Illegal bushmeat hunting and trade dynamics in a major road-hub region of the Brazilian Mid North

402-411This study was conducted to characterize the illegal bushmeat hunting and trade in Floriano region (Piauí State), an import road hub between Amazon and Northeast regions of Brazil. This is the first study that assesses bushmeat hunting in Mid North of Northeast Brazil. Our main hypothesis is that hunting has completely changed from a purely subsistence scenario to another under multiple demands and with the incorporation of technological resources. We collected data from August 2015 to July 2016 throughout semi-structured questionnaires with 82 hunters and rapid survey at markets. Our study revealed that 14 wild vertebrates are usually hunted in studied areas as source of meat and zootherapeutics. Hunting for subsistence was the main purpose reported by interviewees, nonetheless we detected that virtually all hunters sell wild meat and zootherapeutic products. We found that local hunting is mainly as a nocturnal activity. Our results show that bushmeat hunting and trade are facilitated by modern technologies and these activities turned into a black way supported by very diverse purposes besides subsistence. We suggest more comprehensive conservation strategies, including alternatives to supply urban demand for game meat, environmental education to mitigate involvement in hunting and improved intelligence efforts by environmental agencies

Conflitos entre pessoas e animais silvestres no Semiárido paraibano e suas implicações para conservação

Throughout their history, humans have utilized animals in different ways, demonstrating their importance and reflectingattitudes of respect, admiration and affection. However, some attitudes related to control, exploitation, fear and aversionregarding wild animals have produced conflicts between human populations and nature. This conflict is of widespreadconservation interest, but studies on this subject are scarce amongst those covering semiarid environments such as theCaatinga. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to document the hunting activities geared towards the control ofanimals considered dangerous and/or causes of damage to the community of a semiarid area in the interior of Paraíba, in thenortheast of Brazil. The study involved 123 hunters and ex-hunters from the municipality of Pocinhos. Between 2007 and2010, interviews using semi-structured questionnaires were conducted, supplemented by informal conversations. A totalof 23 species of wild animals were hunted and the main groups were mammals (particularly carnivores) (n = 7 species) andreptiles (particularly snakes) (n = 13) and, to a lesser extent, birds. The reasons for the conflicts that led to the killing ofwild animals were: attacks on livestock; risk of killing people; destruction of crops, and the risk of transmitting disease.Although infrequent, damage caused by wild animals generates widespread intolerance amongst local hunters, encouragingindiscriminate killing of these animals. Environmental education programs for the public are essential in order to maintainlocal wildlife resources.Ao longo da sua história, o ser humano tem se utilizado dos animais de diferentes formas, evidenciando suaimportância e refletindo-se em atitudes de respeito, admiração e afeto. Contudo, algumas atitudes ligadas ao domínio, àexploração, ao medo e à aversão para com os animais silvestres têm gerado conflitos entre as populações humanas e a vidaselvagem. Esse conflito é uma questão de conservação disseminada, porém estudos sobre o tema são escassos quando setrata de ambientes semiáridos como a Caatinga. Diante disso, a presente pesquisa objetivou documentar as atividades decaça voltadas para o controle de animais considerados perigosos e/ou causadores de prejuízos para a comunidade de umaárea do Semiárido no interior da Paraíba, Região Nordeste do Brasil. A pesquisa foi realizada com 123 caçadores e excaçadoresdo município de Pocinhos, no período de 2007 a 2010, por meio de entrevistas com questionários semiestruturados,complementadas com conversas informais. Um total de 23 espécies de animais silvestres é abatido e os principais gruposenvolvidos foram mamíferos (sobretudo os carnívoros) (n = 7 espécies), répteis (sobretudo as serpentes) (n = 13) e, emmenor escala, aves. Os motivos que geram os conflitos e levam ao abate dos animais silvestres são: ataque a criaçõesdomésticas, risco de morte às pessoas, destruição das lavouras e risco de transmissão de doenças. Apesar de serem poucofrequentes, os danos causados por animais silvestres geram intolerância generalizada entre os caçadores locais, incentivandoa morte indiscriminada desses animais. Por isso tornam-se imprescindíveis programas de educação ambiental entre apopulação objetivando a manutenção de recursos faunísticos locais

