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Full text of "Nature et faune : revue internationale pour la conservation de la nature en Afrique = Wildlife and nature : international journal on nature conservation in Africa"

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lature  et  Faune 


REVUE    INTERNATIONALE    POUR    LA    CONSERVATION    DE    LA    NATURE    EN    AFRIQUE 
Gastion  de  la  Faune,  Am^nagement  d'aires  prot^g^es,  Conservation  des  ressources  naturelles. 

INTERNATIONAL    JOURNAL    ON    NATURE    CONSERVATION    IN    AFRICA 
Wildlife  and  Protected  Areas  Management  and  Natural  Resources  Conservation. 

Volume  7,  n'1 ,  Janvier  -  Mars  1991 . 
January  -  March  1 991 , 


Organisation  des  Nations  Unies  /A 

pour  rAlimentation  et  I'Agriculture  (/  ^TS^   ^ 
Food  and  Agriculture  Organization         ^   "^  ^" 

of  tln' lIiiiftHl  Nafinns  ^V 


/C^<^^  ^^       Programme  des  Nations  Unies  pour 
'^»  rEnvironnement 

United  Nations  Environment 
Programme 


i^fJ 


FAO    Regional    Office    for   Africa 

Bureau    Regional    de    la    F.A.O.    pour   FAfrique  -  Accra    (Ghana) 


Nature  et  Faune 


Volume  7,  n**!  Janvier-Mars  1991. 
January-March  1991, 


iO) 


La  revue  Nature  et  Faune  est  une  publication  international e 
trimestrielle  destin6e  ci  permettre  un  ^change  d'informations 
et  de  connassainces  scJentifiques  concernant  la  gestion  de 
la  faune,  I'amenagement  des  aires  protegees  et  la  conserva- 
tion des  ressources  natureiles  sur  le  continent  africain. 

"Nature  et  Faune"  is  a  quarterly  international  publication  de- 
dicated to  the  exchange  of  information  and  scientific  data  on 
wildlife  and  protected  areas  management  and  conservation 
of  natural  resources  on  the  African  continent. 

Editeur  -  Editor :  J.J.  Leroy 

Ass.  Editeur  -  Ass.  Editor :  J.  Aikins 

Conseillers  -  Advisers  :  J.D.  Keita  -  G.S.  Child 

Nature  et  Faune  depend  de  vos  contributions  b6n6voles  et 
volontaires  sous  la  forme  d'articles  ou  d'annonces  dans  le 
domaine  de  la  conservation  de  la  nature  et  de  la  faune  sau- 
vage  dans  la  Region.  Pour  la  publication  d'articles  ou  tout 
renseignement  complementaire,  ecrire  k  I'adresse  suivante: 

"Nature  et  Faune"  Is  dependent  upon  your  free  and  voluntary 
contributions  in  the  form  of  articles  and  announcements  in 
the  field  of  wildlife  and  nature  conservation  in  the  Region. 
For  publication  of  articles  or  any  further  Information,  please 
contact: 

Revue  NATURE  ET  FAUNE 

FA.O.  Regional  Ofllce  for  Africa 

P.O.  BOX  1628 

ACCRA  (Ghana) 


Sommaire  -  Contents 

Editorial 3 

JLe  sort  des  rhinoceros  d'Afrique:  trag6die  k  I'^chelle  d'un  continent  4 
African  solutions  to  wildlife  problems  in  Africa:  insights  from  a  community-based 

project  In  Zambia 10 

Notes  on  the  duikers  of  Sierra  Leone 24 

HprWildlife  management  for  rural  development  in  sub-Saharan  Africa 36 

TRADUCTIONS  -TRANSLATIONS 48 

Conservation,  Reunions  k  venir  /  Upcoming  events ,  Books  /  Livres 79 


Le  contenu  des  articles  de  cette  revue  exprime  les  opinions  de  leurs  auteurs  et  ne  reflete  pas  necessairement  celles  de  la  FAO,  du  PNUE  ou  de  la  redaction.  11  n'exprime 
done  pas  une  prise  de  position  officielle,  ni  de  I'Organisation  des  Nations  Unies  pour  I'Alimentation  et  I' Agriculture,  ni  du  Programme  des  Nations  Unies  pour  I'Environne- 
ment.  En  particulier  les  appellations  employees  dans  cette  publication  et  la  presentation  des  donnees  qui  y  figurent  n'impliquent  de  la  part  de  ces  Organisations  aucune 
prise  de  position  quant  au  statut  juridique  des  pays,  territoires,  villes  ou  zones  ou  de  leurs  autorites,  ni  quant  aux  traces  de  leurs  frontiires  ou  llmites. 

The  opinions  expressed  by  contributing  authors  are  not  necessarily  those  of  FAO,  UNEP  or  the  editorial  board.  Thus,  they  do  not  express  the  official  position  of  the  Food 
and  Agriculture  Organization  of  the  United  Nations,  nor  that  of  the  United  Nations  Environment  Programme.  The  designations  employed  and  the  presentation  of  material  in 
this  publication  do  not  imply  the  position  of  these  organisations  concerning  the  legal  status  of  any  country,  territory,  city  or  area  or  of  its  authorities,  or  corKeming  the  deli- 
mitation of  its  frontiers  or  boundaries. 


Printed  by  The  Advent  Press  —  Accra 


EDITORIAL 


Chers  lecteurs,  votre  courrier  le  prouve,  la 
version  bilingue  est  arrivee  a  point  nomme 
pour  renforcer  les  contacts  inter-africains  et 
favoriser  les  echanges  d'idees  et  de  techni- 
ques entre  pays  francophones  et  pays  anglo- 
phones  au  sein  du  continent  et  au-dela. 

Apres  un  an  (quatre  numeros)  de  version 
bilingue,  et  alors  que  le  nombre  de  lecteurs 
n'a  cesse  d'augmenter,  en  particulier  dans  les 
pays  anglophones,  notre  revue  va  renouer 
avec  une  habitude  delaisse  le  temps  de  mettre 
en  place  la  nouvelle  version:  il  s'agit  des  nou- 
velles  de  la  conservation  et  de  la  revue  de  li- 
vres  et  de  reunions  Internationales.  Ce  troi- 
sieme  volet  de  "Nature  et  Faune"  vient  se  gref- 
fer  apres  les  pages  vertes  des  traductions;  il 
presente  directement  chaque  information  sui- 
vie  de  sa  traduction,  sauf  la  revue  des  livres  et 
des  reunions  qui  sera  faite  dans  les  langues 
d'origine. 

Comme  dans  le  passe,  "Nature  et  Faune" 
traite  de  sujets  aussi  varies  et  complemen- 
taires  que  possible  :  le  sort  tragique  des  rhino- 
ceros a  travers  le  continent,  les  causes  et  les 
remedes  appliques;  I'exemple  zambien  de 
gestion  de  la  faune  par  les  communautes  ru- 
rales  elles-memes;  un  article  plus  scientifique 
sur  les  cephalophes  de  Sierra  Leone  et  en 
particulier  sur  le  rarissime  cephalophe  de  Jen- 
tink,  et  enfin  un  document  plus  general  mais 
non  moins  captivant  sur  I'importance  de  la 
faune  et  de  son  amenagement  pour  le  deve- 
loppement  rural  en  Afrique  subsaharienne. 


Dear  readers,  your  letters  testify  to  the  fact 
that  the  bilingual  edition  came  in  at  the  right 
time  to  help  strengthen  interafrican  contacts 
and  improve  the  exchange  of  Ideas  and  te- 
chniques between  English  and  French-spea- 
king countries  of  the  continent  and  beyond. 

After  one  year  (four  issues)  of  the  bilingual 
version,  and  with  an  ever  increasing  rea- 
dership especially  from  the  English-speaking 
countries,  the  magazine  is  introducing  topics 
that  were  "abandoned"  during  the  preparation 
of  the  bilingual  edition  :  conservation  news, 
book  review  and  international  meetings.  This 
third  section  of  the  magazine  will  come  after 
the  green  pages  of  translations;  each  item  is 
presented  with  its  translation,  except  the  book 
review  and  meetings  which  are  presented  in 
their  original  language. 

As  with  past  issues,  the  present  edition  of 
"Nature  et  Faune"  covers  subjects  that  are  as 
broad  and  complementary  as  possible:  the 
tragic  fate  of  rhinoceros  in  Africa,  causes  and 
remedies;  the  Zambian  example  of  local  parti- 
cipation in  wildlife  management;  a  scientific 
article  on  the  duikers  of  Sierra  Leone,  espe- 
cially the  extremely  rare  Jentink's  duiker,  and 
finally,  a  more  general  but  also  captivating 
article  on  the  importance  of  wildlife  and  its 
management  for  rural  development  in  sub- 
Saharan  Africa. 


Le  sort  des  rhinoceros  d'Afrique  : 
tragedie  a  I'echelle 
d'un  continent 


(see  translation  page  48) 

Violent,  dangereux,  agressif,  vicieux  :  les 
qualifications  ne  manquent  pas  pour  designer 
les  rhinoceros.  Une  telle  reputation,  qui  fut 
savamment  entretenue  pendant  des  dizaines 
d'annees  par  les  recits  des  grands  chasseurs, 
est  cependant  injustifiee.  Certes,  les  rhinoce- 
ros ont  leur  caractere  :  lis  sont  quelquefois 
irascibles,  et  leurs  reactions  demeurent  tou- 
jours  impr6visibles.  Mais  ils  n'ont  cependant 
rien  de  ces  monstres  agressifs  qui  n'existent 
somme  toute  que  dans  I'esprit  des  hommes, 
lorsque  ceux-ci  accablent  les  animaux  afin  de 
mieux  justifier  leur  propre  penchant  pour  la 
cruaute  et  la  violence... 

Les  rhinoceros  :  animaux  surprenants, 
anachroniques,  bizarres,  sont  les  derniers 
descendants  d'une  lignee  ancienne,  les  seuls 
survivants  d'une  famille  qui  connut  ses  heures 
de  gloire  a  une  epoque  ou  Thomme  n'existait 
pas  encore.  Fossiles  vivants,  rescapes  de  la 
prehistoire,  temoins  d'une  epoque  revolue, 
les  rhinoceros  ont,  intacts,  traverse  les  ages. 
L'evolution  a  fait  d'eux  des  machines  parfaite- 
ment  adaptees  au  monde  dans  lequel  ils  vi- 
vent.  Mais  revolution  n'a  pu  les  mettre  a  I'abri 
de  la  convoitise  des  hommes. 

100  000  rhinoceros  noirs  vivaient  encore 
en  Afrique  11  y  a  quelques  dizaines  d'annees 
seulement :  il  en  reste  moins  de  3  500  aujour- 


par  Bernard  de  Wetter* 


d'hui,  et  le  braconnage  dementiel  qui  a  defer- 
le  sur  la  majorite  du  continent  est  peut-etre  en 
train  de  leur  porter  I'estocade  finale.  Quant 
au  rhinoceros  blanc,  I'autre  espece  presente 
en  Afrique,  ses  effectifs  actuels  ne  represen- 
ted plus  que  I'ombre  de  ce  qu'ils  etaient  au 
siecle  passe. 

Bien  plus  sans  doute  que  le  fait  meme  de 
leur  declin,  ce  sont  les  causes  profondes  de 
celui-ci  qui  paraissent  inacceptables.  Les  rhi- 
noceros n'entrent  nullement  en  conflit  avec 
les  activites  de  I'homme,  ne  representent  au- 
cune  menace  pour  celle-ci.  lis  disposent  par 
ailleurs  de  suffisamment  d'espace  encore 
pour  pouvoir  prosperer  dans  la  plus  grande 
partie  de  leur  aire  de  repartition.  S'ils  dispa- 
raissent,  c'est  uniquement  parce  qu'ils  sont 
massacres  en  grand  nombre,  et  ceci  pour  des 
motifs  particulierement  futiles,  puisqu'il  s'agit 
ni  plus  ni  moins  que  de  perpetuer  des  tradi- 
tions, des  croyances  solidement  incrustees 
dans  la  mentalite  de  certains  peuples. 

La  cause  de  tous  les  malheurs  pour  les  rhi- 
noceros, ce  sont  les  cornes  qu'ils  arborent 
sur  le  devant  de  la  tete.  Celles-ci  ne  sont  pas 
soudees  au  squelette  de  I'animal  :  elles  ne 
sont  en  fait  rien  de  plus  qu'un  agglomerat  de 
keratine,  c'est-a-dire  une  matiere  comparable 
aux  ongles  de  nos  doigts  ou  aux  sabots  des 


chevaux.  Elles  sont  cependant  pris^es  en 
tant  que  medicament  aux  pouvoirs  multiples 
et  presque  magiques  (mais  dont  I'inefficacite 
reelle  a  aujourd'hui  ete  demontee  scientifique- 
ment),  tandis  qu'au  Yemen,  on  les  utilise  pour 
fabriquer  les  crosses  des  poignards  tradition- 
nels,  les  "djambiahs",  que  se  doit  de  porter 
tout  Yemenite  male  qui  se  respecte. 

Les  demeles  des  rhinoceros  avec  I'homme 
ne  datent  pas  d'hier :  depuis  des  milliers  d'an- 
nees,  ces  animaux  ont  ete  convoites  par  I'etre 
humain,  qui  lui  a  attribue  des  vertus  surnatu- 
relles  :  au  Moyen-Age  en  Europe,  ne  I'a-t-on 
pas  confondu  avec  la  licorne,  cet  animal  my- 
thique  ?  L'interet  de  I'homme  envers  les  rhi- 
noceros a  laisse  des  traces  tout  au  long  de 
I'histoire. 

