Annabelle Smith

BIO A 413

Midterm Paper

November 11, 2022

Bushmeat hunting among communities near Murchison Falls, Uganda:

Species deception and primate consumption

Abstract

Bushmeat hunting is a common practice among communities bordering Murchison Falls

Protected Area (MFPA) in Uganda. Hunters from rural communities earn significant income

from their work, where the trade flourishes in person-to person exchanges instead of legal open

markets. Though it is culturally unacceptable to eat primates among this community, this kind of

protein still enters the market because it is legal to hunt, and is sold under different names as

more popular kinds of meat. Primate bushmeat is widely recognized as a source for zoonotic

pathogen infection, and the fact that primate meat is misrepresented in the market presents a

public health issue and exposes consumers to this danger without their knowledge. Efforts to

eradicate this issue entirely are not likely to be successful while root causes of poverty and

proximity to wildlife persist, so this paper calls for education measures directed toward buyers

on the phenomenon of mislabelling, to reduce the health risks to unknowing consumers of

primate bushmeat.

Problem Statement

The close genetic similarities between humans and non-human primates make bushmeat

one of the most prolific sources for zoonotic pathogen infection worldwide—especially for
emerging infectious diseases. Primate bushmeat hunting poses a significant disease threat to

hunters, and a lower but substantial risk to cooks and consumers. Though taboo to eat in the

communities surrounding MFPA, baboons and monkeys are legal to hunt, leading many hunters

to sell this meat disguised as other animals--and where it is often raw or barely smoked when it

enters the hands of cooks.

Because fresh meat can contain blood and other fluids that carry diseases, and contacting

these fluids is considered one of the most risky activities a person can do to increase their risk of

contracting zoonotic pathogens, many cooks around MFPA are unaware of the risks they face as

they handle raw primate meat in the course of obtaining and preparing food for their families.

Therefore, the mislabelling of primate meat to buyers reduces their capacity to make informed

choices and apply consumption preferences, and poses significant threats to their health because

of the diseases associated with primate blood. This paper calls for educational measures by

public health workers to promote safer handling and cooking of all bushmeat in trade around

MFPA, as cooks are unable to know if they are handling primate meat or other meat.

Background

Primate bushmeat hunting such as that occurring in Uganda is recognized as a significant

source of zoonotic infection. Globally, 60% of all newly emerging infectious diseases are

zoonotic and over 70% of these zoonotic diseases originally were found in wildlife, so human

interaction with wildlife is a significant conduit for endemic and emerging infectious diseases

(Jones 2008). Primates tend to be sources of especially threatening diseases for humans to

encounter; examples of diseases emerging from human-primate contact in the past 70 years alone

include simian foamy virus, HIV, ebola, and monkeypox. Bushmeat hunting in particular tends to
be such an effective conduit because butchers and consumers come in contact with infectious

blood and other bodily fluids while hunting and preparing meat.

For rural communities by MFPA, consumption of bushmeat is an traditionally important

source of protein and income. MFPA, the oldest and largest protected natural area of Uganda, is

home to primate species including olive baboons and vervet monkeys. The park’s proximity to

local subsistence farmland results in these two species entering farms around the park, where

they are recognized as pests and legal to hunt.

Fig 1. Murchison Falls Protected Area Vegetation Types. Together, all the parts outlined with a

black border make up the Murchison Falls Protected Area.

 In these communities, the hunting of all but three species of wildlife is illegal (legal

animals include the two primate species mentioned earlier, as well as bushpig), and punishable

by fines and/or imprisonment. However, over 71% of rural poor households in Uganda report

participation in the bushmeat trade as hunters and/or consumers (Neilsen 2017). The most

significant factors associated with participation in the bushmeat hunting trade were low

education levels, family members involved in the practice, and poverty income levels; bushmeat

trading is both a tradition and an economic necessity for many who participate (Nielsen 2017,

Harrison 2015). Therefore, the practice occurs on a mostly clandestine, person-to-person basis,

rather than in any sort of open air market (Dell 2020). Bushmeat hunting is pathogenic by

nature: most, if not all, bushmeat hunters and consumers have no access to refrigeration, proper

sanitation tools, or completely safe food handling spaces. The uncooked fluids of infected

wildlife (mainly blood) is one of the “most plausible” sources of infection of emerging infectious

diseases, and chances of contracting these diseases increase with more frequent exposure

(Locatelli). Exposure to blood through uncooked bush meat poses a pathogenic threat to cooks as

well as hunters. Though cooks are exposed to a lesser disease threat from bushmeat than hunters,

about half of bushmeat samples found in communities by MFPA were considered “fresh,” with

the rest “smoked” or “hard smoked” (Dell 2020). “Smoked” samples were not thoroughly

cooked through, and had raw interiors; these, along with “fresh” samples, are considered unsafe

because of raw blood and fluids present. These are some of the meats regularly handled by

cooks.

