Getting to grips with the magnitude of exploitation: Bushmeat in the Cross–Sanaga rivers region, Nigeria and Cameroon

Wild meat harvests in African moist forests are presumed to exceed production, even in the case of traditional societies still using rudimentary hunting methods. Though some approximations do exist of the volume of bushmeat harvested in some Central African moist forest areas, estimates based on extensive and simultaneous sampling, within a large geographical region, are not available. Here, we present the results of the first reported study of this kind. During a period of 5 month, we counted bushmeat carcasses deposited in 89 urban and rural markets in a 35,000 km2 area between the Cross River in Nigeria and the Sanaga River in Cameroon. We used these data to calculate annual bushmeat volume traded by site, species and overall in the study area.Mammals represented >90% of the bushmeat carcasses sold in all sites. Reptiles were also abundant, but birds and amphibians were relatively scarce. Estimates of carcasses extracted and crude biomass per site varied significantly between countries. In Nigeria, biomass (kg) extracted for sale per km2 per year, was three times greater (600 kg/km2) than in Cameroon. Conservative estimates for the entire study area indicate that >900,000 reptiles, birds and mammals are sold each year by the rural and urban population, corresponding to around 12,000 tonnes of terrestrial vertebrates. We also assessed the relationship between bushmeat harvested for sale and distance of the study settlements from the main protected areas (Cross River and Korup National Parks). The number of carcasses and biomass sold was negatively related to the proximity to the national parks in >50% of species in Nigeria, and in 40% of species in Cameroon.Our cross-site comparison documents the staggering volume of wild species affected by hunting in the region. We also conclude that species within the main protected areas in both countries are likely to be negatively affected by the current and future demand for bushmeat in the surrounding areas.