and venues of sale; and (4) estimate the volume of wild meat consumption. Data were collected in May-August 2013 using semi-structured interviews with consumers (n = 1343 households, 21 towns), meat-sellers (n = 520 restaurants, open-air markets stalls, and supermarkets, 9 towns), and drivers of inter-city transit vehicles (n = 61, 5 towns). We found that: (1) a wide range of hunting methods were used, though prevalence of use differed by animal group; (2) wild meat was transported distances of up to 166 km to consumers, though some animal groups were hunted locally (<10 km) in rural areas; (3) most wild meat was procured from free sources (hunting, gifts), though urban respondents who consumed bats and wild pigs were more likely to purchase those meats; and (4) wild meat was consumed at lower rates than domestic meat, though urban respondents consumed wild meat twice as much per year compared to rural respondents. Apart from the hunting stage, the consumption and trade of wild meat in Madagascar is also likely more formalized than previously thought.     

Impacts of hunting on mammals in African tropical moist forests: a review and synthesis

• 1 Available information on the consumption of wild meat in West and Central Africa is reviewed. We show that mammals are the prime source of bushmeat, and that ungulates and rodents make up the highest proportion of biomass extracted.
• 2 We present data on current knowledge of extraction patterns of wild mammals in West and Central Africa, and evidence that at current off‐take levels, within the range states, mammals as bushmeat are being depleted on an unprecedented scale. Extraction rates are orders of magnitude higher there than in comparable ecosystems like the Amazon, and much less likely to be sustainable.
• 3 However, basic knowledge of the biology of harvestable tropical moist forest mammals, and the consequences of hunting on mammalian communities, which permits accurate estimation of maximal production rate (the excess of growth over replacement rate), is largely unavailable, and this hinders estimation of hunting quotas and sustainability. Comparisons are made with the existing information available on Amazon basin mammals and hunting patterns reported there.

     

Eating and conserving bushmeat in Africa

In Africa, overhunting of tropical wildlife for food remains an intractable issue. Donors and governments remain committed to invest in efforts to both conserve and allow the sustainable use of wildlife. Four principal barriers need to be overcome: (i) communities are not motivated to conserve wildlife long‐term because they have no formal rights to benefit from wildlife, or to exclude others from taking it on their land; (ii) multispecies harvests, typical of bushmeat hunting scenarios, place large‐bodied species at risk of extinction; (iii) wildlife production cannot expand, in the same way that livestock farming can, to meet the expected growth in consumer demand; and (iv) wildlife habitat is lost through conversion to agriculture, housing, transportation networks and extractive industries. In this review, we examine the actors involved in the use of wildlife as food and discuss the possible solutions required to address urban and rural bushmeat consumption. Interventions must tackle use and conservation of wildlife through the application of context‐relevant interventions in a variety of geographies across Africa. That said, for any bushmeat solution to work, there needs to be concurrent and comparable investment in strengthening the effectiveness of protected area management and enforcement of wildlife conservation laws.     

Zoonotic Disease Risk and the Bushmeat Trade: Assessing Awareness Among Hunters and Traders in Sierra Leone

The bushmeat industry has been a topic of increasing importance among both conservationists and public health officials for its influence on zoonotic disease transmission and animal conservation. While the association between infectious diseases and the bushmeat trade is well established in the research community, risk perception among bushmeat hunters and traders has not been well characterized. I conducted surveys of 123 bushmeat hunters and traders in rural Sierra Leone to investigate hunting practices and awareness of zoonotic disease risk associated with the bushmeat trade. Twenty-four percent of bushmeat hunters and traders reported knowledge of disease transmission from animals to humans. Formal education did not significantly affect awareness of zoonotic disease transmission. Individuals who engaged exclusively in preparation and trading of bushmeat were more likely to accidentally cut themselves compared to those who primarily engaged in bushmeat hunting (P < 0.001). In addition, women involved in the bushmeat trade were at greater risk of exposing themselves to potential zoonotic pathogens through accidental self-cutting compared to men (P < 0.01). This study collected preliminary information on risk perception among bushmeat hunters that could guide the creation of a future public health-based education program to minimize zoonotic disease transmission risk among vulnerable communities.     