Les  cornes  des  rhinoceros  etaient  large- 
ment  utilisees  au  debut  de  I'ere  chretienne 
dans  la  Chine  imperiale  :  fagonnees  par  les 
artisans  de  renom,  elles  etaient  transformees 
en  objets  ornamentaux,  reserves  aux  nantis 
de  la  societe.  La  plupart  des  cornes  travail- 
lees  en  Extreme-Orient  a  I'epoque  etaient  ce- 
pendant transformees  en  coupes  sculptees, 
qui  servaient  uniquement  de  pieces  de  collec- 
tion. Par  la  suite,  les  coupes  servirent  princi- 
palement  a  detecter  la  presence  de  poison  re- 
pandu  dans  un  breuvage  :  la  pratique  de  sou- 
mettre  les  boissons  a  I'epreuve  de  la  corne  se 
repandit  en  Extreme-Orient,  en  Europe,  et 
meme  dans  certaines  regions  d'Afrique.  Mais 
les  cornes  de  rhinoceros  furent  de  tout  temps 
utilisees  principalement  dans  le  domaine  de  la 
medecine.  Les  Europeens  leur  attribuerent 
des  vertus  curatives  pendant  plusieurs  cen- 
taines  d'annees.  Cependant,  c'est  en  Asie 
que  I'emploi  de  la  corne  de  rhinceros  dans  la 
medecine  traditionelle  fut  le  plus  repandu. 
Panacee  universelle,  ou  presque,  la  corne 
etait  consideree  posseder  (et  posseder  d'ail- 
leurs  toujours)  des  effets  curatifs  contre  une 


panoplie  de  maux  aussi  divers  que  la  fidvre  et 
les  migraines,  les  Intoxications  alimentaires 
ou  les  morsures  de  serpent  I  Seules  les  Guja- 
ratis  de  I'lnde  orientale  cependant  attribuerent 
a  la  corne  de  rhinoceros  des  pouvoirs  aphro- 
disiaques. 

Le  commerce  des  cornes  de  rhinoceros 
etait  deja  une  entreprise  florissante  dans  une 
certaine  partie  de  I'Afrique  bien  avant  I'arrivee 
des  Blancs.  Deja  dans  les  premiers  siecles 
de  I'ere  chretienne,  les  arabes  entretenaient 
des  relations  avec  les  ports  africains  de  la  Mer 
Rouge,  et  les  cornes,  collectees  a  I'interieur 
du  continent,  etaient  exportees  vers  les  ports 
arabes  et  indiens,  d'ou  elles  continuaient  en- 
suite  vers  la  Chine.  Les  echanges  commer- 
ciaux  entre  I'Afrique  et  {'Orient  se  perpetue- 
rent  au  cours  des  siecles,  via  les  cites  por- 
tuaires  de  la  Mer  Rouge  et  de  I'Ocean  Indien. 
Les  Anglais  et  les  Allemands,  qui  se  partage- 
rent  I'Afrique  de  I'Est  au  siecle  passe,  conti- 
nuerent  le  commerce  des  cornes  de  rhinoce- 
ros. On  estime  que  durant  la  seconde  moitie 
du  19e  siecle,  une  moyenne  de  onze  tonnes 
de  cornes  etaient  exportees  annuellement,  ce 
qui  represente  la  mort  d'au  moins  170  000 
animaux ! 

La  valeur  de  la  corne  augmenta  reguliere- 
ment  tout  au  long  du  20e  siecle.  La  vente  de 
cornes  de  rhinoceros  et  d'ivoire  devint  un 
monopole  d'Etat  en  Afrique  de  I'Est  et  du  Sud 
apres  I'independance  :  a  la  fin  des  annees 
soixante,  la  corne  se  vendait  30£  le  kilo.  Mais 
ce  chiffre  allait  deculper  quelque  dix  annees 
plus  tard,  et  ne  cesserait  par  la  suite  de  grim- 
per  en  fleche  pour  atteindre  des  sommes  as- 
tronomiques.  Plusieurs  facteurs  furent  a  I'ori- 
gine  de  cette  flambee  des  prix,  dont  le  princi- 
pal fut  I'entree  en  scene  d'un  nouvel  acheteur 
dans  les  annees  soixante-dix  :  le  Yemen.  Le 
Yemen  du  Nord  etait  demeure  pendant  des 
decennies  une  nation  particulierement  pauvre 


et  compldtement  coupee  du  reste  du  monde; 
mais  au  terme  d'une  guerre  civile  sauvage  qui 
le  devasta  pendant  plus  de  huit  ans,  le  pays 
s'ouvrit  k  I'aide  Internationale.  Parallelement, 
de  tres  nombreux  Y6m6nites  partirent  travail- 
ler  sur  les  champs  petroliferes  d'Arabie  Saou- 
dite  au  debut  des  annees  soixante-dix.  Les 
sommes  considerables  de  devises  rapportees 
par  ces  travailleurs  propulserent  I'ecooomie 
du  pays,  et  permit  k  des  acheteurs  toujours 
plus  nombreux  de  s'offrir  un  luxe  jusqu'alors 
reserve  a  I'elite  de  la  society  :  un  poignard  au 
manche  sculpte  dans  une  corne  de  rhinoce- 
ros... A  la  fin  des  annees  soixante-dix,  un  geo- 
graphe  americain,  Esmond  Bradley  Martin, 
mit  en  Evidence  le  role  jou6  par  le  Y6men  du 
Nord  dans  la  disparition  des  rhinoceros  en 
Afrlque  :  ce  petit  pays  de  moins  de  six  mil- 
lions d'Smes  absorbait  k  lui  seul  non  moins 


de  50  %  du  volume  total  du  trafic  des  cornes 
de  rhinoceros  afrlcains  I 

Personne  n'a  jamais  su  et  ne  saura  com- 
bien  de  rhinoceros  peuplaient  TAfrique  au 
moment  ou  les  premiers  explorateurs  blancs 
mirent  pied  sur  cette  terre  jusqu'alors  incon- 
nue.  Mais  les  recits  des  premiers  voyageurs 
abondent  en  rencontres  avec  des  rhinoceros, 
et  il  n'etait  pas  rare  d'en  rencontrer  60  ou  80 
exemplaires  en  une  seule  journee  de  marche. 
Avec  le  developpement  des  structures  colo- 
niales  debuta  I'age  d'or  des  grands  chasseurs 
:  d6s  la  fin  du  siecle  pass6,  la  faune  d'Afrique 
exergait  un  attrait  irresistible  sur  les  porteurs 
de  fusil  de  tous  horizons.  Les  rhinoceros, 
grosses  betes  placides  et  peu  m6fiantes,  han- 
dicapes  par  leur  vue  mediocre,  constituaient 
des  cibles  de  premier  choix. 


Groupe  de  jeunes  rhinoceros  deplac^s  pour  une  meilleure  protection  vers  le  centre  du  Zimbabwe  .  Imire  Game  Ranch. 
Group  of  young  rhinoceros  translocated  for  a  better  protection  to  the  central  area  of  Zimbabwe.  Imire  Game  Ranch 

(Photo  J.-J.  Leroy) 


L'homme  blanc  se  livra  k  un  veritable  car- 
nage, particulierement  en  Afrique  du  Sud.  Le 
rhinoceros  blanc  fut  le  premier  a  se  ressentir 
des  effets  de  cette  chasse  abusive  :  en  1 890, 
I'espece  avait  pour  ainsi  dire  disparu  dans  le 
sud  du  continent.  En  1 890,  un  groupe  de  six 
sujets  fut  cependant  apergu  au  Natal,  et  pour 
la  premiere  fois,  des  mesures  de  protection 
allaient  enfin  etre  prises  en  faveur  de  ces  ani- 
maux  :  la  chasse  fut  interdite,  et  une  reserve 
ailait  bientot  etre  creee  en  vue  de  leur  protec- 
tion. Dans  le  centre  de  I'Afrique,  le  rhinoceros 
blanc  faisait  deja  I'objet  d'une  exploitation 
bien  avant  I'arrivee  des  Blancs,  mais  "leux-ci 
s'associerent  bientot  aux  marchands  arabes  a 
la  recherche  de  rhinoceros,  notamment  au 
Tchad. 

Plus  nombreux  et  moins  facile  k  localiser 
que  son  cousin  blanc,  le  rhinoceros  noir  par- 
vint  a  se  maintenir  plus  longtemps;  mais  ses 
effectifs  ne  cesserent  cependant  de  baisser 
pendant  toute  la  premiere  moitie  du  vingtieme 
siecle,  et  deja  dans  les  annees  quarante,  I'es- 
pece etait  devenue  tres  rare  dans  certains 
pays,  tels  le  Tchad,  I'Ethiopie  et  la  Somalie. 
Ailleurs  par  contre,  I'entre  deux  guerres  mar- 
qua  une  periode  de  repit  pour  les  rhinoceros, 
et  ce  fut  bien  plus  la  mise  en  culture  de  nou- 
velles  terres  que  la  chasse  qui  diminua  leurs 
effectifs. 

Au  debut  des  annees  cinquante,  si  les  rhi- 
noceros avaient  done  disparu  dans  une  partie 
de  leur  aire  de  repartition,  leur  avenir  en  tant 
qu'especes  n'etait  cependant  nullement  me- 
nace. En  Afrique  du  Sud,  le  rhinoceros  blanc 
connaissait  au  contraire  un  renouveau  spec- 
taculaire.  Mais  la  fin  des  annees  de  repit  ne 
devait  plus  tarder...  Deja  dans  les  annees  cin- 
quante, on  assista  a  une  recrudescence  du 
braconnage  dirige  contre  les  rhinoceros,  une 
tendance  qui  ne  fit  que  s'accentuer  par  la 
suite  un  peu  partout  en  Afrique.  Au  debut  des 


annees  soixante-dix,  les  armes  traditionnelles 
furent  de  plus  remplac6es  par  un  equipement 
moderne  et  redoutable  :  carabines  de  chasse 
et  fusils  automatiques.  Une  veritable  vague 
de  braconnage  se  mit  k  deferler  sur  TAfrique, 
eliminant  sur  son  passage  les  rhinoceros  d'un 
pays  apres  I'autre.  Ceux-cl  avaient  pour  ainsi 
dire  disparu  d'Ethiopie,  de  Somalie,  du 
Tchad,  du  Soudan,  d'Angola,  du  Mozambique 
et  d'Ouganda  k  la  fin  des  annees  soixante- 
dix. 

L' Afrique  de  I'Est  fut  frapp6e  de  plein  fouet 
egalement :  le  Kenya,  qui  comptait  encore  20 
000  rhinoceros  noirs  en  1970,  n'en  abritait 
plus  que  500  quinze  annees  plus  tard.  La  le- 
pre  du  braconnage  gagna  ensuite  la  Tanzanie 
et  la  Zambie  voisines,  et  les  rhinoceros  y  fu- 
rent d^cimes  en  quelques  annees.  La  Repu- 
blique  Centrafricaine  fut  longtemps  conside- 
ree  comme  un  bastion  sur  pour  les  rhinoce- 
ros. Mais  en  1983,  des  membres  du  gouver- 
nement  Bokassa  prirent  soudain  conscience 
du  potentiel  fabuleux  que  representaient  les 
comes  des  quelque  3000  rhinoceros  que 
comptait  le  pays  :  le  massacre  fut  mene  avec 
une  efficacitd  inouTe,  et  99  %  des  rhinoceros 
de  Centrafrique  furent  aneantis  en  quelques 
moisseulement... 

Un  seul  pays  abritait  encore  plusieurs  mil- 
liers  de  rhinoceros  en  1984  :  le  Zimbabwe, 
I'ancienne  Rhodesie  du  Sud  de  I'ere  coloniale 
britannique.  Mais  cette  annee,  les  tueurs  de 
rhinoceros  tournerent  leurs  regards  vers  cet 
uitime  bastion  :  les  premieres  incursions  de 
braconniers  furent  enregistrees  en  decembre 
1984,  et  le  pays  dut  rapidement  faire  face  a 
une  veritable  invasion  de  braconniers  bien  or- 
ganises, puissamment  armes  et  particuliere- 
ment agressifs,  operant  de  la  Zambie  voisine. 

La  ou  la  situation  politique  le  permettait, 
des  efforts  toujours  plus  intenses  furent  me- 
nes  en  vue  d'assurer  la  protection  des  rhino- 


c^ros.  Mais  la  lutte  antibraconnage  et  le  ren- 
forcement  des  moyens  de  surveillance  ne  pu- 
rent  cependant  empecher  les  tueurs  de  per- 
p6trer  leurs  m6faits,  m§me  dans  les  sites  les 
plus  frequentes. 

Le  Kenya  se  vit  bientot  contraint  de  ras- 
sembler  la  majority  de  ses  quelque  500  rhino- 
ceros rescap6s  dans  des  sanctuaires  sp6- 
ciaux  cr66s  k  leur  intention.  D^s  1985  fut  ap- 
plique un  plan  national  de  sauvetage  des  rhi- 
noceros, et  des  travaux  d'amenagement  fu- 
rent  entrepris  en  vue  de  doter  cinq  pares  na- 
tionaux  de  sanctuaires.  Veritables  forte- 
resses,  ces  sanctuaires  sont  entour^s  d'une 
cloture  haute  de  trois  metres,  eiectrifiee  k 
5000  Volts,  et  munie  de  systemes  d'alarme 
eiectroniques.  lis  sont  surveilies  en  perma- 
nence par  des  gardes  qui  parcourent  jour  et 
nuit  le  perimetre  de  la  cloture,  le  long  de  la- 
quelle  sont  Instalies  des  postes  de  patrouille  k 
des  intervalles  de  quelques  kilometres.  Cinq 
pares  nationaux  ont  ete  designes  pour  heber- 
ger  un  tel  sanctuaire,  dont  la  superficie  varie 
de  2  500  k  22  000  hectares  :  Nakuru,  Nairobi, 
Meru,  Tsavo  et  Aberdares;  quatre  ranches 
prives,  qui  detiennent  plus  d'un  tiers  des  rhi- 
noceros du  Kenya  k  I'heure  actuelle,  ont  ega- 
lement  ete  Indus  dans  la  strategie  nationale 
de  sauvetage  de  ces  animaux... 

Plus  de  1000  rhinoceros  blancs  peuplaient 
le  Pare  national  de  la  Garamba  au  Zaire  a 
I'heure  de  I'independance;  mais  11  n'en  restait 
plus  que  14  en  tout  et  pour  tout  lorsque  fut 
lance  un  ambitieux  programme  de  sauvetage 
de  ces  animaux  en  1984.  Finance  par  rUICN, 
la  Societe  zoologique  de  Francfort  et  I'UNES- 
CO,  le  projet  de  rehabilitation  du  Pare  natio- 
nal de  la  Garamba  mene  depuis  1984  une  sur- 
veillance attentive  autour  des  rhinoceros 
blancs,  dont  le  nombre  est  remonte  depuis  a 
22  unites  :  les  ultimes  survivants  d'une  popu- 
lation jadis  florissante  qui  comptait  plusieurs 


dizaines  de  milliers  d'animaux,  repartis  sur  un 
vaste  territoire  couvrant  le  Tchad,  la  Republi- 
que  Centrafricaine,  le  Soudan,  le  nord  du 
Zaire  et  de  I'Ouganda. 

