4.1.5Poaching and Hunting Livestock production is very rudimentary and at a low level in the country; hence, the major source of animal protein is from poaching and hunting of wild animals. Hunting by definition is the extraction from its natural habitat, by means of shotgun, poisoning, erecting snares and/or netting. It becomes poaching when no legal basis is sought.
Hunting as a threat to biodiversity stems from:
The commercialization of bush meat in the absence of wildlife management strategies.
The lack of basic information such as population density and distribution, sex and reproductive biology. As a result hunting is carried out in all seasons.
Use of snares results in huge biodiversity loss and wastage because hunters do not visit snares regularly, and some hunters even lose track of where snares are set.
The wanton and reckless construction of roads in the forests followed by human settlements.
Lack of enforcement of the law prohibiting the hunting of endangered species.