Breve revisão sobre uso de fauna medicinal no Brasil: aspectos históricos, farmacológicos e conservacionistas

The treatment of human and animal aliments by using drugs based on extracts obtained from animals, or ultimately derivedfrom them, is known as zootherapy. Although this is a relatively common practice, studies on this subject are relativelyscarce when compared to those that are focused on traditional plant-based medicines. In Brazil, 326 animals are exploitedfor medicinal purposes, most of which are wild species. The number of literature records on the medicinal uses of animalsis much lower than those on the use of medicinal plants and their implications, which suggests the need to develop moreresearch on the topic. Among the many factors that highlight the importance of a greater understanding of zootherapy, are:historical perspectives, aspects related to conservation, the validation of traditional medicines, and the difficulties indeveloping research on the medicinal fauna. In this study, we provide a brief discussion of each topic.O tratamento de doenças em humanos e em animais por meio do uso de remédios obtidos de animais ou departes destes é conhecido como zooterapia. Apesar de constituir uma prática relativamente comum, estudos sobre estetema são relativamente escassos quando comparados àqueles que abordam a temática de remédios tradicionais obtidos deplantas. No Brasil, já foram registrados 326 animais explorados para finalidades medicinais, a maioria das quais é silvestre.A literatura acerca dos usos de animais medicinais é numericamente bastante inferior aos registros da utilização de plantasmedicinais e suas implicações, o que potencializa a necessidade do desenvolvimento de mais pesquisas sobre o tema. Entreos diversos fatores que ressaltam a importância de uma maior compreensão da zooterapia, destacam-se: perspectivashistóricas, aspectos relacionados à conservação e à validação desses medicamentos tradicionais e dificuldades nodesenvolvimento de pesquisas sobre fauna medicinal. No presente trabalho, nós construímos uma breve discussão sobrecada um destes tópicos

First record of Strix huhula Daudin, 1800 (Strigiformes, Strigidae), Black-banded Owl, from the savanna–dry forest ecotone in northeastern Brazil

Strix huhula Daudin, 1800 is widely distributed species of owl in the Neotropical region. However, this species is considered rare in nature due to its dependence on forested habitat and low adaptive capacity to survive in anthropogenic environments. There are scattered records throughout Brazil. Here, we provide the first record of S. huhula in a savanna–dry forest ecotone in Piauí state. This expands the geographic distribution of S. huhula to northeastern Brazil

Traditional knowledge of <i style="">sertanejos</i> about Zootherapeutic practices used in ethnoveterinary medicine of NE Brazil

259-265The present paper analyzes animal-based remedies used in ethnoveterinary medicine in a semi-arid area of Paraíba State (Caatinga biome) in NE Brazil. Information was obtained through semi-structured questionnaires applied to 32 local residents (24 men and 8 women) concerning animal species used as remedies, the body parts used, and the illnesses for which these remedies were prescribed. It is recorded the use of 13 animal species (of which 7 were non-domestic) recommended for treating 18 illnesses. Ram (Ovis aries Linnaeus, 1758), rattlesnakes (Crotalus durissus Linnaeus, 1758), and “teju” lizards (Tupinambis merianae (Duméril & Bibron, 1839)) were important medicinal resources for the community studied. The examination of folk knowledge and animal health practices gives us a better understanding of human interactions with their local environment and aids in formulating appropriate strategies for natural resource conservation