Des  les  premieres  attaques  des  bracon- 
niers  dans  la  Valiee  du  Zambeze,  au  Zim- 
babwe, le  gouvernement  s'engagea  dans  une 
lutte  de  grande  envergure  pour  sauver  ses 
rhinoceros.  Mais  en  depit  des  efforts  absolu- 
ment  remarquables  consentis  par  ce  pays,  les 
rhinoceros  noirs  de  la  Valiee  du  Zambeze  fu- 
rent  decimes  par  centaines.  En  1985,  le  De- 
partement  des  pares  nationaux  entreprit  done 
de  capturer  un  maximum  de  rhinoceros  dans 
la  Valiee  du  Zambeze,  afin  de  les  relacher 
dans  d'autres  sites  situes  loin  des  frontieres, 
ou  lis  demeurent  a  I'abri  des  tueurs.  Plusieurs 
centaines  de  rhinoceros  ont  d'ores  et  dej^  fait 
I'objet  de  telles  mesures,  tandis  que  se  pour- 
suivait  dans  la  Valiee  du  Zambeze  la  guerre 
du  rhinoceros,  une  guerre  qui  sacrifie  chaque 
annee  chez  les  gardes  des  dizaines  de  vies 
humaines... 

Les  efforts  entrepris  au  Kenya,  au  Zaire  et 
au  Zimbabwe  constituent  probablement  la 
derniere  chance  de  survie  des  rhinoceros  en 
Afrique.  Tant  que  durera  le  projet  de  rehabili- 
tation du  Pare  national  de  la  Garamba,  11  est 
permis  d'esperer  que  les  derniers  rhinoceros 
blancs  d'Afrique  Centrale  survivront,  et  pour- 
ront  se  multiplier  lentement.  Si  les  forteresses 
du  Kenya  parviennent  k  remplir  leur  role,  elles 
permettront  k  un  important  noyau  de  repro- 
duction du  rhinoceros  noir  de  se  maintenir 
durant  le  temps  necessaire.  Aussi  longtemps 
que  la  lutte  anti-braconnage  sera  menee  avec 
autant  de  vigueur  dans  la  Valiee  du  Zambeze, 
les  braconniers  ne  pourront  s'attaquer  aux 
populations  de  rhinoceros  du  sud  de  I'Afri- 
que,  ou  les  deux  especes  jouissent  aujour- 
d'hui  encore  d'une  protection  exemplaire. 
Quelques  petites  populations  de  ces  pachy- 


dermes  survivent  au  Botswana,  en  Namibie, 
au  Malawi  et  au  Swaziland.  L'Afrique  du  Sud 
est  desormais  le  dernier  pays  d'Afrique  ou  les 
rhinoceros  des  deux  especes  sont  en  aug- 
mentation constante. 

Les  rhinoceros  ont  souffert  de  toutes  les 
m^prises.  lis  ont  occup6,  ils  occupent  encore 
une  place  ambigue  dans  I'esprit  et  la  culture 
de  peuples  aussi  diff^rents  les  uns  des  autres 
que  les  Chinois,  les  Arabes,  les  Indiens  ou  les 
Zoulous. 

Depuis  des  miII6naires,  les  rhinoceros  ont 
exerce  une  fascination  melee  de  superstition 
et  de  crainte  sur  I'homme.  L'homme,  qui  tout 
en  leur  conf6rant  des  qualitds  surnaturelles,  a 
de  tout  temps  cherche  a  les  eliminer.  Comme 
si  I'existence  des  rhinoceros  lui  paraissait  in- 
supportable, parce  que  ces  creatures 
etranges  ont,  peut-etre,  le  pouvoir  de  ramener 
I'espece  humaine  k  sa  juste  dimension,  a  sa 
juste  place.  Les  rhinoceros  sont  1^  pour  nous 
rappeler  que  la  vie  sur  Terre  n'a  pas  commen- 
ce avec  I'apparition  de  l'homme... 

S'ils  venaient  k  disparaitre,  le  monde  n'en 
cesserait  sans  doute  pas  de  tourner.  Mais  la 
nature  d'Afrique,  aves  ses  men/eilles  de  cou- 
leurs  et  de  formes,  serait-elle  encore  la  meme 
sans  les  rhinoceros  ?  Quel  espoir  aurait-on 
encore  de  sauvegarder  des  communautes 
naturelles  intactes  et  tous  les  etres  qui  les 
composent,  mammiferes,  oiseaux,  poissons, 
insectes  et  autres  invertebres,  des  plus  visi- 
bles  aux  plus  discrets,  des  plus  imposants 


aux  plus  anodins,  des  plus  populaires  aux 
moins  aimes,  des  plus  ceidbres  aux  plus  ridi- 
cules, et  sur  lesquels,  sans  aucune  exception, 
reposent  pourtant  les  fondements  memes  de 
la  vie  sur  notre  planete  ? 

Dans  quelques  rares  sanctuaires,  les  der- 
niers  rhinoceros  d'Afrique  vivent  encore  leur 
vie  paisible,  insouciante,  au  rythme  des  jours 
et  des  nuits,  des  saisons  et  des  annees, 
comme  ils  I'ont  fait  depuis  toujours  et  pour- 
raient  le  faire  encore  jusqu'^  la  fin  des  temps. 
A  condition  que  l'homme  leur  en  laisse  la 
chance- 


Article  extrait  des  cahiers  d'Ethologie  ap- 
pliquee.  1989,  9(1):  97-102 


*  Adresse  de  I'auteur : 
rue  Leys  35 
B-1040  BRUXELLES 
BELGIQUE 


10 


African  solutions  to  wildlife  problems  in 
Africa:  insights  from  a  community-based 

project  in  Zambia 


(voir  traduction  page  52) 


by  D.M.  Lewis,  A.  Mwenya  and  G.B.  Kaweclie* 


Today,  rural  coexistence  with  wildlife  is 
precarious  and  heavily  aid  dependent.  The 
magnitude  of  the  challenge  to  make  it  once 
more  self-sustainable  in  the  longer  term 
clearly  requires  more  than  a  law  enforcement 
response.  As  In  former  traditional  times,  rural 
community  cooperation  is  indispensable. 


Historically,  African  societies  had  a  stable 
coexistence  witii  wildlife,  a  function  of  tiie  in- 
trinsic value  attached  to  ecological  conserva- 
tion in  African  culture  (Hadley,  1985;  l^arl<s, 
1976).  However,  the  institution  of  colonial 
centralized  governments  undermined  custo- 
mary laws  as  well  as  the  authority  of  traditio- 
nal African  leaders  who  enforced  them  (Swift, 
1982;  Willis,  1985).  As  the  colonial  govern- 
ments were  unable  to  provide  an  effective  al- 
ternative means  of  wildlife  conservation,  the 
result  was  a  poaching  "gold  rush"  for  the 
riches  of  rhino  horn,  elephant  ivory  and  other 
short-term  gains. 

Following  independence,  most  African 
states  maintained  the  colonial  structure  of 
centralized  game  departments  and  national 
parl<s  systems.  In  most  cases,  wildlife  mana- 
gement has  been  based  on  the  adoption  of 


punitive  measures  designed  to  maintain  bar- 
riers between  wildlife  resources  in  protected 
areas  and  local  residents  living  in  or  around 
such  areas. 

Zambia  has  had  more  than  a  decade  of  ef- 
forts in  dealing  with  wildlife  managment,  and 
specifically  with  a  serious  poaching  problem 
(Lewis  and  Kaweche,  1985;  Lewis,  Kaweche 
and  Mwenya,  1989;  Leder-Williams,  1985).  In- 
tensive law  enforcement  campaigns  were  wa- 
ged in  selected  parts  of  the  country  and  fun- 
ded by  large  amounts  of  money.  However, 
despite  increased  arrests,  wildlife  losses 
continued;  in  some  cases  they  even  increa- 
sed where  such  programmes  operated  (Le- 
wis, 1986).  National  losses  of  wildlife  re- 
sources during  this  period  included  a  near  ex- 
tinction of  the  blacl<  rhino  and  the  reduction  of 
over  50  percent  of  the  elephant  population. 
Similar  trends  have  been  documented  in  the 
United  Republic  of  tanzania,  Uganda,  Namibia 
and  Kenya. 

Although  law  enforcement  measures  conti- 
nued as  an  accepted  deterrent  to  poaching, 
Zambia's  National  Pari<s  and  Wildlife  Services 
undertook  experimental  studies  (Lewis, 
Kaweche  and  Mwenya,  1989)  and  a  technical 
worl<shop  (Dalai-Clayton  and  Lewis,   1984) 


11 


Where  the  ADMADE  programme  has  been  implemented  no  rhinos  have  been  poached  in  3  years 
L^  ou  le  programme  ADMADE  a  6t6  r^lis^,  aucun  rhino  n'a  6t6  braconn^  en  3  ans      (photo  J  J.  Leroy) 


during  this  period  to  help  identify  the  under- 
lying causes  of  illegal  hunting.  As  a  result,  a 
new  national  policy  of  wildlife  management, 
called  the  Administrative  management  design 
(ADMADE)  for  game  managment  areas,  was 
formulated  to  deal  with  these  causes  (Mwe- 
nya,  Kaweche  and  Lewis,  1988). 

Based  heavily  on  people's  participation.  In 
the  areas  where  it  has  been  implemented,  AD- 
MADE has  proved  to  be  highly  effective.  For 
instance,  In  a  three-year  period,  poaching  of 
elephants  declined  by  over  90  percent  in  one 
wildlife  area  in  Zambia  where  local  participa- 
tion was  actively  promoted  (Lewis,  Kaweche 
and  Mwenya,  1989).  Furthermore,  a  resident 
population  of  black  rhino  suffered  not  a  single 
instance  of  poaching  during  this  period  des- 
pite adequate  numbers  to  attract  illegal  hun- 
ters (Lewis,  unpublished  data).  This  was 
achieved  at  a  fraction  of  the  cost  assumed  ne- 
cessary to  ensure  adequate  protection  of  wil- 


dlife in  Africa  on  a  per  km  basis  by  many  wil- 
dlife experts  (Parker,  1984;  Bell  and  Clarke, 
1984). 

This  article  first  focuses  on  selected  quan- 
tifiable variables  that  the  above-mentioned 
studies  and  the  results  thus  far  obtained  from 
the  ADMADE  programme  have  identified  as 
key  determinants  in  helping  to  predict  poa- 
ching levels  and  wildlife  management  pro- 
blems for  a  given  area.  Various  methods  or 
management  treatments  that  can  modify  the 
value  of  these  variables,  and  thus  reduce  the 
frequency  and  severity  of  poaching,  are  also 
discussed.  Finally,  a  set  of  guiding  principles 
are  presented  that  government  planners  and 
wildlife  authorities  may  find  useful  when 
considering  options  for  dealing  with  wildlife 
management  in  Africa. 


12 


VARIABLES  AND  CAUSAL 
RELATIONSHIPS 


Availability  of  alternative  pro- 
tein sources 


In  rural  societies  where  legal  protein 
sources  are  limited,  residents  tend  to  adopt  il- 
legal practices  to  secure  at  least  a  minimal 
per  caput  requirement.  As  such  practices  go 
unchecked,  subsistence  levels  are  often  ex- 
ceeded. Under  these  circumstances  villagers 
living  outside  and  along  the  boundaries  of 
protected  areas  with  easy  access  to  wildlife 
resources  wHI  resort  to  illegal  hunting  in  these 
areas,  despite  the  greater  risks  of  being  ap- 
prehended. 

A  comparative  study  between  two  neigh- 
boring villages,  both  in  a  tsetse-fly  infested 
area  and  therefore  without  domestic  animals, 
suggested  the  significance  of  the  availability 
of  alternative  protein  sources  in  predicting 
poaching  levels  among  village  communities  li- 
ving outside  protected  areas  (Lewis,  1 988;  Le- 
wis, unpublished  data).  One  village  was  loca- 
ted along  a  major  river  with  high  availability  of 
fish.  The  other  had  no  significant  alternative 
meat  supply  other  than  the  depleted  wildlife 
resources  In  its  area.  The  village  with  acess 
to  fish  had  far  fewer  traditional  hunters  and 
contributed  much  less  to  the  area's  poaching 
problems  than  the  village  with  less  acess  to 
fish. 

Options  for  dealing  with  this  variable  may 
be  limited,  depending  on  the  intrinsic  features 
of  the  area  concerned.  One  possibility  is  to 
promote  alternative  protein  sources  not  dis- 
ruptive to  wildlife  (i.e.  introduction  of  fish  far- 
ming, more  intensive  farming  of  plant  protein 


species,  etc.).  Another  is  to  allot  a  sustaina- 
ble quota  of  animals  to  resident  village  hun- 
ters, and  to  employ  their  services  to  provide 
meat  to  the  community.  This  would  reduce 
pressures  on  the  more  threatened  species 
and  would  also  permit  a  more  careful  monito- 
ring of  the  off-takes.  This  may  help  to  ensure 
a  net  positive  growth  rate  In  the  harvested  po- 
pulations, if  such  a  growth  rate  Is  desirable 
from  a  management  point  of  view. 


Employment  opportunities 

The  growing  need  for  income  opportuni- 
ties in  rural  socieities  Is  becoming  acute 
throughout  Africa  as  the  availability  and  ac- 
cessibility of  natural  resources  diminish.  Gi- 
ven the  external  market  forces  related  to  wil- 
dlife, principally  meat  and  trophies  (skins, 
horns,  teeth,  etc.),  when  the  need  for  income 
Is  great  enough,  local  residents  engage  them- 
selves in  paid  services,  legal  or  otherwise. 
Because  of  limited  educational  opportunities, 
local  people  often  do  not  know  the  real  mar- 
ket value  of  wildlife  commodities  sought  by 
outside  commercial  interests  and  therefore 
exchange  or  sell  them  at  prices  far  below  their 
actual  value. 

While  employment  opportunities  and  aval- 
lability  of  non-wildlife  protein  sources  may  va- 
ry between  areas,  it  is  relatively  simple  to  de- 
termine what  their  respective  levels  are.  With 
such  information  predictions  about  poaching 
levels  can  be  made  (see  Figure  1). 

