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Bushmeat hunting, trade and consumption; just back from the field!
by Lise Albrechtsen

In most parts of Central Africa, people rely upon meat from wild animals as their primary source of dietary protein. This type of meat is locally referred to as bushmeat, a term which includes all terrestrial wild animal meat coming from the bush (tropical forest), and it includes crocodiles, turtles and tortoises. For the Congo Basin, it is estimated that between 1 million and 3.4 million metric tonnes of dressed (slaughtered) animal meat is eaten each year (Wilkie and Carpenter 1999; Fa, Peres et al. 2002). For many large bodied and slow growing species, such as the great apes (chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes troglodytes , and gorilla, Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and the forest elephants (Loxodonta africana cyclotis), it is believed that bushmeat hunting currently exceeds their replacement rate and is thereby rendered to be unsustainable.
 

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Map of the study areas for the WildCRU bushmeat projects. The Sanaga - Cross area is the striped area on the Cameroonian - Nigerian border, whereas Equatorial Guinea constitutes two main parts; the island of Bioko located close to the Sanaga and Cross rivers deltas and Rio Muni being the mainland section situated between Cameroon and Gabon. Equatorial Guinea is quite small; the total land area is estimated to only be 28,050 square kilometres

The town of Cogo is located by the Gabonese border. Cogo is a somewhat typical larger Equatorial Guinean town. The Spanish influenced architecture was built whilst the country was still a Spanish colony (until 1968). Cogo, on the other hand, is not your typical bushmeat eating town. They are more dependent on resources from the ocean. However, once a year in January they have a crocodile festival - this year 45+ crocodiles were trapped, sold and consumed during this celebration.

Two blue duikers (Cephalophus monticola) in the Malabo market, December 2003. These duikers have been burned using a blowtorch. In this way the meat is still considered fresh but all the fur is removed - as are any signs of decomposing flesh. The blue duiker is one of the more common species in the bushmeat markets of Equatorial Guinea.

References:
Fa, J. E., C. A. Peres, et al. (2002). "Bushmeat exploitation in tropical forests: an intercontinental comparison." Conservation Biology 16(1): 232-237.

Wilkie, D. S. and J. F. Carpenter (1999). "Bushmeat hunting in the Congo Basin: an assessment of impacts and options for mitigation." Biodiversity and Conservation 8: 927-955.

Further reading:
An orphaned chimp: side effects of the bushmeat trade by Lise Albrechtsen & Brigid Barry

 

With these facts as my starting points, I began my doctorate research within the WildCRU during the fall of 2001. My aim was to study the current situation of bushmeat hunting, trade and consumption within the Central African region. Specifically, I received funding from the Norwegian Research Council (Norges Forskningeråd) in order to design and execute a study in Equatorial Guinea, which complements the Darwin Initiative project that WildCRU, together with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, have done in the Sanaga - Cross rivers region in Cameroon and Nigeria.

Coming from a social science background (political science and environmental economics), the fieldwork design in Equatorial Guinea was focussing not only on collecting information regarding the hunted species, but also on interviewing and investigating the household economy and the economic costs and benefits received by the participants of the bushmeat trade (the hunters, intermediaries and vendors).

The data collection lasted for six consecutive months and ran remarkably smoothly. I hired a team of about 27 local Guineans to work as data collectors and interviewers, and an Irish girl, Brigid Barry, as my research assistant and co-manager. Eight of the local assistants were trained in the data collection methodology specifically focussing on the interviewing technique.

Prior to the start of the fieldwork, I had chosen seven main areas spread across Equatorial Guinea together with my supervisors, Prof. David Macdonald and Dr John Fa. In these areas, we conducted household interviews, vendor interviews (bushmeat and alternative meat), hunter interviews, and registered the daily transactions of bushmeat in the markets. Additionally, for the two main cities (Malabo, the capital, and Bata), we also collected information regarding fresh fish and domestic meat sales, and conducted interviews with the intermediaries (transporters of the bushmeat, usually the taxi drivers).

We managed in the end to collect a vast amount of data (over 50 kilos worth of paper…); in total we have interviewed about 80 vendors, 698 households and 831 hunters. At the moment, we are entering the data and we hope to start the analyses shortly.

Personally, the goal is to finish the analyses over the summer and to submit my doctorate thesis by the end of this year. We hope to return to Equatorial Guinea early next year to present the results of the project to different ministries and organisations and to conduct a 2-3 day workshop with the local assistants and others teaching them how to go about analysing the data they helped us collect.

 

A drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) in the Malabo bushmeat market, December 2003. The drill is considered by the IUCN Red List to be endangered which means it has a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future. This is a primate which travels from tree to tree on the ground - it cannot jump. The hunters use this ecological fact when they hunt and many times dogs are used to chase families up in trees where they are trapped and become an easy target for the hunters who follow.