Bush-Meat Trade Project

The bushmeat trade project was developed in recognition of the fact that illegal hunting, and particularly that conducted with the use of snares, was having a major impact on wildlife populations in southern Zimbabwe. In the Save Valley Conservancy, our study animals were frequently injured or killed in snares, and we’d often observe other animals walking around with horrendous snare-injuries.

Snares are the favoured method used by illegal hunters operating in the conservancy. They comprise a loop of steel wire tied to a tree, typically hanging over a game-trail. Animals put their head or legs through the noose and continue walking, which then causes the snare to pull tight, either suffocating them, or anchoring them to the tree and causing them ultimately die of thirst or hunger. Sometimes the animals manage to break the snare, but are usually left with a tight ligature around their neck or legs, leaving horrendous injuries.

We set about designing a study to assess the impacts of illegal hunting, and to understand the nature and drivers of the bushmeat trade. The key focus of the study was to identify potential solutions that could be employed to address the underlying causes and hopefully reduce the extent of illegal hunting. This work yielded two scientific papers, one that focussed on patterns in illegal hunting over time and space, which we hope will help to focus anti-poaching efforts, and one that focussed on the bushmeat trade itself, and shed light on the reasons that people hunt illegally in the conservancy, what happens to the meat extracted from the conservancy, and what options are available for stemming the trade in bushmeat.

Following an intensive four-year study, monitoring of the trade is ongoing. Long-term tracking of illegal hunting will help to identify patterns and shed more light on the factors correlating with higher and lower levels of hunting. Furthermore, this monitoring will enable us to determine whether interventions designed to address illegal hunting and the bushmeat trade are working.

Unrecovered Cape Buffalo killed by snare

Photo: P. Lindsey. Used by permission.