Wildlife  management  as  Implemented  by 
the  governing  authority  can  help  to  Increase 
local  employment  opportunities  In  a  number 
of  ways: 

Recruit  and  train  local  residents  to  pro- 
vide the  major  share  of  the  required  work- 


13 


force  in  the  management  of  wildlife.  Such  a 
programme  was  initiated  on  a  trial  basis  in 
1985  by  Zambia's  National  Parl<s  and  Wildlife 
Service  (Lewis,  Kaweche  and  Mwenya,  1989). 
Results  Included  an  Increased  understanding 
and  appreciation  of  wildlife  resources,  their 
economic  values,  and  the  need  to  prevent 
non-residents  from  entering  their  area  to  hunt 
illegally.  Locally  recruited  perconnel  em- 
ployed to  protect  their  chiefdom's  wildlife 
were  shown  to  have  a  superior  knowledge  of 
the  land  and  less  absenteeism  than  civil  ser- 
vant wildlife  scouts,  whose  home  areas  were 
usually  In  a  different  part  of  the  country.  As  a 
result,  these  locally  recruited  workers,  called 
village  scouts,  contributed  a  significantly 
greater  proportion  of  total  arrests  of  illegal 
hunters.  Furthermore,  because  the  salary 
scales  for  the  village  scouts  were  based  more 


Availability 

aiiernativ« 
protein 


Employment  opportunities 


on  expected  local  income  earnings,  the  costs 
of  maintaining  them  proved  far  less  expensive 
than  civil  sen/ant  scouts. 

Promote  programmes  that  encourage  lo- 
cal residents  to  engage  in  small,  non-disrup- 
tive "cottage  Industries"  that  depend  on  either 
consumptive  (sustained-yield  utilization)  or 
non-consumptive  uses  of  wildlife.  Evidence 
suggests  conservationist  attitudes  toward  wil- 
dlife within  a  village  area  grow  as  the  resi- 
dents' dependency  on  the  sustained-yield  use 
of  wildlife  increases.  As  this  occurs  there  is 
also  an  increase  in  appreciation  among  the 
local  residents  for  the  law  enforcement  efforts 
by  their  own  village  scouts.  Such  apprecia- 
tion may  take  the  form  of  volunteering  infor- 
mation to  village  scouts  when  illegal  hunters 
enter  their  area,  as  has  been  documented  in 

Zambia        (Lewis, 
1989). 

Encourage  vil- 
lage meetings  to 
solicit  views  and 
criticisms  from  lo- 
cal residents  on 
the  management 
of  their  wildlife  re- 
sources. These 
have  proved  ins- 
trumental in  mini- 
mizing misconcep- 
tions and   promo- 


FIGURE  1:  Poaching 
levels  and  characteri- 
stics as  affected  by  alter- 
native protein  sources 
and  employment  oppor- 
tunities. 


14 


ting  self-imposed  responsibilities  in  the  mana- 
gement and  protection  of  wildlife  resources 
(Lewis,  1988  and  unpublished  data).  This  ap- 
proach is  fundamental  for  establishing  ties  of 
joint  cooperation  between  local  residents  and 
the  technical  government  department  respon- 
sible for  providing  legally  sustainable  benefits 
from  wildlife  for  local  communities  (Mwenya, 
Kawecheand  Lewis,  1988). 

Government  acceptance  of  tradi- 
tional leadership  on  wildlife  is- 
sues  

Chiefs  and/or  headmen  are  the  corners- 
tones of  African  rural  societies  and  the  tradi- 
tional customs  that  bind  and  regulate  village 
communities.  Land  tenure  and  acess  to  natu- 
ral resources  were  formerly  determined  by 
these  chiefs  in  the  common  interest.  Intefe- 
rence  with  or  abolition  of  these  powers  during 
and  after  colonial  administration  has  led  to  a 
situation  where  central  governments  are  una- 
ble to  sustain  needs  of  adequate  law  enforce- 
ment to  protect  wildlife  resources.  The  conti- 
nued misuse  of  these  resources  leads  to  the 
imposition  of  ineffective  punitive  measures 
which  tend  to  further  erode  the  influence  of 
traditional  rulers. 

A  potentially  acceptable  approach  for  intef- 
grating  traditional  local  leadership  with  mo- 
dern centralized  governments  in  dealing  with 
wildlife  conservation  issues  is  the  formation  of 
a  partnership  between  the  two  authorities. 
The  ADMADE  policy  (Mwenya,  Kaweche  and 
Lewis,  1988)  effectively  does  this  by  the  es- 
tablishment of  Wildlife  Management  Authori- 
ties for  each  game  management  area.  Chai- 
red by  the  District  Governor,  an  Authority  is 
composed  of  local,  traditional  rulers  and  se- 


nior-level wildlife  officers.  The  members  meet 
periodically  to  exchange  views  and  adopt  wil- 
dlife management  policies  for  that  particular 
area.  Under  this  approach,  direct  technical 
and  capital  inputs  may  be  directed  through 
government  channels  while  traditional  rulers 
exert  their  influence  to  increase  local  support 
and  cooperation  in  managing  the  wildlife  re- 
sources in  their  area. 

In  the  Chikwa-Luelo  area  of  the  Luangwa 
Valley,  for  example,  the  two  ruling  chiefs  ac- 
cepted the  ADMADE  policy,  which  by  vitrue  of 
their  chieftainship  gave  them  chairmanship  of 
their  own  Wildlife  Management  sub-Authority. 
These  sub-authorities  bring  proposals  and 
funding  requests  to  the  Wildlife  Management 
Authority.  The  chiefs  asserted  their  leaders- 
hip by  condemning  illegal  hunting  with  the  un- 
derstanding that  their  community  would  re- 
ceive benefits  through  the  sharing  of  wildlife 
revenues  under  the  ADMADE  programme. 
Within  a  year  poaching  was  reduced  in  the 
Chil<wa-Luelo  area. 

The  chiefs  achieved  greater  respect  from 
their  people  for  using  their  traditional  powers 
of  authority  to  bring  improved  benefits  to  the 
community  from  wildlife.  Revenue  benefits 
were  shared,  as  promised  by  the  National 
Parks  and  Wildlife  Service,  and  local  residents 
wfere  made  village  scouts  to  manage  and  pro- 
tect the  wildlife  in  their  own  chiefdoms  while 
earning  a  livelihood.  Because  a  significant  re- 
duction in  poaching  was  achieved  well  in  ad- 
vance of  the  establishment  of  the  village  scout 
programme,  the  decline  in  illegal  hunting  was 
attributed  to  the  influence  of  traditional  lea- 
ders (personal  communication  with  Pater 
Mwanza,  Unit  Leader  of  the  Chikwa-Luelo 
area). 

Similar  response  to  local  traditional  rulers 
is  emerging  in  several  other  game  manage- 
ment areas  where  ADMADE  is  being  imple- 


15 


merited  and  where  the  revenue  benefits  being 
sustained  by  ADMADE  have  become  more 
noticeable.  The  Wildlife  Managment  Authori- 
ties in  most  of  the  ADMADE  areas,  for  exam- 
ple, have  opened  "Community  Development 
Accounts"  In  which  they  deposit  the  commu- 
nity development  shares  of  the  ADMADE  wil- 
dlife revenues.  In  1988  these  shares  equalled 
US$230,000  for  ten  ADMADE  units.  To  en- 
sure that  projects  accepted  by  the  community 
are  funded,  only  the  sub-authorities,  whose 
members  are  primarily  village  headmen,  can 
recommend  community  projects  to  the  Au- 
thority, and  chiefs  are  made  signatories  to 
these  acoounts  so  that  funds  are  used  as  in- 
tended. 

The  Importance  of  traditional  leadership  in 
wildlife  managment  has  become  very  appa- 
rent under  the  ADMADE  designs  and  is  also 


proving  to  be  far  more  cost-effective  than  di- 
rect implementation  by  a  government  authori- 
ty (see  Figure  2).  For  example,  an  approach 
observed  in  Luano  and  Sichifula-Mulobezi 
Game  Management  Areas  under  the  AD- 
MADE programme  is  the  translocation  of  villa- 
gers who  engage  In  illegal  hunting  to  areas 
where  there  are  no  animals.  When  it  is  known 
that  a  certain  person  hunts  animals  illegally 
and  Is  setting  a  bad  example  to  the  local  com- 
munity, that  person  is  sentenced  by  the  chief 
as  being  unable  to  live  peacefully  with  wildlife 
and  is  ordered  to  live  where  there  are  no  ani- 
mals and  to  take  up  some  other  occupation. 
Figure  3  presents  a  set  of  relationships  be- 
tween traditional  rulers  and  hunters  as  they 
may  affect  illegal  hunting. 


Poaching 
mtd 


Management  costs 


FIGURE  2: 

Changes  in  rates  of 
illegal  hunting  as  a 
function  of  Increa- 
sed expenditure  of 
management  effort 
using  different  ma- 
nagement designs; 

a)  reliance  on 
conventional  civil 
servant  scouts  who 
enforce  punitive 
measures  without 
local    involvement; 

b)  greater  reliance 
on  local  participa- 
tion with  joint  lea- 
dership between 
traditional  rulers 
and  civil  authori- 
ties. 


16 


Aoc8ptanc8  of  traditional  rulers  as  a  wildlife 
manao«<T>«nt  authofity  by  Ihe  government 


FIGURE  3:  Poa- 
ching levels  in  a  region 
as  a  function  of  go- 
vernment recognition 
of  traditional  rulers 


Revenue  earning  capacity  of  tlie 
resource 

Another  variable  in  tlie  poacliing  picture  is 
the  revenue-earning  capacity  of  the  resource. 
First,  the  area  must  be  capable  of  generating 
substantial  revenue  through  local  manage- 
ment of  wildlife  resources.  Second,  there 
must  be  an  agreed  arrangement  for  returning 
a  major  portion  of  these  revenues  to  the  local 
area  for  meeting  programme  costs.  In  order 
to  increase  local  employment  through  wildlife 
management,  develop  alternative  protein 
sources,  or  incorporate  local  ruling  authorities 
in  the  governing  of  wildlife  matters,  revenue  is 
required  on  an  annual  basis.  Otherwise, 
continuity  cannot  be  assured;  frequent  inter- 
ruptions of  the  programme  will  tend  to  dis- 
courage local  participation  in  the  wildlife  ma- 
nagement effort. 


National  development  plans  throughout 
Africa  show,  beyond  any  doubt,  that  wildlife  is 
relatively  low  priority  in  government  spending. 
Results  of  the  Lupande  Development  Project 
(Lewis,  Kaweche  and  Mwenya,  1 989)  and  the 
current  ADMADE  programme  (ADMADE, 
1988),  indicate  that  in  order  to  achieve  a  com- 
mitment on  the  part  of  local  people  to  partici- 
pate in  wildlife  management  efforts  on  a  sus- 
tained basis,  wildlife  revenues  need  to  be 
available  at  the  local  level,  and  the  people 
themselves  must  participate  in  the  develop- 
ment as  well  as  the  implementation  of  mana- 
gement efforts. 

On  a  national  scale  this  is  being  effectively 
demonstrated  by  the  ADMADE  programme. 
For  the  1987  and  1988  financial  years, 
US$260,000,  representing  40  percent  of  the 
total  revenue  earned  from  the  wildlife  re- 
source in  ten  ADMADE  units,  were  withheld 
for  local  wildlife  management  programmes  (in 


17 


addition  to  the  base  level  allocation  of 
$230,000  referred  to  earlier).  This  sum  was 
used  to  meet  both  recurrent  and  capital  ex- 
penditures in  these  units.  Recurrent  expendi- 
tures included  the  maintenance  and  running 
costs  of  the  seven  ADMADE  vehicles,  wages 
and  allowances  for  the  village  scouts  and  ge- 
neral workers,  law  enforcement  costs,  and  sit- 
ting allowances  for  the  members  of  the 
wildlife  management  authorities.  As  for  the 
capital  expenditures,  ten  new  camps  were  es- 


• 

Maintain  local 

vigilanoB  of 

wiidlil*  r»souro«ft, 

subsidized  by 

QOv«rnm«nt  rBvvniiet 


Promote 

oonsarvabonJst  views 

vnong  local  residents 

by  diraciino  legally 

obtairted  wlldiite 

revenues  toward 

supporting  community 

benefia 

• 

Promote  social  status 

of  local  residents 

employed  in  wikSife 

management 

• 

Salaor  scale  of  legally 

employed  scouu 

should  be  compebtive 

wi^  easing 

employment 

opportunities 


jrvestm 

profit-orienied 

wKdlite  management 

to  support 

local  empioyment 

• 

Develop  alternative 

protein  sources 

• 

Employ  traditional 

hunters  (o  harvest 

sustained- yield 

quotas  kx 

local  consumption 


• 

Maximize 

employment  of 

viNage  scouts  from 

revenues  derived 

from  sustained- yield 

uses  of  wikSiis 

• 

Oerrxxtttrate  to 

local  residents  the 

higher  per  caput 

earnings  from 

legal  uses  of 

wildlte  tan  from 

illegaJuses 


Revenue  earning  capacity  of  wildlife 


tablished,  150  new  huts  for  village  scouts 
were  built,  three  senior  staff  houses  were  re- 
novated, one  unit  headquarters  was  built  and 
work  on  three  others  was  Initiated.  Both  the 
recurrent  and  capital  budgets  were  approved 
by  each  respective  management  authority. 

IN  SEARCH  OF  SOME  GUIDING 
PRINCIPLES 

Based  on  the  experience  of  the  ADMADE 
programme  in  Zambia,  the  fol- 
lowing are  offered  as  a  set  of 
guiding  principles  that  go- 
vernment planners  and  wildlife 
authorities  may  find  useful 
when  considering  options  for 
dealing  with  wildlife  manage- 
ment in  Africa. 

Employ  predictive 
management  in  redu- 
cing  illegal  hunting 

Given  that  the  various  de- 
terminants of  Illegal  hunting 
are  quantifiable,  identification 
of  those  variables  contributing 
to  the  problem,  and  the 
changes  required  to  reduce  it, 
provide  a  set  of  appropriate 
managment  treatments.    This 


FIGURE  4: 

Management  treatments 
in  response  to  three  different 
determinants  of  poaching  le- 
vels for  a  given  area  (see  pre- 
sidctions  in  Figs  1  and  3) 


18 


Bene f its /Avantages 


Monetary  (returns  per  kg  for  local  residents) 
Binifices  mon^talres  (rentrSes  d' argent  pour  les  populations 

locales,  par  kilogramme) 


approach  is  a  predictive  managment  tool;  Fi- 
gure 4  provides  a  basis  for  evaluating  the  va- 
riables discussed  in  this  article  in  order  to  de- 
termine an  appropriate  management  ap- 
proach. 