The Importance of Bushmeat in the Livelihoods of West African Cash-Crop Farmers Living in a Faunally-Depleted Landscape

Bushmeat is an important resource in the livelihoods of many rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa and may be a crucial safety-net for the most vulnerable households, especially during times of economic hardship. However, little is known about the impacts of wildlife depletion on these functions. This study quantifies the role of bushmeat in diversified rural household economies in a wildlife depleted forest-farm landscape in Ghana, assessing its importance overall, as well as differentiated by the relative vulnerability of households. Using repeat socioeconomic questionnaires (N=787) among 63 households over a one-year period, the following hypotheses were tested: (a) vulnerable households harvest more bushmeat; (b) bushmeat contributes a greater proportion of household production in vulnerable households; (c) bushmeat is more important for cash income than consumption in vulnerable households; and (d) bushmeat sales are more important for vulnerable households. The bushmeat harvest value averaged less than US$1.0 per day for 89% of households and comprised less than 7% of household production value. Household wealth and gender of the household head had little effect on the importance of bushmeat. However, bushmeat harvest and sales were highest during the agricultural lean season. Overall, most harvested bushmeat (64%) was consumed, enabling households to spend 30% less on meat/fish purchases. These findings suggest that, despite heavily depleted wildlife and diversified livelihoods, bushmeat continues to have an important role in rural livelihoods by acting as a safety net for income smoothing and reducing household expenditure during times of economic hardship.     

The Economic Importance of Communal Net Hunting Among the BaAka of the Central African Republic

This article examines current net hunting practice by BaAka Pygmies of central Africa. In terms of time allocation, net hunting remains the single most important activity for the BaAka, But net hunting is only one in a range of subsistence and economic activities among which individuals switch on a daily basis. Returns from net hunting are roughly equivalent to those from competing activities. Several factors encourage the decline of net hunting and its replacement with snare hunting: enforcement of park regulations, higher individual returns to snare hunting, and greater involvement in formal employment and agriculture. However, net hunting has not been abandoned completely for several reasons: the local market demand for bushmeat is growing, numerous forest products besides meat are collected on net hunts, and economic alternatives remain irregular and unreliable.     

Integrating Sustainable Hunting in Biodiversity Protection in Central Africa: Hot Spots,Weak Spots,and Strong Spots

Wild animals are a primary source of protein (bushmeat) for people living in or near tropical forests. Ideally, the effect of bushmeat harvests should be monitored closely by making regular estimates of offtake rate and size of stock available for exploitation. However, in practice, this is possible in very few situations because it requires both of these aspects to be readily measurable, and even in the best case, entails very considerable time and effort. As alternative, in this study, we use high-resolution, environmental favorability models for terrestrial mammals (N = 165) in Central Africa to map areas of high species richness (hot spots) and hunting susceptibility. Favorability models distinguish localities with environmental conditions that favor the species'' existence from those with detrimental characteristics for its presence. We develop an index for assessing Potential Hunting Sustainability (PHS) of each species based on their ecological characteristics (population density, habitat breadth, rarity and vulnerability), weighted according to restrictive and permissive assumptions of how species'' characteristics are combined. Species are classified into five main hunting sustainability classes using fuzzy logic. Using the accumulated favorability values of all species, and their PHS values, we finally identify weak spots, defined as high diversity regions of especial hunting vulnerability for wildlife, as well as strong spots, defined as high diversity areas of high hunting sustainability potential. Our study uses relatively simple models that employ easily obtainable data of a species'' ecological characteristics to assess the impacts of hunting in tropical regions. It provides information for management by charting the geography of where species are more or less likely to be at risk of extinction from hunting.     

Interactive impacts of by-catch take and elite consumption of illegal wildlife

Harvesting, consumption and trade of forest meat are key causes of biodiversity loss. Successful mitigation programs are proving difficult to design, in part because anthropogenic pressures are treated as internationally uniform. Despite illegal hunting being a key conservation issue in the Pacific Islands, there is a paucity of research. Here, we examine the dynamics of hunting of birds and determine how these contribute to biodiversity loss on the islands of Samoa. We focus on the interactive effects of hunting on two key seed dispersing bird species: the Pacific pigeon (Ducula pacifica) and the critically endangered Manumea or tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigiristris). We interviewed hunters, vendors and consumers and analyzed household consumption. Results suggest that over 22,000 pigeons were consumed per year and this is by primarily the richest people across the country. Indeed, the wealthiest 10% of households consumed 43% of all wild pigeon meat, and the wealthiest 40% of households consumed 80% of all pigeons. The Manumea was shot by 33% (n = 30) of the surveyed hunters while pursuing the Pacific pigeon. Results raise serious conservation concerns, as pigeon hunting is likely to be a key factor contributing to the decline of the Manumea and critical forest seed dispersers in general. Our results show that wild meat consumption can lead to non-targeted pressure on bycatch species. Wild meat harvesting and consumption is a key issue leading to species declines and extinctions in the tropics. It is critical that this issue receives the appropriate attention and is addressed in the Pacific if species and forests are to be maintained.