Community Participation in Resident Hunting in South West Rungwa Game Reserve

Illegal bush meat utilization is a global wildlife management challenge. Understanding resident hunting as a legal way for bush meat utilization and conservation strategy is a key to addressing this challenge. The study assessed community participation in resident hunting in South West Rungwa Game Reserve. A study involved 150 households selected from four villages. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaire. Furthermore, in-depth interviews with 10 key informants and four (4) Focus Groups Discussion (FGD) were also carried out to collect qualitative information.

The results revealed that there was the shortfall in implementation of resident hunting regulation, by district Councils to ensure sustainability. Furthermore, results show that local people in the study area were not aware of the presence of resident hunting. Participation of local community members in resident hunting was very low and those who participated were not directly involved in the harvesting of the animals for home use or sale, and very few local people had resident hunting permit. Major factors which hindered participation in resident hunting include lack of awareness followed by lack of hunting tools, the prohibition on selling of bush meat, competition from hunting companies, high hunting fees and laxity of laws.

We recommend awareness creation on resident hunting should be emphasized, in order to equip local community with valuable information on how to utilize wild animals sustainably. Furthermore, Wildlife Division should review Resident Hunting Regulation to empower local community to participate in resident hunting for household use and income generation. Lastly, penalties should be increased to discourage illegal hunting.