Allow  time  and  flexibility  in  in- 
troducing  new  programmes 

It  is  unreasonable  to  expect  Immediate 
and  universal  acceptance  of  locally  based  wil- 
dlife management  programmes.  Initially,  wil- 
dlife extension  officers  may  face  the  handicap 
of  being  associated  with  past  mistakes  of  the 
government  de- 
partment re- 
sponsible for 
enforcing  wil- 
dlife laws  (Le- 
wis, 1989).  This 
can  result  in 
strong  initial  re- 
sistance, des- 
pite the  poten- 
tial benefits  a 
programme 
may  represent 
for  the  commu- 
nity. To  facili- 
tate the  accep- 
tance of  whate- 
ver programme 
is  being  introdu- 
ced, the  wildlife 
extension  offi- 
cer must  be 
sensitive  to 
needs  and  aspi- 
rations of  the  lo- 
cal residents, 
and    be    know- 


ledgeable of  past  experiences  and  of  local  tri- 
bal customs.  Persistence  and  patience  are 
required  simultaneously.  Programmes  that 
are  forced  into  implmentation  too  quickly  wi- 
thout full  acceptance  and  understanding  of 
how  they  can  serve  local  needs  will  lack  the 
necessary  foundation  of  local  involvement 
and  commitment. 

Ensure  economic  incentives  for 
legal  uses  of  wildlife 

An  obvious  factor  in  determining  relative 
poaching  pressures  on  particular  species  of 


Legal/Chasse 
legale 


Illegal/Braconnage 


Meat 
Viande 


Skin 
Peaux 


Other  trophies 
Autres  trophies 


potentially  high 
potentlellement 
^levds 

high 
Aleves 


high 
^lev^s 


moderate 
moderns 


low  to  nil 
de  faibles  k   nul 


low 
faibles 


Employment  (eraployment  levels  per  animal  harvested) 
Emplois  (emplois  par  animal  exploit^) 


1.  Processing  wildlife  products 
Transformation 

2.  Marketing 
Commercialisation 


high 
nombreux 

high 
nombreux 


low 
peu  nombreux 

low 
peu  nombreux 


Accountability  of  off-take 
Autres  avantages 

1.  Sustainability 
Durability 

2.  Awareness  by  local  leaders 
Sensibillsation  des  chefs 

locaux 


high 
Clevis 

low 
faibles 

high 

low  to  moderate 

eleves 

de  faibles  k   mod^res 

Table  1  :  Relative  benefits  available  to  the  local  community  from 
the  legal  and  illegal  hunting  of  wildlife 


Tableau  1 


Chasse  legale  et  braconnage:  avantages  comparatifs 
pour  les  communaut^s  locales 


19 


wildlife  is  the  economic  benefit  awarded  to 
the  illegal  hunter.  The  sliding  scale  extends 
from  the  least  commercially  profitable  spe- 
cies, such  as  duiker  or  grysbok,  to  the  most 
profitable,  elephant  and  rhino.  While  an  effec- 
tive law  enforcement  programme  involving  lo- 
cal residents  may  reduce  illegal  hunting  pres- 
sures, an  Important  complementary  approach 
is  to  maximize  the  legally  obtainable  commer- 
cial values  of  the  more  "profitable"  species, 
and  to  ensure  that  a  portion  of  these  revenues 
is  channelled  to  local  areas.  This  will  increase 
cooperation  with  the  law  while  sustaining  the 
management  costs  of  the  area.  This  ap- 
proach has  a  greater  chance  of  local  accep- 
tance than  community  support  of  illegal  uses 
for  the  simple  reason  that  a  larger  economic 
return  for  the  local  community  can  be  sustai- 
ned from  legal  uses  (see  Table). 

The  manifestations  of  this  approach  in  re- 
ducing poaching  are  far-reaching  as  seen  in 
the  Zambian  ADMADE  programme  (Lewis, 
Kaweche  and  Mwenya,  1989;  Mwenya,  Ka- 
weche  and  Lewis.  1988;  ADMADE.  1988).  Wi- 
thin a  three-year  period  in  Lower  Lupande 
Game  Management  Area,  for  example,  local 
village  leaders  identified  various  ways  of  im- 
proving the  management  of  their  wildlife  re- 
sources to  increase  the  revenue  potential.  Vil- 
lage headmen  volunteered  their  services  as 
vigilantes  to  inform  village  scouts  when  illegal 
hunters  entered  their  area.  On  another  occa- 
sion village  leaders  raised  their  concern  that 
safari  hunters,  who  contribute  the  largest 
share  of  legally  sustainable  wildlife  revenues, 
were  hunting  only  male  lions.  Concerned  that 
the  trophy  males  were  being  overhunted,  they 
urged  that  fewer  males  should  be  hunted,  if 
necessary  replaced  with  females.  From  a  ma- 
nagement perspective,  this  was  the  appro- 
priate decision;  it  underlines  the  potential  for 
improved  management  with  local  accpetance 


as  the  appreciation  for  the  sustainability  of  re- 
venue earnings  from  wildlife  increases  among 
the  indigenous  residents. 

Another  example  serves  to  demonstrate 
how  quickly  a  management  problem  can  be 
solved  through  sustainable  economic  Incen- 
tives. Local  traditional  leaders  were  advised 
that  late  season  bush  fires  were  lowering  the 
forage  capacity  to  sustain  wildlife.  To  main- 
tain hunting  quotas  that  would  generate  local 
income  and  meat  benefits,  village  leaders 
agreed  to  advise  residents  of  the  dangers  of 
starting  fires  after  forage  conditions  became 
too  dry. 

Ensure  threshold  effect  of  wil- 
dlife  management  benefits 

Reduction  of  poaching  levels  through  local 
employment  in  wildlife  management  Is  a  non- 
linear relationship  for  rural  communities 
where  employment  opportunities  are  few  (see 
Figure  5).  Studies  in  Zambia  suggest  that  if 
benefits  are  limited  to  too  small  a  percentage 
of  residents,  residents  who  are  not  involved 
may  resent  the  programme  and  conspire  to 
frustrate  the  success  of  those  who  are  em- 
ployed (Lewis,  1989  and  unpublished  data). 
However,  once  enough  people  in  the  commu- 
nity are  receiving  benefits,  community  peer 
pressure  quickly  shifts  to  local  acceptance  of 
the  need  to  cooperate  with  the  legal  users  of 
wildlife  and  poaching  rates  drop  dramatically. 

In  the  ADMADE  pilot  programme,  the  Lu- 
pande Development  Project,  local  employ- 
ment was  initially  comprised  of  only  village 
scouts.  As  their  efforts  reduced  poaching,  a 
parallel  effort  was  made  to  employ  local  resi- 
dents in  the  legal. sustainable  uses  of  wildlife. 
By  the  end  of  the  third  year,  there  were  ap- 
proximately three  times  more  people  em- 


20 


Poaching 
ievAls 


Pefcentafle  of  local  residents  rec»<vinfl  bone^t• 
from  a  wildlife  manaoe^wnf 


FIGURE  5:  Changes  in 
poaching  levels  in  response 
to  increasing  percentage  of 
local  residents  receiving 
benefits  from  a  manage- 
ment programme  that  en- 
courages legal  uses  of  wil- 
dlife only 


ployed  in  the  legal  uses  of  wildlife  than  as  vil- 
lage scouts  (Lewis,  Kaweche  and  Mwenya, 
1989;  Lewis,  unpublished  data).  The  level  of 
Illegal  hunting  at  the  end  of  this  period  was 
negligible  as  compared  to  levels  three  years 
earlier.  Attitude  surveys  indicated  increased 
community  interest  in  discouraging  illegal 
hunters  from  entering  the  area,  and  greater 
support  for  village  scouts  (Lewis,  1988). 

Use  successful  efforts  as  exam- 
ples to  stimulate  programme  ex- 
pansion 

If  a  programme  is  successful  In  reducing 
the  effects  of  those  variables  contributing  to 
poaching  rates,  it  may  also  act  as  a  catalyst 
for  positive  change  in  adjoining  areas.  Expe- 
rience In  Zambia  has  shown  that  the  ex- 
change of  Information  between  neighbouring 


communities  Is  often  rapid  and  can  greatly  fa- 
cilitate subsequent  expansion  of  a  pro- 
gramme if  initial  efforts  are  successful.  Fur- 
thermore, this  is  achievable  at  no  extra  cost  to 
the  implementing  agency  of  the  programme. 
In  1989,  only  two  years  after  the  ADMADE 
programme  was  Instituted,  two  chiefs  from 
outside  the  implementation  area  made  formal 
requests  to  have  their  chiefdoms  classified  as 
Game  Management  Areas  and  adopted  under 
the  ADMADE  policy.  The  significance  of  this 
is  that  only  In  a  Game  Management  Area  can 
the  National  Parks  and  Wildlife  Service  use 
public  funds  to  assist  with  wildlife  manage- 
ment and  resource  protection. 

To  take  full  advantage  of  the  "stepping- 
stone"  effect,  the  initial  implementation  area 
should  be  where  the  potential  sustainability  of 
wildlife  benefits  Is  relatively  high  and  initial  ef- 
forts should  be  persistent  enough  to  bring  the 
benefits  Into  full  recognition  by  the  communi- 


21 


ty.  In  this  way  the  news  travelling  to  neighbo- 
ring areas  will  be  positive  and  convincing. 

Capitalize  on  the  buffer  effect  of 
local  participation 

A  successful  programme  of  local  involve- 
ment in  wildlife  management  in  areas  adjoi- 
ning protected  or  park  areas  may  significantly 
reduce  law  enforcement  costs  within  the  pro- 
tected areas.  As  wildlife  conservationist  views 
evolve  and  grow,  the  probability  of  illegal  hun- 
ters entering  the  protected  area  with  the  sup- 
port or  acceptance  of  local  residents  dimi- 
nishes (Lewis,  Kaweche  and  Mwenya,  1989; 
ADMADE,  1988). 

Arrange  for  protection  of  uninha- 
bited  lands 

Resource  requirements  for  human  habita- 
tion may  differ  from  those  of  wildlife  re- 
sources. In  many  cases,  therefore,  an  area 
endowed  with  important  wildlife  resources 
may  be  totally  void  of  human  habitation.  Pro- 
tection of  these  areas  can  be  achieved 
through  maintaining  or  developing  a  sense  of 
association  or  ownership  by  the  nearest  com- 
munities: this  can  offer  the  needed  work-force 
for  the  area's  management.  This  also  helps  to 
ensure  the  full  potential  revenues  earned  from 
the  area,  on  a  sustained-yield  basis,  thus  pro- 
viding community  benefits  and  easing  manag- 
ment  costs. 


Avoid  overconserving  wildlife  at 
the  expense  of  the  indigenous 
conservationists 

It  is  recognized  and  appreciated  that  some 
wildlife  enthusiasts  in  Africa  often  volunteer 
their  services  as  non-professionals  to  aid  in 
managing  wildlife.  The  terms  of  reference  for 
such  non-government  cooperation  with  the 
appointed  legal  wildlife  managment  authori- 
ties, however,  are  often  vague.  This  can  fos- 
ter a  dangerous  trend  if  well-funded,  but  un- 
coordinated non-government  organizations 
assume  roles  that  cause  conflicts  with  go- 
vernment authorities.  This  may  lead  to  divi- 
sive manoeuvrings  between  government  and 
non-government  authorities  and  a  sub- 
sequent loss  in  cost-effectiveness  for  the  use 
of  funds  available  to  wildlife  conservation. 
Such  conflicts  may  result  in  injudicious  fun- 
ding distribution  by  outside  donor  agencies. 

An  even  more  serious  potential  negative 
effect  of  these  conflicts,  however,  is  the  ero- 
sion of  confidence  and  morale  among  the 
professionally  trained  indigenous  conservatio- 
nists serving  as  civil  servants  for  the  official 
wildlife  management  department.  This  can 
have  profound  influences  on  poaching  rates. 
Symptoms  may  include  slow  responses  to 
poaching  problems,  inadequate  coordination 
with  other  government  agencies,  and  failure 
to  discipline  junior  staff  effectively.  As  a  result 
confusion  reigns  and  more  wildlife  Is  poa- 
ched. The  irony,  of  course,  is  that  such  pro- 
blems arise  from  conservation  efforts  them- 
selves. 

Government  authorities  need  full  recogni- 
tion and  support  to  strengthen  their  leader- 
ship and  effectiveness  in  upholding  the  law 
and  implementing  wildlife  management  pro- 


22 


grammes.  This  recognition  by  both  donor 
agencies  and  non-government  organizations 
is  essential. 

CONCLUSION 

Variables  influencing  rates  of  poaching 
and  other  wildlife  managment  problems  in 
Africa  are  identifiable  and  modifiable.  When 
guided  by  African  values  and  traditions  and 
in  cooperation  with  a  national  parks'  service 
sympathetic  to  the  needs  of  local  residents 
living  with  wildlife  resources,  these  variables 
can  be  favourably  adjusted  more  cost-effecti- 
vely than  has  been  shown  possible  with 
conventional  methods.  This  approach  to 
conservation,  successfully  tested  at  the  pilot 
level  in  Zambia,  and  recently  applied  nation- 
wide, has  considerable  potential  for  applica- 
tion in  other  areas  of  Africa.  Key  factors  for 
success  include  the  support  of  local  leaders 
for  legal  uses  of  wildlife  with  their  correspon- 
ding commercial  benefits  as  opposed  to  ille- 
gal uses,  and  the  level  of  local  resident  partici- 
pation in  actual  management  efforts. 

Although  this  approach  involving  people's 
participation  and  the  recycling  of  locally  gene- 
rated wildlife  revenues  to  support  local  deve- 
lopment and  resource  management  costs  is 
clearly  pragmatic  and  cost-effective,  expe- 
rience shows  that  most  African  wildlife 
conservation  efforts  still  depend  heavily  on 
outside  funding.  Although  well-intentioned 
and  unquestionably  needed,  this  funding  and 
the  dependence  created  has  often  frustrated 
efforts  to  make  management  more  self-sup- 
portive through  sustainable  uses  of  wildlife.  In 
many  cases,  project  proposals  seek  funds 
that  are  large  so  as  to  be  appealing  to  do- 
nors. However,  in  the  face  of  such  large  fun- 
ding, locally  generated  resources  are  easily 


overlooked  or  not  perceived  as  relevant  to  the 
overall  financing  of  community-based  pro- 
grammes in  wildlife  management.  The  irony 
is  that  projects  based  on  large  overseas 
grants  generally  do  not  lead  to  permanent  so- 
lutions because  such  large  funds  are  not  sus- 
tained indefinitely.  External  inputs  directed  at 
wildlife  management  need  to  be  linked  closely 
with  simultaneous  efforts  to  develop  sustaina- 
ble local  involvement. 

