Commercialization of Game Wildlife: A Threat to Wildlife Diversity in the Danané Department, Western Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

The Danané department, located in the Tonkpi region of western Côte d'Ivoire, presents a unique context characterised by the local population's heavy reliance on bushmeat. While the trade in game meat in this department serves as a crucial driver of food security and household subsistence, it simultaneously undermines the region's ecological balance. This study aimed to (i) identify the various actors involved in the game meat trade, (ii) determine the origin of the game, and (iii) identify the diversity of game species being sold. The primary method employed was snowball sampling. This technique involved interviewing an initial subgroup of the population, whose members identified other group members; these individuals were then interviewed and, in turn, identified others within the population. These surveys gathered information regarding the actors and their goods, such as actor type, gender, age, marital status, education level, hunting tools, handling precautions, local knowledge of species, and modes of transport. To identify the animal species being hunted, we conducted weekly inventories of game meat sold in restaurants across the town of Danané. The game meat trade in the Danané department involved three main categories of actors: hunters (77), intermediaries (31), and female restaurant owners (13). Each group of actors had distinct characteristics, including age, gender, education level, marital status, ethnicity, number of children, primary occupation, nationality, and religion. The town of Danané was supplied with game meat from six different localities: Téapleu (25.83%; N = 182), Zonneu (19.14%; N = 135), Mahapleu (18.44%; N = 130), Yelleu (10.07%; N = 71), Kouan-houyé (7.80%; N = 55), and Guinea-Conakry (18.72%; N = 132), with p-value = 1.21E-08 < 0.05. The game species sold in the town of Danané in 2024 belonged to four (04) mammalian orders. The most represented mammalian orders were rodents at 62.82% (N = 443) and artiodactyls at 30.92% (N = 218). The mammalian orders least frequently observed in restaurants were primates at 4.96% (N = 35) and carnivores at 1.27% (N = 9).