Work

Why Poaching Pays: A Summary of Risks and Benefits Illegal Hunters Face in Western Serengeti, Tanzania

Year: 2012

Type: article

Abstract: Illegal hunting poses a considerable threat to the wildlife of Serengeti National Park and its affiliated protected areas. Techniques for successful mitigation of this threat are heavily debated. Bottom-up community-based initiatives aim to curb poaching by linking local communities with wildlife conservation. Top-down anti-poaching enforcement of protected areas seeks to maintain wildlife populations through fines and prison sentences given to arrested poachers. Poverty stands as the major driver of illegal hunting as households vie for income and sustenance. Livelihoods of illegal hunters have been augmented considerably through revenue generated from bushmeat sales. Illegal hunters use bushmeat both for supplementing household protein and for economic gain. Obtaining bushmeat carries risks in the form of personal injury, fines, and/or prison sentences, if arrested. This paper compares these costs and benefits through a summary of the monetary benefits, bodily injuries, fines, and prison sentences that individuals endured over their poaching careers. Data were collected from 104 individuals, all of whom voluntarily admitted active or recent involvement in illegal hunting activities.

Source: Tropical Conservation Science

DOI: 10.1177/194008291200500403

Author: Eli J. Knapp

Institution: Houghton University

Language: English

Topic: Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses

Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Peace, justice, and strong institutions, No poverty, Life on land

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,150