The laws against hunting all but those few pest species, as well as the economic necessity

and long-standing tradition of bushmeat hunting among the rural locals, creates a unique
situation for the communities surrounding MFPA: there is a supply of primate meat where it is

supposedly taboo to eat.

Community members living by MFPA are aware of certain risks and illnesses associated

with bushmeat, and have significant preferences for which meats they prefer to consume. Both

hunters and women who cook for their households are aware primate meat carries diseases and

can cause illness such as diarrhea and stomach pain, and cooks report chicken and beef to be

their most desirable kind of meat to purchase and eat. Cooks also report taking the most

precautions when cooking meat from domesticated animals, likely due to veterinary outreach

programs that raised awareness of diseases carried by livestock by educating women in this area,

who are often the primary livestock caretakers (Dell et al 2020). Clearly, the cooks have

knowledge and preferences about what kind of meat they want to buy, and how safe it is to

prepare. However, their choices do not always translate into what they purchase: Dell (2020)

finds up to 30% of bushmeat sold in communities living around MFPA is misidentified by

hunters to consumers, and most consumers report being unaware of this.

Though it is possible local bushmeat consumers who participated in the research were

aware meat bought from hunters may not be the animal hunters said it was, the large sample size

(292 cooks interviewed) and percent that reported hunters and dealers “never” misrepresent the

type of meat they sell (see Figure 2), indicate a sizable portion of local cooks truly do trust the

hunters and dealers to accurately sell bushmeat as the animals they come from. However, it is

also possible cooks do not want to implicate hunters in any deceptive behavior. Additionally, the

mislabelling phenomenon also may not be an entirely intentional practice on the part of dealers

and hunters, as hunters often leave bones in the field when the animal is killed. This makes it

hard for hunters to identify their meat after the animal is butchered.
Fig 2: While cooks believed hunters and dealers never marketed primate meat as a different

animal, hunters reported usually doing so. (Dell 2020).

Whatever the driving forces behind “species deception” in rural bushmeat trading in these

communities, this phenomenon has the potential to be damaging since it interferes with

customers' capacity to make educated decisions regarding their diets, and results in unknowing

primate meat consumption and health risks that go along with said consumption.

This misrepresentation is also a public health issue when it comes to tracking disease outbreaks,

because if cooks are unaware of what they are eating, or report they are eating something else

instead of primate meat, this signals a break in the chain for effectively tracking and managing

possible pathogen spillover from primate wildlife to human populations. This kind of public

health tracking often involves data gathered from individuals self-reporting their risk factors;
inaccurate reporting can stymie efforts to get a full picture of a disease’s possible spread

(Locatelli 2012).

Solution

Misrepresentation of meat exacerbates risks to consumers for exposure to zoonotic

pathogens. Public health advisors working with locals, and any potential NGOs looking to

operate on land around Murchison Falls Protected Area, are advised to educate locals on this

underappreciated issue. This way, informed consumers can act to protect themselves from

disease risks associated with primate bushmeat by limiting exposure to raw meats and carefully

avoiding injuries while cooking.

Educational efforts to raise awareness of disease risks conferred by primate bushmeat

have had successful impacts on bushmeat practices in similar rural communities in different

countries. In Cameroon, rural, poor individuals involved in the bushmeat trade were found to be

27% more likely to butcher primates if they did not believe there were disease risks involved.

This suggests individuals act on perceived risk to avoid certain bushmeat activities they think are

harmful (LeBreton, 2006). And among similar rural, poor communities in Cote d’Ivoire, a

campaign of multimedia performances (plays and films) presented to locals contributed to a 62%

decrease in bushmeat consumption. Also, the cooks’ self-reported extra care when preparing

meat from livestock reflects the education by public health and veterinary health outreach in the

area to raise awareness of livestock diseases (Dell et al 2020). Based on these examples,

improving community members' knowledge of risks will decrease uncareful food preparation

activities by cooks, and allow for better informed community members in the face of a possible

zoonotic disease outbreak originating in primate bushmeat.

 Research methods by Dell et al, 2020, attempted to contact every person in

MFPA-adjacent villages who cooked for their households. Group interviews were conducted to

reach a maximum number of participants. The same strategy could be employed to spread this

information, empowering consumers to be more skeptical of meat and less trusting of hunters.

Additionally, multimedia campaigns such as those shown in Cote d’Ivoire rural villages are an

effective way of disseminating this information to the consumers who need it.

Conclusion

Primate meat finds its way into clandestine bushmeat markets of rural communities by

Murchison Falls Protected Area, where it is disguised as other types of meat. This exposes

unknowing consumers to a dangerous source of zoonotic pathogens, who frequently handle raw

bushmeat with less caution than domesticated meat. Educational outreach in the form of plays

and films targeted toward cooks will increase knowledge and promote safe cooking practices,

such as not allowing open wounds to come in contact with meat, and always thoroughly cooking

the meat all the way through.

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