Bushmeat in Kenya

Category: Bushmeat East Africa | Date: Sep 17 2008 | By: bushmeateastafrica

The dependency on bushmeat in Central and West Africa is higher compared to East Africa where the more open Savannah’s gives more room for livestock production and crop farming. In the Congo basin, most communities have relied on wild meat for food for centuries but the situation has been compounded by rising human population, opening up of the forests by logging companies and commercialization of the commodity. Across West and central Africa, the trade is worth as much as $200 million, and $175 million in Latin America’s Amazon basin. In East Africa, the trade is worth far much less but we cannot afford to continue ignoring such a serious problem especially now that research has shown that bushmeat is no longer a subsistence activity but a source of thriving illegal trade that involves more people than previously thought.

In Kenya, some conservationist are still in a state of denial as some still hold to the old belief that bushmeat utilization is still at a subsistent level only. However, several research findings available show that poaching for bushmeat is the second greatest direct cause of decline in wild animal population after habitat loss. In spite of this, we still maintain the restrictive non-consumptive policy that is remain very insensitive to the poor and those hosting wildlife.

According to a report by the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (Read the report below) “blanket bans on wild meat consumption is bound to fail and, if enforced, deprive poor families living in forest regions of much-needed nutrition and cash earnings. Legalizing parts of the bushmeat trade could dispel the stigma attached to it, aid regulation and help efforts to save endangered species”.

It is the high time that we wake up to this reality here in Kenya and start openly discussing about the socio-economic and ecological implication of the ongoing illegal poaching of wildlife for meat, so that we can come up with an acceptable and sustainable position that safeguards both the interest of the communities and wildlife.

Please read the article on the CBD report below and gives your comment on what you think is the best way forward for Kenya.

Iregi Mwenja

USFWS MENTOR Fellow on Bushmeat in East Africa

In this Blog, the word “Bushmeat” refers to meat from wild animals that is illegally obtained or unsustainbly harvested.

Food or slaughter? Bushmeat fuels wildlife debate

Reuter.com Tue 16 sept. 2008

By Tansa Musa

YAOUNDE (Reuters) - An acrid stench of burning hair hangs in the air as a whole monkey roasts over an open fire, a victim of the trade in tropical “bushmeat” that conservationists agree must be curbed, though they disagree how to do it.

Around 25 diners sit on bamboo chairs at this open air restaurant on the outskirts of Cameroon’s capital Yaounde, waiting for a plate of monkey, pangolin or bush pig washed down with red wine, beer or aromatic freshly tapped palm wine.

Environmentalists say the hunting and trade of endangered animals from the world’s tropical forests must be reduced if rare primates and other species are to be saved from extinction.

Some campaigners want a total ban on bushmeat or at least on its commercial trade. This would allow local people to hunt only fast-breeding, non-endangered species to feed their families.

But a report published on Tuesday said such blanket bans would fail and, if enforced, deprive poor families living in forest regions of much-needed nutrition and cash earnings.

The report by the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity said legalising parts of the bushmeat trade could dispel the stigma attached to it, aid regulation and help efforts to save endangered species.

“Bushmeat, in particular, offers a number of benefits to forest-dwelling populations. It is an easily traded resource as it is transportable, has a high value/weight ratio and is easily preserved at low cost,” the report said.

A survey a few years ago estimated 70-90 tonnes of bushmeat a month were being sold in Yaounde’s four main markets. Across West and central Africa, the trade is worth as much as $200 million, and $175 million in Latin America’s Amazon basin.

Supporters of a more general ban say regulating sales of some animals but not others would be too complicated.

“Hunting and trade that is sustainable for a cane rat is not necessarily sustainable for an ape,” Heather Eves, director of the Washington-based Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, told Reuters.

“There isn’t sufficient evidence to suggest that there is the financial or technical capacity or political will to assure a regulated trade that could effectively assure a sustainable trade of just rats and not apes,” she said.

ANIMAL PART APHRODISIACS

The international trade in bushmeat is small but there is growing expatriate African and Asian demand, the report said.

Often it is linked to the lucrative global trade in animal body parts believed to have secret powers or employed in medicines, such as gorilla meat or rhino horn — long used as aphrodisiacs.

Smart cars parked outside an exclusive restaurant in Yaounde bear witness to the bushmeat trade’s wealthy connections.

Elegant waitresses offer patrons a menu of mainly common game — pangolin, antelope, bush pig, monkey, cane rat and viper — at prices of 5,000-10,000 CFA francs a dish.

But in a fridge outside, a Reuters reporter saw two arms of what appeared to be a gorilla or a chimpanzee — thick black fur and hands still attached — together with a piece of what a restaurant employee said was elephant meat.

“If you want to eat meat of big animals like chimpanzee, gorilla and even the elephant, you make a special arrangement with her and she will supply it to you,” a military officer who frequents the restaurant said of the owner.

“She has hired hunters in forest village communities to whom she supplies ammunition and they supply the meat,” he said.

Cameroon has some of the region’s strictest anti-hunting laws. Critics say that, as elsewhere, they are rarely applied.

“It is outrageous that the majority of these countries do not even have a single prosecution,” said Ofir Drori, founder of the Last Great Ape Organization Cameroon.

“If the wildlife trade was the drugs trade, then central Africa would be like me and you sitting in Bogata,” he said.

Technorati : Bushmeat, Conservation, Kenya, Poaching, Rangers, hunting

Technorati : Bushmeat, Conservation, Kenya, Poaching, Rangers, hunting

One response so far

Category: Bushmeat kenya | Date: Sep 16 2008 | By: bushmeateastafrica

I have lately not published posts on my own experiences on Bushmeat. I have only posted articles on bushmeat in East Africa published in the mainstream media. This was due to lack of adequate time to research on my own articles and that fact that I was not going out to the field during the just ended semester at Mweka. But to keep the blog active and also provide latest information on bushmeat, I decided for publish these articles in my blog to make this weblog a “one-stop-shop” for bushmeat information in East Africa.

I took a fews days off after arriving for Tanzania and I have since resumed my usual work on Bushmeat. My first major activity was to call the Key stakeholders and get updated on what is going on their areas of operation as well as discussing areas of common interest where we can work together. It is interesting to note that a lot of activities are currently going on across the country and especially the wide media coverage that poaching is is receiving in the popular media here in Kenya. This is obviously as a result of a sustained campaign against illegal exploitation of wildlife by various organizations. Another interesting activity was a workshop for judges and magistrates on Wildlife Law in Kenya. Lack of deterrent sentences have been blamed for the rising incidences of commercial poaching and the approach of working with the magistrates is obviously a step in the right direction.

I hope to frequently post bushmeat information on this blog to keep you updated on what is going on this field.

Iregi Mwenja

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