References 

ADIVIADE.  1988.  First  Annual  Planning  Work- 
shop Proceedings,  eds.  Lewis,  D.M., 
Mwenya,  A.N.  &  Kaweche,  G.B.  Chilan- 
ga,  Zambia,  National  Parks  and  Wildlife 
Service. 

Bell,  R.H.V.  &  Clarke,  J.E.  1984.  Funding  and 
financial  control.  In  Bell,  R.H.V.  & 
McShane-Caluzi,  E.,  eds.  Conservation 
and  wildlife  management  in  Africa,  p. 
534-536.  US  Peace  Corps. 

Dala-Clayton,  B.  &  Lewis,  D.M.  1984.  Proc. 
Lupande  Development  Workshop.  Lu- 
saka, Zambia,  Government  Printers. 

Hadley,  M.  1985.  Comparative  aspects  of  land 
use  and  resource  management  in  sa- 
vannah environments.  In  Tothil,  J.E.  & 
Mott,  J.J.,  eds.  Ecology  and  manag- 
ment of  the  world's  savannah's,  p.  142- 
158.  London,  Commonwealth  Agricul- 
tural Bureau. 

Leder-Williams,  N.  1985.  Black  rhino  in  Luang- 
wa  Valley  National  Park.  Oryx,  19:  27- 
34. 

Lewis,  D.M.  1986.  The  Luangwa  Valley  ele- 
phants: toward  developing  a  manage- 
ment policy.  Chilanga,  Zambia,  Natio- 
nal Parks  and  Wildlife  Service. 


23 


Lewis,  D.M.  1988.  Survey  of  perceptions  to- 
ward wildlife  for  two  village  communi- 
ties with  different  exposure  to  a  wildlife 
conservation  project.  ADMADE/NPWS 
Research  Report.  Chilanga,  Zambia, 
National  Parl<s  and  Wildlife  Service. 

Lewis,  D.M.  1989.  a  promise  worth  keeping. 
Animal  Kingdom,  92(4):  58-63. 

Lewis,  D.M.  &  Kaweche,  G.B.  1985.  The 
Luangwa  Valley  of  Zambia:  preserving 
its  future  by  integrated  management. 
Ambio,  14(6):  362-365. 

Lewis,  D.M.,  Kaweche,  G.B.  &  Mwenya,  A.N. 
1989.  Wildlife  conservation  outside  pro- 
tected areas  ~  lessons  from  an  experi- 
ment in  Zambia.  Consen/.  Biol.  (In 
press) 

Marks,  S.A.  1976.  Large  mammals  and  a 
brave  people.  Seattle,  Univ.  of  Was- 
hington Press. 

Mwenya,  A.N.,  Kaweche,  G.B.  &  Lewis,  D.M. 
1 988.  Administrative  Management  Des- 
ign for  game  management  areas  (AD- 
I^ADE).  National  Parks  and  Wildlife  Ser- 
vices of  Zambia.  Lusaka  Zambia,  Go- 
vernment Printers. 

PARKER,  I.S.C.  1984.  Conservation  of  the 
African  elephant.  In  Gumming,  D.H.M. 
&  Jackson,  P.,  eds.  The  status  and 
conservation  of  Africa's  elephants  and 
rhino's.  Proc.  Joint  Meeting  of 
lUCNISSC  African  Elephant  and  Rhino 
Specialist  Groups  at  Hwange  Safari 
Lodge,  Zimbabwe,  30  July  -  7  August 
1981.  Gland,  Switzerland. 

Swift,  J.  1 982.  The  future  of  African  hunter-ga- 
therer and  pastoral  peoples.  Develop- 
ment and  change,  13(2):  159-181. 

Willis,  A.J.  1985.  An  introduction  to  the  history 
of  Central  Africa.  Fourth  ed.  Oxford, 
UK,  Oxford  Univ.  Press. 


*  Dale  M.  Lewis  is  technical  adviser  to  the 
Zambia  National  Parks  and  Wildlife  Service, 
and  Coordinator  of  the  Zambia  Wildlands  and 
Human  Needs  Programme.  Ackim  Mwenya 
is  Deputy-Director  of  the  Zambia  National 
Parks  and  Wildlife  Sen/ice,  and  Co-Adminis- 
trator of  the  Zambia  Wildland  Management 
and  Human  Needs  Development  Project.  Gil- 
son  B.  Kaweche  is  Chief  Wildlife  research  Of- 
ficer of  the  Zambia  National  Parks  and  Wildlife 
Service,  and  Co-Administrator  of  the  Zambia 
Wildland  Management  and  Human  Needs 
Development  Project. 


Article  culled  from  Unasylva  ,  Vol.  41 , 
n°161,pp.  11-20 


24 


NOTES  ON  THE  DUIKERS  OF 
SIERRA  LEONE 


(voir  traduction  page  61) 


by  V.J.  Wilson  and  B.LP.  Wilson^ 


ABSTRACT 


INTRODUCTION 


A  brief  expedition  to  Sierra  Leone,  West 
Africa,  In  December  1988  as  part  of  the  Pan 
African  Decade  of  Duiker  Research  pro- 
gramme (1985-1994),  produced  very  positive 
results.  At  the  time  our  visit  was  planned,  no 
scientific  specimens  of  Jentink's  duiker,  Ce- 
phalophus  jentinki  had  been  obtained  in  the 
country  and  while  there  was  some  indication 
that  the  species  still  existed  in  Sierra  Leone 
there  was  considerable  doubt  concerning  its 
status.  The  survey  confirmed  the  discovery 
by  Davies  and  Birkenhager  in  September 
1988  of  the  presence  of  a  viable  population  in 
the  Western  Area  Forest  Reserve  on  the  Free- 
town Peninsula.  A  number  of  pairs  of  horns 
of  Jentink's  duiker  were  also  obtained  from  a 
local  hunter.  This  important  discovery  of 
such  a  rare  and  endangered  species  so  close 
to  the  capital  city  of  Freetown  is  of  tremen- 
dous importance.  The  area  also  supports  at 
least  three  and  probably  four  other  forest  dui- 
ker species,  plus  other  forest  wildlife,  and 
should  now  be  considered  for  National  Park 
status.  Notes  on  the  nine  duiker  species  of 
Sierra  Leone  are  also  recorded. 

NDLR:  The  cover  picture  shows  a  Jentink's  duiker  photogra- 
phed by  Mr  VJ.  Wilson  at  Gladys  Porter  Zoo,  Brownsville,  Texas 


One  of  the  objectives  of  the  Pan  African 
Decade  of  Duiker  Research  (1985-1994)  pro- 
gramme initiated  by  the  Chipangali  Wildlife 
Trust  in  Zimbabwe  is  to  carry  out  detailed  sur- 
veys in  as  many  evergreen  forests  of  Africa  as 
possible,  in  order  to  establish  as  much  as 
possible  on  the  distribution  and  status  of 
some  of  the  rarer  duikers  on  the  continent. 

As  Wilson  (1987)  has  pointed  out  effective 
conservation  plans  for  the  preservation  and 
utilisation  of  the  rainforests  and  the  fauna  and 
flora  found  in  them  must  first  be  preceeded 
by  detailed  surveys. 

The  Chipangali  Wildlife  Trust  in  Zimbabwe 
is  at  present  deeply  committed  to  such  sur- 
veys and  as  a  result  is  involved  in  survey  pro- 
jects in  a  number  of  countries  in  Africa. 

Tropical  evergreen  forests  and  other  tropi- 
cal ecosystems  will  only  be  truly  secure  when 
the  people  who  make  a  living  from  them  are 
able  to  substantially  produce  more  food  and 
other  goods  than  they  themselves  need. 
Sound  information  on  critical  areas  is  essen- 
tial while  we  still  have  moist  tropical  rainfo- 
rests left  (Wilson  1987).  It  is  with  this  objec- 
tive in  mind  that  an  Action  Plan  for  Duiker 
Conservation   was   compiled    in    December 


25 


1987  by  the  senior  author  together  with  the 
lUCN  in  Gland,  Switzerland.  One  of  the  coun- 
tries for  which  detailed  information  was  requi- 
red was  Sierra  Leone.  Wilson  (1987)  points 
out  that  Jentink's  duiker  and  Ogilby's  duiker 
were  perhaps  the  rarest  and  least  known  of  all 
the  antelopes  of  the  West  African  rainforests, 
and  that  their  secretive  habits  and  the  dense 
habitats  in  which  they  lived,  made  them  very 
difficult  to  study.  These  species  could  well 
disappear  before  we  even  know  anything  of 
their  behaviour  and  ecology  (Wilson  1987). 

The  Red  Data  Book  draft  3  (November 
1984)  dealing  with  Jentink's  duiker  stated  that 
"A  survey  is  needed  to  more  accurately  deter- 
mine distribution  and  status  with  a  view  to  re- 
commending conservation  strategies". 

Several  duiker  species  along  with  Jentink's 
duiker  may  be  in  danger  of  extinction.  It  is 
anticipated  that  the  Pan  African  Decade  of 
Duiker  Research  will  provide  new  data  neces- 
sary for  the  correct  CITES  and  Red  Data  Book 
listings.  However  the  primary  goal  of  the  sur- 
vey is  to  promote  the  conservation  of  the  Afri- 
can duikers  especially  as  commercial  hunting 
for  "bush-meat"  is  increasing  and  massive  ha- 
bitat destruction  is  widespread. 

Wilson  (1987)  together  with  several  au- 
thors, Jones  (1966),  Davies  (1987),  etc.,  have 
discussed  the  possibility  of  the  occurrence  of 
Jentink's  duiker  in  Sierra  Leone  but  as  no  ac- 
tual specimen  records  existed  anywhere  it 
was  impossible  to  establish  if  they  did  in  fact 
occur  in  the  country. 

It  was  always  the  intention  of  the  survey 
team  to  visit  Sierra  Leone  (Wilson  1987)  in  or- 
der to  establish  if  Jentink's  duiker  occurred  in 
the  country  and  the  opportunity  presented  it- 
self in  April  1988  when  Mr.  John  Waugh  of  the 
Sierra  Leone  Conservation  Society  wrote  to 
the  senior  author  with  the  following  informa- 
tion: "In  the  course  of  investigation  of  the  re- 


sources of  the  Western  Area  Forest  Reserve, 
I  have  found  a  strong  indication  that  a  popula- 
tion of  Jentink's  duiker  still  exists  in  the  moun- 
tains of  the  Reserve".  He  went  on  to  indicate 
that  the  "Rugged  mountainous  terrain  makes 
this  large  area  virtually  inaccessible  and  this  is 
where  the  Jentink's  duiker  are  reported  to 
live". 

Mr.  Samuel  Musa-Jambawai  also  of  the 
Conservation  Society  of  Sierra  Leone  then  ar- 
ranged for  the  authors  to  visit  Sierra  Leone  in 
December  1988  in  order  to  establish  if  Jen- 
tink's duiker  did  in  fact  occur  in  the  Western 
Area  Forest  Reserve  on  the  Freetown  Penin- 
sula. 

In  the  same  letter  Mr.  S.  Musa-Jambawai 
reported  that  he  had  personally  shot  and  kil- 
led a  male  Jentik's  duiker  in  the  Gola  Forest  in 
1 960.  It  was  one  of  two  which  he  saw.  This 
was  therefore  the  first  positive  record  of  the 
presence  of  the  species  in  Sierra  Leone.  The 
first  conclusive  evidence  of  Jentink's  duiker  in 
Sierra  Leone  was  obtained  by  Davies  and  Bir- 
kenhager  (in  press)  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
Freetown  Peninsula  in  September  1988. 

In  the  "Handbook  of  Sierra  Leone"  publis- 
hed by  Goddard  (1925)  he  states:  In  regard  to 
antelopes,  no  less  than  fourteen  different  spe- 
cies are  found  in  Sierra  Leone,  the  duiker  fa- 
mily (Cephalophus)  being  particularly  well 
represented,  as  can  be  seen  from  the  follo- 
wing list: 

Yellow-backed  duiker     (Cephalophus  sylvicultor) 

Red-flanked  duiker  (Cephalophus  rufilatus) 

Banded  duiker  (Cephalophus  doriae) 
Maxwell's  duiker  (Cephalophus  maxwelli) 

Jentink's  duiker  (Cephalophus  jentinki) 

Black  duiker  (Cephalophus  niger) 

Bay  duiker  (Cephalophus  dorsaiis) 


26 


Ogilby's  duiker 

Royal  antelope 

Waterbuck 

Buff  on 's  kob 

Bongo 

Lesser  bushbuck  or 

harness  antelope 

Water-chivrotain 


(Cephalophus  ogilbyi) 
(Nectragus  pygmoeus) 
(Cobus  defassa  unctuosus) 

(Cobus  kob) 

(Tragelaphus  euryceros) 

(Tragelaphus  scrlptus  typicus) 
(Dorcatherium  aquatlcum) 


Of  the  eight  representatives  of  the  Cepha- 
lophine  enumerated  above  by  far  the  commo- 
nest are  the  Black  duil<er  and  Maxwell's  dui- 
ker (the  "bush  goat"  and  the  fritambu  of  the 
Creoles),  which  are  found  everywhere  in  Sier- 
ra Leone  where  there  is  plenty  of  cover,  prefe- 
rably forest  undergrowth.  The  handsome  little 
Red-flanked  duiker  is  also  common  in  most 
areas  In  the  north  of  the  country.  The  remai- 
ning five  species  are  rare  and  are  seldom 
seen  by  Europeans,  skins  however,  occasio- 
nally come  into  their  possession,  the  beautiful 
Banded  duiker's  skin  being  particularly  pri- 
zed. 

Then  Stanley  (1928)  copied  word  for  word 
the  data  given  by  Goddard  (1925)  and  even 
gave  the  same  list  of  animals.  However  there 
is  one  important  difference  in  that  Goddard 
(1925)  says:  "By  far  the  commonest  are  the 
Black  duiker  and  the  Maxwell's  duiker",  while 
Stanley  (1928)  says:  "Of  the  eight  repre- 
sentatives of  the  family  Cephalophinae,  Max- 
well's duiker  and  Jentink's  duiker  are  quite 
common". 

