SUMMARY Illegal hunting of resident and migratory herbivores is widespread in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. To devise effective strategies to reduce levels of hunting, information is required on why people are involved in illegal hunting and the role of bushmeat in the local economy. Participation in hunting may be influenced by measures of relative wealth, including livestock ownership, means of generating cash income and access to alternative sources of meat. Data came from 300 individuals responding to a questionnaire in 10 villages, from responses by 359 people in 24 group discussions in another 12 villages, and from 552 people arrested and interviewed in the National Park. A smaller proportion of individual respondents (32%) than group respondents (57%) volunteered that they participated in illegal hunting. Most individual and group respondents were subsistence farmers who considered bushmeat to be a source of protein and a means of generating cash income. Three-quarters of those arrested participated in hunting primarily to generate cash income and a quarter claimed that they only hunted to obtain food. Participation in illegal hunting decreased as wealth in terms of the number of sheep and goats owned increased. People with access to alternative means of generating income or acquiring protein were also less likely to be involved in illegal hunting. Arrested respondents were typically young adult males with low incomes and few or no livestock. Illegal hunting was not reduced by participation in community-based conservation pro-grammes. Results suggested that between 52 000 and 60 000 people participated in illegal hunting within protected areas, and that many young men (approximately 5200) derived their primary source of income from hunting. Keywords: bushmeat, illegal hunting, Serengeti ecosystem, livestock, rural economy, National Park INTRODUCTION Illegal hunting of resident and migratory herbivores in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, is a major problem for National Park managers (Turner 1987; Arcese et al. 1995; Campbell & Hofer 1995). Illegal hunting has reduced popu- lations of resident herbivores (Campbell & Hofer 1995). Possible future overexploitation of large migratory herbi- vores, particularly wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus and zebra Equus burchelli, may threaten the integrity of the entire ecosystem (Arcese et al. 1995; Campbell & Hofer 1995; McNaughton & Banyikwa 1995; Hofer et al. 1996). Because most hunters use an unselective method of capturing wildlife, i.e. wire snares (Turner 1987; Arcese et al. 1995), populations of non-target species are also affected negatively (Hofer et al. 1993; Arcese et al. 1995; Hofer & East 1995). The majority of illegal bushmeat hunting occurs along the western edge of the Serengeti National Park (Arcese et al. 1995; Campbell & Hofer 1995; Hofer et al. 1996). Approximately 1 million people live along this western edge (i.e. within 45 km of the Park and associated protected areas) and this population is increasing by approximately 2.9% per annum (Campbell & Hofer 1995). Law enforcement patrols attempt to control illegal hunting, but expected economic benefits from the sale of bushmeat are far greater than the costs associated with a low probability of arrest (Hofer et al. 2000); illegal hunting is a persistent, widespread problem for Park managers (Turner 1987; Arcese et al. 1995; Campbell & Hofer 1995). To devise more effective strategies to reduce levels of illegal hunting, it is necessary to understand why people hunt, why people consume bushmeat and the importance of bushmeat as a source of income and as a component of the local economy. We interviewed inhabitants of villages close to the National Park (Fig. 1) to investigate possible factors promoting illegal bushmeat hunting. These data were compared with information provided by hunters arrested by law enforcement patrols inside the National Park. Study area Villages close to the western boundary of the National Park formed the focal area for this study (Fig. 1). Agricultural Bushmeat hunting by communities adjacent to the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: the importance of livestock ownership and alternative sources of protein and income MARTIN LOIBOOKI 1,2 , HERIBERT HOFER 3,4 *, KENNETH L.I. CAMPBELL 5 AND MARION L. EAST 3,4 1 Tanzania National Parks, PO Box 3134, Arusha, Tanzania, 2 School of Animal and Microbial Sciences, Reading University, Reading, RG6 6AJ, UK, 3 Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Strasse 17, D-10315 Berlin, Germany, 4 Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie, D-82319 Seewiesen, Germany, and 5 Rose Cottage, Chartham Hatch, Canterbury, CT4 7LS, UK Date submitted: 13 December 2001 Date accepted: 1 May 2002 * Correspondence: Professor Dr Heribert Hofer Tel: +49 30 5168 101 Fax: +49 30 5168 735 e-mail direktor@izw-berlin.de Environmental Conservation 29 (3): 391–398 © 2002 Foundation for Environmental Conservation DOI:10.1017/S0376892902000279