Use of wild vertebrates for consumption and bushmeat trade in Brazil: a review

Abstract Background Bushmeat is a resource exploited by thousands of people around the world, especially in tropical and neotropical regions, constituting an important source of protein and income. But what is known, so far, about the consumption and trade of wild vertebrate meat (hereinafter “bushmeat”) in a megadiverse country like Brazil? This question was answered through a systematic survey of publications on the consumption and trade of wild vertebrate meat made in Brazil between 2011 and 2021. Methods We selected 63 scientific articles available on “Google Scholar,” “Science Direct,” “Scopus,” “ Web of Science” and “Portal de Periódico da CAPES.” The articles were categorized as: exclusive to (1) consumption or (2) bushmeat trade, totals of 54 and three articles, respectively; both (3) consumption and trade bushmeat, totaling six articles. We applied a nonparametric Spearman's correlation analysis to verify the association between the number of papers and the species richness of wild vertebrates cited for consumption by Brazilian state. Results The results revealed that the publications were concentrated in the Northeast (36), North (26) and Southeast (1) regions, distributed across 16 states of the federation. These data reinforce the need for more researches in states and other regions of the country. Our research hypothesis was confirmed, since the richness of species cited for meat consumption was positively associated with the amount of work carried out by the states of the federation. We identified a total of 321 species of wild vertebrates mentioned in the categories involving the consumption of bushmeat. We had a greater bird species richness mentioned for consumption (170) to the detriment of mammals (107), reptiles (40) and amphibians (4). Furthermore, in the articles involving the bushmeat trade categories we had 57 species of vertebrates mentioned, with mammals being the most representative in terms of species richness (29), to the detriment of birds (20) and reptiles (8). These data reinforce that birds and mammals have been the groups most used both for consumption and trade in bushmeat in the country's regions, and it is necessary to mitigate the hunting exploitation of these groups. We recorded that socioeconomic, biological, environmental and sociocultural factors were the most cited predictors of the consumption and trade of bushmeat in the articles. We identified that the bushmeat trade chain is dynamic and ramified, made up of several actors, including specialized and diversified hunters, intermediaries, market sellers, market vendors, restaurant owners and final customers. Public markets and open-air fairs were the most cited places for buying and selling wild meat in commerce. Conclusions In general, our results indicate that we have made significant advances in publications on the consumption and trade of bushmeat in Brazil over the last few years. However, we highlight the need to better understand the patterns of consumption and trade of bushmeat in different regions of the country, as well as the factors associated with the dynamics of the trade chain and uses of wildlife by local communities. We emphasized that a multidimensional understanding of hunting activities is important to face socio-ecological problems and improve the conservation of target species which have continually been explored for uses by populations in different regions of the world

Assessing the Effects of Indigenous Migration on Zootherapeutic Practices in the Semiarid Region of Brazil.

Human migration implies adaptations to new environments, such as ways to benefit from the available biodiversity. This study focused on the use of animal-derived remedies, and we investigated the effects of migration on the traditional medical system of the indigenous Truká people. This ethnic group lives in Northeast Brazil and is currently distributed in four distinct villages. In these villages, the zootherapeutic knowledge of 54 indigenous people was determined through semi-structured questionnaires given from September 2013 to January 2014. The interviewees indicated 137 zootherapeutic uses involving 21 animal species. The variety of species and their uses have a higher similarity between villages that are closer to each other, which can be a reflection of geographic and environmental factors. However, even close villages showed a low similarity in the zootherapeutic uses recorded, which reflects a strong idiosyncrasy regarding the knowledge of each village. Hence, each village may be influenced by the physical environment and contact with other cultures, which may maintain or reduce the contact of younger villages with the original village

Interactions between people and game mammals in a Brazilian semi-arid area

221-228In addition to being a cultural activity, hunting practices in the Brazilian North eastern semi-arid region have implications for the conservation of many animal species. Wild mammals are used for different ends; however, their use as a food resource is the most common, and the by-products are used for other purposes. The aim of the present study was to analyse the traditional uses of the wild mammals of a municipality of the semi-arid region of Paraíba state, Brazil, and to assess the socioeconomic context related to such uses. A total of 15 species were mentioned by interviewees. These species fell into the following categories of use: food resource (9 species), elaboration of handicrafts (2), medicinal (2), captive breeding (2) and trade (1). Additionally, seven other species were hunted because they were considered dangerous or capable of causing profit damages. Among the species cited in the food resource category, Galea spixii and Euphractus sexcinctus (six-banded armadillo) showed the highest use values (UV) (0.51 and 0.46, respectively). Socioeconomic factors were found to influence hunting practices. Our results suggest the need for public policies that consider the elaboration of educational programs aimed at the sustainable management and conservation of wildlife and the socioeconomic and cultural context of the individuals involved in hunting

Grouping analysis using Jaccard’s similarity index of the variety of species used for medicinal purposes in the four Truká villages.

<p>The Central Village is closer to the Orocó village (J = 0.53), and the Sobradinho village is closer to the Paulo Afonso village (J = 0.57). A: Central Village (Cabrobó), B: Orocó, C: Sobradinho, D: Paulo Afonso.</p