Stanley  (op.  cit.),  goes  on  to  say:  'The  shif- 
ting system  of  cultivation  under  which  land, 
after  being  cleared  for  crops,  is  then  allowed 
to  lie  fallow  for  five  or  six  years  until  dense 
and  almost  impenetrable  forest  regrowth  has 
become  re-established,  affords  admirable 
protection  for  these  two  forest  duiker.  In  fact 


the  only  way  by  which  it  Is  possible  to  hunt 
them,  and  also  some  of  the  far  rarer  duikers 
mentioned  above.  Is  by  calling  them,  at  which 
a  few  native  hunters  are  adept". 

Thus  from  the  data  presented  above  It 
would  appear  that  in  the  1928  article  by  Stan- 
ley the  word  "Jentink's"  should  perhaps  read 
"Black"  and  it  Is  possible  that  in  the  produc- 
tion of  the  paper  the  error  occurred. 

Many  years  later  Montague  (1959)  in  a  re- 
vised edition  of  'The  Sierra  Leone  Handbook", 
Chapter  III  (Mammals),  says:  "In  the  forest 
and  farm  bush  Maxwell's  Grey  Duiker  Cepha- 
lophus maxwelli,  which  is  a  greyish  brown,  is 
the  commonest,  and  in  the  savannah  and  the 
farm  bush  on  its  edges  the  Red-flanked  Dui- 
ker, C.  rufilatus,  which  is  rufous  with  a  broad 
grey  band  down  the  back.  The  only  other 
common  duiker  is  the  Black  duiker,  C.  niger, 
locally  called  'Bush  goaf  which  is  dark  brown 
in  colour  and  a  forest  Inhabitant.  Amongst 
the  several  rarer  duikers  the  Banded  duiker, 
C.  zebra,  found  only  In  the  Goia  forest  area 
and  neighbouring  Liberia,  is  the  most  striking 
as  it  is  pale  rufous  with  about  a  dozen  very 
distinct  wide  black  bands  across  its  back  and 
down  Its  flanks". 

There  Is  no  mention  whatsoever  of  the 
Jentink's  duiker  in  his  paper.  Jones  (1966)  in 
his  "Notes  on  the  Commoner  Sierra  Leone 
Mammals"  gives  again,  word  for  word,  the 
same  data  on  duikers  as  given  by  Montague 
(1959).  However  he  did  give  some  additional 
data  and  again  I  quote  him  in  full:  "However, 
the  writer  has  not  been  able  to  find  any  defi- 
nite records  of,  nor  did  he  come  across  Jen- 
tink's Duiker,  Cephalophus  jentinkl  or  Ogil- 
gy's  Duiker,  Cephalophus  ogilbyi,  and  no 
specimens  exist  from  Sierra  Leone  in  the  Bri- 
tish Museum  of  Natural  History  in  London". 

Jones  (pers.  comm.),  who  spent  many 
years  in  Sierra  Leone,  never  ever  heard  of  or 


27 


came  across  Jentink's  duiker.  He  also  says  In 
correspondence  with  tlie  authors,  "If  Jentink's 
duiker  had  been  common  the  army  officers  at 
Daru  who  did  a  lot  of  hunting  in  the  West 
around  Stanley's  time  and  sent  specimens  to 
the  British  Museum  (Natural  History)  would 
surely  have  come  across  it". 

Toboku-Metzger  (1979)  briefly  mentions 
Jentink's  duiker  In  Sierra  Leone  but  no  posi- 
tive or  original  data  Is  given.  Robinson  (1971) 
says:  "Jentink's  duiker  {Cephalophus  Jentin- 
ki)  which  has  the  most  restricted  range  of  all 
existing  Cephalophinae  is  another  West  Afri- 
can species  found  only  in  Eastern  Liberia  and 
the  Western  Ivory  Coast,  where  Its  distribution 


is  centred  on  the  Cavally  river".  Again  Robin- 
son (1971)  was  merely  quoting  Kuhn  (1965). 
Wilkinson  (1974)  lists  Abott's  duiker  {Cephalo- 
phus spadix)  in  his  list  of  Sierra  Leone  mam- 
mals. This  Is  clearly  erroneous  and  It  should 
doubtless  read  Yellow-backed  duiker  (C.  syl- 
vicultor)  as  presumably  Wilkinson  would  not 
have  had  any  reason  to  suppose  that  Jen- 
tink's duiker  was  present. 


STUDY  AREA 


Sierra  Leone     (General) 


The  Republic  of 
Sierra  Leone  lies  be- 
tween Guinea  and  Li- 
beria along  the  Atlan- 
tic Coast  and  is  one 
of  the  smallest  coun- 
tries in  Africa.  It  Is 
the  fifth  most  densely 
populated  country 
south  of  the  Sahara 
with  a  population  of 
over  four  million  inha- 
bitants. The  country 
Is  approximately 

28,000  sq.  miles 
(72,600  sq  km) 
consisting  of  plains 
and  rolling  hills,  with 
over  50%  of  the 
country  having  clima- 
tic conditions  which 
favour  moist  ever- 
green forests.  Howe- 
ver today  less  than 
5%  of  Sierra  Leone  is 


28 


still  covered  with  primary  rainforest,  while 
about  55%  Is  covered  with  farm  bush  (trees 
less  than  10  metres  tall)  and  there  is  another 
4%  of  secondary  rainforest  (Davies  1987). 
While  much  of  the  land  is  not  arable,  especial- 
ly in  the  Northern  and  Central  areas,  agricul- 
ture Is,  and  always  was,  a  predominant  activi- 
ty, with  at  least  80%  of  the  population  enga- 
ged in  subsistence  farming.  The  methods 
used  are  of  the  Swidden  type  -  cut,  burn  and 
then  move  on.  There  are  extensive  mangrove 
swamps  along  the  coast  and  in  the  river  es- 
tuaries and  creeks,  while  vast  lowland  plains 
cover  almost  half  the  country.  In  the  East  and 
North-east  the  plateau  country  rises  to  about 
1 ,220  metres  above  sea  level  with  some  areas 
in  the  Loma  and  Tingi  Mountains  rising  to 
above  1 ,830  metres. 

About  200  years  ago  three  quarters  of 
Sierra  Leone  was  covered  with  primary  and 
derived  forests,  but  by  about  1 826  large  areas 
were  being  felled  to  meet  the  timber  needs  of 
Britain.  In  addition  the  forests  were  being  fel- 
led for  cultivation  by  local  farmers. 

Today  there  are  very  few  large  areas  of 
Primary  forest  and  the  remaining  high  forest 
of  the  Gola  extends  into  Liberia. 
There  are  also  several  large 
patches  of  high  forest  in  the  re- 
mote mountainous  area  of  Loma 
and  Tingi  which  are,  fortunately, 
protected  Forest  Reserves.  The 
Pygmy  hippopotamus  {Cheropsis 
liberiensis),  one  of  West  Africa's 
unique  species,  still  occurs  in  se- 
veral areas  in  Sierra  Leone.  The 
beautiful  Zebra  (or  Banded)  duiker 
is  present  in  the  Gola  forests  and 
perhaps  in  a  few  other  areas.  Un- 
fortunately it  Is  often  hunted  for  its 
skin  and  meat.  Bongo  {Boocerus 
eurycerus)  is  restricted  to  a  few  fo- 


rest areas  and  there  are  still  large  numbers  of 
many  species  of  monkeys. 

Chimpanzees  still  occur  in  many  areas, 
but  their  numbers  have  been  reduced  consi- 
derably. Perhaps  the  duikers  and  monkeys 
form  the  bulk  of  the  "bush-meat"  trade,  much 
of  which  is  dried  and  exported  to  Liberia. 
Thousands  of  duikers  and  monkeys  are  killed 
each  year.  While  it  is  known  that  the  elephant 
and  many  other  mammal  species  still  occur  in 
the  country,  there  is  no  official  checklist  or  at- 
las of  the  mammals  of  Sierra  Leone.  Howe- 
ver, more  details  of  the  mammals  of  Sierra 
Leone  can  be  found  in:  Davies  (1987),  Grubb 
(1988),  Happold  (1973  &1987),  Jones  (1966), 
Lowes  (1970),  Teleki  and  Baldwin  (1981)  and 
Merz(1986). 


Western  Area  Forest  Reserve 
(Freetown  Peninsula) 

The  Western  Area  Forest  Reserve  lies 
south  of  Freetown  on  the  Peninsula  and 
consists  of  a  rugged  majestic  ridge  of  fores- 
ted mountains  in  some  places  up  to  915  me- 


29 


ed  majestic  ridge  of  forested  mountains  in 
some  places  up  to  915  metres  above  sea  le- 
vel. These  mountains  are  unique  along  the 
West  African  Coast,  with  the  only  other  range 
being  in  Cameroon  (Toboku-Metzger  1979). 

The  forests  of  the  Peninsula,  which  are  es- 
sential for  the  protection  of  Freetown's  water 
supply  have  been  exploited  for  a  great  many 
years  and  the  cutting  of  trees  continues  una- 
bated. 

This  beautiful  and  accessible  mountain 
range  is  of  tremendous  importance  and  unfor- 
tunately very  little  has  ever  been  written 
concerning  the  Wildlife  of  the  Area.  (Map 
page  28).  In  addition  to  several  species  of 
duiker  and  the  bush  buck,  {Tragelaphus 
scriptus)  there  is  evidence  of  the  presence  of 
Diana  monkeys  {Cercopithecus  diana),  and 
the  rare  Yellow-headed  Picathartes  {Pica- 
thartes  gymnocephalus). 

METHODS 

This  preliminary  survey  of  the  duikers  of 
Sierra  Leone  took  place  in  December  1988. 
During  the  survey  two  trips  were  made  to  the 
Freetown  Peninsula  where  a  number  of  Afri- 
can hunters  and  forestry  rangers  were  inter- 
viewed concerning  the  duikers  in  the  area. 

Hunters  found  with  fresh  or  dried  duiker 
meat  or  with  duiker  skins  were  also  questio- 
ned and  a  discussion  with  the  owner  of  a  lo- 
cal hotel  at  which  a  young  Bay  duiker  was  lo- 
cated also  took  place.  Two  field  trips  were 
made  into  the  forest  on  the  peninsula  during 
which  time  details  of  duiker  droppings  and 
tracks  were  noted. 

In  addition  an  extended  vehicle  journey 
was  undertaken  which  took  us  to  several  fo- 
rest areas  In  Sierra  Leone  and  duiker  tracks 


and  droppings  which  were  seen  during  the 
trips  were  noted. 

A  record  was  also  kept  of  all  dead  duiker 
found  being  sold  along  the  main  roads  or 
found  in  the  possession  of  hunters.  A  detai- 
led discussion  was  also  held  with  Dr.  Sitter, 
an  animal  trapper,  who  has  lived  in  Sierra 
Leone  for  many  years. 

Finaly,  a  considerable  amount  of  data  on 
the  distribution  and  status  of  the  duikers  of 
Sierra  Leone  was  provided  by  Mr.  Samuel 
Musa-Jambawai,  our  companion  and  guide 
for  the  entire  period.  Samuel  had  worked  in 
the  Forestry  Department  in  a  senior  position 
for  many  years  and  was  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  forests  and  wildlife  of  the  country. 

RESULTS 

Maxwell's  duiker  {Cephalophus 
maxwelli) 

This  species  appeared  to  be  the  most 
common  antelope  in  Sierra  Leone  and  was 
positively  recorded  from  all  areas  visited,  i.e. 
Gola  Forest,  Tiwai  Island,  Western  Area  Fo- 
rest Reserve,  Makali/Masingbi  area,  Bo  area 
and  the  area  between  Yonibana  and  Water- 
loo. 

On  one  day  in  the  Western  Area  Forest  Re- 
serve fresh  tracks  were  seen  in  several  areas, 
four  freshly  dressed  carcasses  were  exami- 
ned which  were  in  the  possession  of  a  hunter 
on  his  way  to  sell  the  fresh  meat  at  a  holiday 
resort,  and  five  flat  dry  skins  were  observed  in 
the  possession  of  another  hunter.  The  hunter 
with  the  fresh  carcasses  also  showed  us  the 
skulls  of  the  animals  and  Indicated  that  all  four 
had  ben  shot  that  morning.  He  also  reported 
that  he  had  shot  another  two  the  day  before. 


30 


on  his  head  contained  eight  Maxwell's  duiker 
and  about  twenty  monkeys  of  various  spe- 
cies. 

Also  on  the  road  between  Waterloo  and 
Yonibana  two  approaching  vehicles  were 
seen  to  have  unskinned  Maxwell's  duiker  car- 
casses tied  to  the  radiator  grilles.  Davies 
(1987)  says  that  Maxwell's  duikers  is  ubiqui- 
tous in  the  forested  region  of  Sierra  Leone 
where  it  is  the  commonest  species.  It  is  also 
very  common  on  Tiwai  Island  in  the  Moa  Ri- 
vfir.  Fresh  dressed  Maxwell's  duiker  car- 
casses in  the  Freetown  Peninsula  area  fet- 
ched a  price  which  varied  between  Leones 
200  (US$2.5)  and  Leones  500  (US$6.25) 
each.  The  Mende  name  for  Maxwell's  duiker 
is  tuwuolo,  and  the  Creoles  call  it  fritambu. 
The  skins  are  also  used  to  cover  drums. 


Bay  Duiker  {Cephalophus  dorsalis) 

Only  a  single  positive  record  of  the  occur- 
rence of  this  duiker  of  Sierra  Leone  was  obtai- 
ned during  our  visit.  A  sub-adult  male  was 
photographed  in  captivity  at  the  Africana  To- 
key  Village  on  the  Freetown  Peninsula.  It  was 
in  superb  condition  and  the  bright  red  coat 
was  very  glossy  and  silky.  It  had  a  broad 
black  stripe  on  the  back  from  the  tail  to  the 
neck.  The  animal  was  apparently  brought  to 
the  owners  of  the  hotel  as  a  tiny  baby  which 
was  then  reared.  It  had  come  from  the  Wes- 
tern Area  Forest  Reserve. 

