Bushmeat Consumption in Western Tanzania: A Comparative Analysis from the Same Ecosystem

Abstract

Consumption of bushmeat is a problem around many protected areas, but successful mitigation programs are proving difficult to design, in part because anthropogenic pressures are often treated as uniform. In Eastern Africa, where bushmeat consumption has become a major problem, most studies focus on threats emerging from a single site or single ethnic group. In this study, we interviewed two groups of people, indigenous inhabitants of Mpimbwe and refugee dwellers in Katumba, who both hunt in the same ecosystem, in order to compare their consumption of bushmeat and their knowledge of hunters' activities. We related our findings to economic and other differences between them. More than four-fifths of the sampled population in Mpimbwe consumed bushmeat whereas just over half did in Katumba, and frequency of eating bushmeat was higher in the former. Mpimbwe residents hunted principally in the wet season, whereas Katumba residents hunted more in the dry season. We attributed greater consumption of bushmeat in Mpimbwe to a comparative shortage of eggs and pork there, to greater ease of access to large mammals, and to a lower price of bushmeat. Our study draws attention to the variation in bushmeat consumption between groups hunting in the same general area and demonstrates how site-specific data can be used to hone different strategies for reducing illegal hunting in the same region.