CRES Researcher Conducts Education Workshop for African Hunters in Effort to Curb Bushmeat Crisis

April 9, 2007

A San Diego Zoo field researcher conducted the first-ever wildlife education workshop for African hunters from the Ebo forest region in Cameroon. This grassroots-level training program was designed to educate hunters in the villages surrounding one of Cameroon’s most biologically diverse forest regions about the importance of conservation and was an effort to address the rampant bushmeat crisis which is forcing many species to the brink of extinction.

Conservation Research Fellow Bethan Morgan, Ph.D., of the San Diego Zoo’s center for Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES), in conjunction with Limbe Wildlife Centre, a sanctuary for bushmeat orphans run by the Pandrillus Foundation, recently invited 14 hunters from a small village at the northern edge of the Ebo forest to a unique two-day workshop designed to educate them on wildlife species identification, levels of legal protection for various species, and to discuss why reduced hunting is desperately needed to save certain endangered species.

“Their village is very remote. Getting to Limbe to attend the workshop was a grueling two-day journey. Some of them had not ventured out of their village in many years,” explained Dr. Morgan. “This was a significant step for these young men to be able to visit Limbe, and I was desperate to make sure their visit would be a success.”

The workshop addressed differences between the more sustainable levels of hunting for fast-reproducing animals, such as rodents, and a need to reduce hunting of slow reproducing species, such as primates, that can’t regenerate their populations as quickly as they are being hunted. “The first day of the workshop was characterized by heated discussion, considered debate, roaring laughter, and the wonder of learning completely new concepts,” said Dr. Morgan. “I found myself becoming emotional, hearing a hunter, who only months ago I’d seen butchering more than ten endangered Preuss’s monkeys, now arguing vociferously that the forest and animals are part of their heritage that needs to be protected and that hunting should be restricted to the fast-reproducing rodents and other small mammals.”

Dr. Morgan, who has employed six former hunters as research assistants at CRES’ Ebo Forest Research Station, provided ideas, suggestions, and discussion during the workshop. The results included alternative long-term, income-generating activities that the men could carry out in their village instead of hunting, such as pig and domestic animal farming. “Many of the hunters felt that the guided tour of the Limbe Wildlife Centre, where orphaned animals of the bushmeat trade are housed, was the highlight of the workshop,” she explained. “I can honestly say that there were moments when I was close to tears, seeing the flicker of compassion in the eyes of young men who had never previously watched chimpanzees playing, gorillas grooming each other, and drill mothers cradling their babies.”

This past week, Morgan visited the hunters in their homes for follow-up discussions to answer questions, chat informally, and look for any signs of change. “It remains to be seen whether our first workshop is a success; the real indicator will be a reduction in hunting of the endangered and large mammal species we concentrated on in the workshop,” said Dr. Morgan.

More

Read a blog about Dr. Morgan's workshop.
Read blogs about field studies.
Conservation of the Drill and Its Habitat in Cameroon
Establishment of Bakossi National Park, Cameroon