Article

Article name HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT IN THE SOUTHWESTERN AMAZON: POACHING AND ITS MOTIVATIONS
Authors

Natani da Silva de Lima, Aparício Carvalho University Center (Rua das Araras, 241, District Eldorado, CEP 76811-678, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil).
Silvio J. Napiwoski, Aparício Carvalho University Center (Rua das Araras, 241, District Eldorado, CEP 76811-678, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil)
Marcela A. Oliveira, Aparício Carvalho University Center (Rua das Araras, 241, District Eldorado, CEP 76811-678, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil); Post-graduation Program of Biodiversity and Biotechnology of the Legal Amazon, Federal University of Rondônia (Br 364, CEP 76812-245, Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil); e-mail: marcela.mugrabe@gmail.com

Reference to article

de Lima N.S., Napiwoski S.J., Oliveira M.A. 2020. Human-wildlife conflict in the Southwestern Amazon: poaching and its motivations. Nature Conservation Research 5(1): 109–114. https://dx.doi.org/10.24189/ncr.2020.006

Section Short Communications
DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.24189/ncr.2020.006
Abstract

The conflict between humans and wildlife in Brazil has both diversified and increased rapidly since 2005. These increases have been driven by the expansion of human economic activity and its associated infrastructure. The present article aims to describe and quantify the poaching of Brazilian wildlife and its link with livestock-keeping in the rural settlement project Joana D'Arc. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews of ranchers settled at the Joana D'Arc II and III, in Porto Velho municipality. The study revealed 20 instances of poaching and found that six species were poached. In 37.5% (n = 3) of the cases, poaching was performed with the help of dogs. In 25% (n = 2) of the cases, the settlement's owners offered their employees bonuses if they engaged in poaching. In 25% (n = 2) of the cases, people from outside the Joana D'Arc rural settlement were paid for poaching. In the remaining 12.5% (n = 1) of the cases the study found no details about the poaching event. The study found that the poachers were motivated to act preventing the predation of their livestock (n = 6, 30%), to reduce attacks on livestock (n = 5, 25%), owing to a personal aversion to wildlife (n = 4, 20%), the motivation of the poacher was not informed by the interviewed (n = 3, 15%), and to prevent attacks upon domestic animals and livestock in general (n = 2, 10%). However, this study showed that poaching was not entirely motivated by wildlife attacks. For instance, because it is difficult to confirm which predator is responsible for a given attack or is likely to attack in the future, people in these settlements are highly sensitive to the presence of wildlife – a condition that greatly increases the potential for the conflict between humans and wildlife. The study also found that wildlife hunting is common because predation can have a substantial economic impact on rural communities driven by agriculture. In short, the study found that the poaching of wild animals is not, in this context, directed to a single species of animal, and is a demonstrably multifaceted problem.

Keywords

attack prevention, ethnozoology, hunting, interviews, predation, rural community

Artice information

Received: 28.05.2019. Revised: 16.12.2019. Accepted: 17.12.2019.

The full text of the article
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