Tracks  of  a  duiker,  which  appeared  to  be 
of  an  immature  Bay  duiker,  were  seen  on  the 
Tiwai  Island  but  could  not  be  positively  identi- 
fied. It  is  extremely  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  distinguish  between  the  tracks  of  young 
and  half  grown  duikers  of  the  different  spe- 
cies. According  to  the  researchers  working 
on  the  island,  the  Red-flanked  aniker  (C.  rufi- 


latus)  was  also  present,  but  again  detailed 
examination  of  a  specimen  would  be  essential 
before  any  conclusion  could  be  drawn.  Ho- 
wever, the  Bay  duiker  has  been  positively 
identified  In  the  Gola  Forest  (Davies  1987). 


Black  duiker  {Cephalophus  niger) 

Two  dried  feet  of  this  species  were  seen  in 
a  market  in  Freetown  and  a  large  dried  skin  of 
a  female  was  found  in  the  possession  of  a 
hunter  in  the  Western  Area  Forest  Reserve. 
He  was  on  his  way  to  Waterloo  to  sell  the 
skin.  He  claimed  to  have  shot  the  animal  on 
the  Peninsula  near  the  village  of  Kent.  This 
species  was  reported  by  hunters  to  occur  in 
the  Gola  Forest  but  none  was  actually  seen 
(Davies  1987).  While  Jones  (1966)  recorded 
Black  duiker  as  fairly  common  in  Sierra 
Leone,  it  is  thought  that  this  information  was 
not  based  on  original  data  but  merely  extrac- 
ted from  the  paper  by  Montague  (1959). 


Yellow-backed  duiker 

(Cephalophus  sylclcultor) 

Fresh  tracks  of  a  Yellow-backed  duiker 
were  seen  in  the  forest  near  Makali/Masingbi 
and  a  skull  of  a  very  old  female  was  shown  to 
us  on  Tiwai  Island  where  this  species  is  appa- 
rently common.  Dr  Sitter,  an  animal  dealer 
near  Waterloo,  indicated  that  the  species  was 
common  in  the  Western  Area  Forest  Reserve. 
However,  we  did  not  record  the  species  from 
the  area  during  our  visit  but  a  very  large  dui- 
ker spoor  was  seen  on  three  occasions  in  the 
forests  which  could  have  been  Yellow-backed 
duiker  or  perhaps  Jentink's  duiker.  There  was 
also  evidence  of  the  species  in  the  TonkolikI 


31 


district  and  several  otiier  areas.    The  Mende 
name  for  the  Yellow-backed  duiker  is  ngulei. 


Jentink's  duiker  {Cephalophus 
jentinki) 

The  main  reason  for  our  visit  to  Sierra 
Leone  was  to  establish  the  positive  presence 
of  this  duiker  in  the  country.  (This  was  in  fact 
established  shortly  before  our  visit,  by  Davies 
and  Birkenhager  in  press).  We  were  taken  di- 
rectly to  a  village  in  the  Southern  part  of  Free- 
town Peninsula  where  a  hunter  was  reported 
to  have  shot  three  Jentink's  duiker  during 
1988.  On  being  questioned  about  the  species 
he  explained  exactly  what  it  looked  like,  even 
though  we  did  not  prompt  him  to  describe  the 
animal  to  us.  He  then  produced  a  pair  of 
horns  of  an  immature  Jentink's  duiker  and  a 
splendid  horn  of  a  large  animal  (possibly  a 


HORNS/CORNES 

Specimen 

Specimen 

Specimen 

Specimen 

N'l 

^2 

N'S 

N''4 

I  horn/ 

2  Horns/ 

1  Horn/ 

2  Horns/ 

Corne 

Cornes 

Corne 

Cornes 

mm 

mm 

mm 

mm 

Greatest  Length 
Longeur  Maximum 

202 

IA7  &  144 

182 

212  &  212 

Diameter  at  base 
Diamfetr*  k   la 

28  X  26 

29  X  26 

25  X  23 

30  X  28 

base 

HORN  CORES 

PART IE  CENTRALE 

Greatest  Length 
Longeur  maximum 

- 

- 

- 

154  X  159 

Diameter  at  base 

Diametre  h   la 
base 

- 

- 

- 

25  X  25 
25  X  25 

Table  1  :  Measurements  of  Jentink's  Duiker  Horns  from  Sierra  Leone 

Tableau  1  :  Dimensions  des  cornes  de  Cephalophe  de  Jentink  de 

Sierra  Leone  ,  ,     ,  .  ^ 

: e  Hijj  b  be>;*  »iai>'  bo  f 


male).  Details  of  horns  are  given  in  Table  1 
below,  which  includes  the  ones  given  to  us  by 
Dr.  Davies. 

A  couple  of  days  later  the  same  hunter 
produced  a  pile  of  Jenink's  duiker  droppfngs 
which  he  had  collected  that  day  in  the  forest 
and  we  are  able  to  positively  identify  them. 
Droppings  of  captive  Jentink's  duiker  from 
Brownsville  Zoo  In  Texas  were  studied  in  de- 
tail, so  we  were  thoroughly  familiar  with  the 
droppings  of  the  species.  The  hunter  indica- 
ted that  the  species  occurred  in  several 
places  on  the  peninsula  but  they  were  not 
common.  He  also  explained  that  neither  he 
nor  any  other  hunter  in  Sierra  Leone  knew  the 
animal  as  Jentink's  duiker.  According  to  Mr. 
Samuel  Musa-Jambawai  the  Mende  name  for 
the  Jentink's  duiker  is  Kaikulowulei  (or  Squir- 
rel Coloured  duiker)  and  the  Creole  name  is 
dikidiki,  which  is  the  name  used  In  Freetown 
Peninsula.  There  is  also  an  unconfirmed  re- 
port of  Jentink's 
duiker  from  near 
Songo  which  is 
only  about  50  km 
from  Freetown. 
The  hunter  who 
gave  us  the  horns 
of  the  Jentink's 
duiker  indicated 
that  at  night  the 
species  move 
down  from  the 
hills  into  the  farm- 
bush  where  It  is 
then  shot.  He  al- 
so reported  that  it 
will  go  onto  the 
beach  at  night 
and  even  right  to 
the  sea  to  lick  the 
salt      from      the 


32 


sand.  Tracks  were  often  seen  on  the  beach 
by  hunters.  The  species  is  supposedly  very 
nocturnal  and  in  the  Western  Area  Forest  Re- 
serve all  the  specimens  were  shot  at  night. 
However  Samuel  Musa-Jambawai  indicated 
that  he  had  shot  the  one  in  Gola  Forest  in 
1960  in  daylight,  at  about  10.00  a.m.  Dr  Sit- 
ter, the  animal  dealer  near  Freetown,  said  he 
reared  a  baby  Jentink's  duiker  about  fifteen 
years  ago  and  later  sold  it  to  another  animal 
dealer  for  export  to  the  U.S.A.  He  Indicated 
that  when  he  first  obtained  the  animal  he 
thought  it  was  a  baby  Yellow-backed  duiker. 
It  was  only  when  it  matured  that  he  realised  it 
was  a  Jentink's  duiker. 


Two  additional  pairs  of  horns  of  this  spe- 
cies were  given  to  us  by  Dr  Glyn  Davies  from 
Kenema.  The  horns  were  also  obtained  in  the 
Western  Area  Forest  Reserve  some  months 
before  our  arrival  and  full  credit  should  go  to 
Dr  Davies  for  being  the  first  person  to  record 
the  presence  of  the  species  in  the  Freetown 
Peninsula  area.  A  much  more  detailed  report 
of  the  distribution  of  the  species  in  Sierra 
Leone  has  been  written  by  Dr  Davies  (Davies 
and  Birkenhager  in  press).  One  pair  of  horns 
given  to  us  by  Dr  Davies  is  exceptionally  long 
and  measures  212  mm.  (Plate  1) 


cm 
20 

"hs 

10 
5 

'  0 


Specimen  No.  4 


Specimen 
No.  I 


Specimen 
No.  J 


Specimen  No.  2 


PLATE  1  Jentink's  duiker  horns  collected  on  Freetown  Peninsula,  Sierra  Leone. 
PLANCHE  1  Cornes  de  cdphalophes  de  Jentink  provenant  de  la  P6ninsule  de  Freetown. 


33 


Zebra  duiker  {Cephalophus  zebra) 

There  was  no  sign  of  this  animal  during 
our  visit  to  Sierra  Leone  but  it  has  been  positi- 
vely reported  from  the  Gola  Forest  area  (Da- 
vies  1987).  Mr  Sam  Musa-Jambawai  indica- 
ted that  about  ten  years  ago  Zebra  duiker 
skins  were  common  in  the  villages  in  the  East 
of  Sierra  Leone.  He  also  felt  the  species  was 
far  less  shy  than  Jentink's  duiker  and  there  is 
also  the  suggestion  that  it  may  still  occur  in 
the  Western  Area  Forest  Reserve  (Sitter, 
pers.comm.). 


Grey  (Crowned)  duiker  {Sylvicapra 
grimmia) 


Philipson  (1978)  reported  the  presence  of 
the  Grey  duiker  in  the  Outamba-Ducata  area, 
on  the  Freetown  Peninsula  and  also  in  the  Lo- 
ma  Mountains.  While  it  most  probably  does 
exist  in  the  Savannah  Woodlands  of  the  North 
of  Sierra  Leone  and  even  in  the  montane 
grasslands  of  the  Loma  Mountains  it  is  unlike- 
ly to  occur  on  the  Freetown  Peninsula. 


Red-flanked  duiker  {Cephalophus 
rufilatus) 


DISCUSSION   AND 
CONCLUSION 


No  positive  evidence  of  its  occurrence  in 
Sierra  Leone  was  obtained  during  our  visit  but 
no  doubt  it  still  exists  in  Northern  Savanna 
zone  of  Sierra  Leone.  It  could  also  possibly 
occur  on  Tiwai  Island  (see  data  under  Bay 
duiker). 


Ogilby's  duiker  {Cephalophus 
ogilby) 


There  is  Very  little  evidence  of  the  pre- 
sence of  this  species  in  Sierra  Leone  and 
Jones  (1966)  was  unable  to  obtain  any  defi- 
nite records  of  the  species  in  the  country. 
There  is  some  suggestion  that  it  occurs  in  the 
country  (Phillipson  1978  and  Honacki,  et  al 
1982).  Positive  proof  of  its  existence  in  Sierra 
Leone  is  provided  by  a  museum  specimen 
(Groves,  cited  by  Grubb  1988). 


The  possible  presence  of  the  nine  species 
of  duiker  in  Sierra  Leone  gives  some  indica- 
tion of  the  importance  of  this  groupe  of  ani- 
mals in  the  country.  It  is  of  great  significance 
and  importance  that  Jentink's  duiker  still 
exists  in  the  Western  Area  Forest  Reserve  on 
the  Freetown  Peninsula  together  with  the  Bay, 
Black,  Maxwell's  and  Yellow-backed  duikers 
which  makes  the  area  one  of  incredible  im- 
portance. While  it  is  certain  that  at  least  four 
and  probably  five  duiker  species  occur  on  the 
Peninsula  there  is  still  the  possibility  of  Zebra 
and  other  duikers  also  occurring  there.  For 
such  a  small  area,  this  is  quite  remarkable 
and  consequently  the  area  should  be  properly 
protected.  The  value  of  a  single  Jentink's  dui- 
ker is  extremely  high  and  the  fact  that  it  still 
occurs  in  such  a  heavily  populated  area  sug- 
gests that  they  have  the  ability  to  survive  un- 
der great  pressure  or  that  it  has  moved  into  a 
most  inacessible  part  of  the  mountains.  Wha- 
tever the  reason  the  Forestry  Department  of 
Sierra  Leone  and  indeed  the  Government  of 


34 


the  country  should  look  very  seriously  at  the 
upgrading  of  the  Western  Area  Forest  Re- 
serve Into  a  National  Park. 

To  have  a  population  of  Jentlnk's  duiker 
and  possibly  other  rare  duikers  so  close  to 
Freetown  could  be  of  considerable  benefit  to 
the  country.  In  addition  to  the  rare  duikers, 
the  Diana  monkey  and  possibly  the  yellow- 
headed  Picathartes  {Picathartes  gymnoce- 
phalus)  also  occur  in  the  Western  Area  Forest 
Reserve. 

Together  with  the  beautiful  white  beaches, 
warm  sea,  closeness  to  Freetown,  cool  ever- 
green forests  and  the  friendly  people,  the 
Western  Area  Forest  Resen/e  could  well  be- 
come an  important  "Wilderness  Area  National 
Park",  where  walking  trails  would  be  very  po- 
pular and  of  great  economic  importance  to 
Sierra  Leone. 

A  very  detailed  survey  of  the  fauna  and  flo- 
ra of  the  area  is  now  essential  to  provide  a 
management  plan.  The  area  could  become 
the  first  National  Park  in  Sierra  Leone,  a  status 
it  well  deserves.  The  authors  intend  returning 
to  Sierra  Leone  in  1991  to  carry  out  a  detailed 
survey.  With  many  rare  species  in  the  Wes- 
tern Area  Forest  Reserve  and  the  fact  that 
much  hunting  takes  place  in  this  non-hunting 
area  rapid  action  is  essential  if  the  rare  spe- 
cies and  the  forests  in  which  they  are  found 
are  to  be  preserved. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

First  and  foremost  our  sincere  thanks  are 
due  to  Mr  Samuel  Musa-Jambawai  for  his 
friendliness  and  support  for  the  entire  period 
of  our  visit  to  Sierra  Leone.  Samuel  attended 
to  our  transport  requirements,  accomodation, 
food  etc.,  and  also  helped  continually  with  the 
questioning  of  the  locals  about  duikers.   We 


could  not  have  done  as  well  as  we  did  without 
his  help  and  he  above  all  located  the  jentlnk's 
duiker  horns  for  us.  Thanks  are  also  due  to 
Dr  Glyn  Davles  for  providing  transport  to  the 
Gola  Forest  and  for  donating  to  us  two  pairs 
of  Jentlnk's  duiker  horns.  We  owe  special 
thanks  to  him  for  allowing  us  to  use  some  of 
his  data.  Dr  S.S.  Banya,  President  of  the  Sier- 
ra Leone  Conservation  Society  also  helped  a 
great  deal  as  did  the  Hon.  Edward  Gbia,  who 
helped  arrange  our  trip  to  Sierra  Leone  and 
who  introduced  us  to  several  cabinet  minis- 
ters and  also  to  His  Excellency  the  President 
of  Sierra  Leone,  Dr  J.S.  Momoh  with  whom 
we  were  able  to  discuss  conservation  mat- 
ters. 

Thanks  are  also  due  to  Mr  A.P.  Koroma, 
the  Chief  Conservator  of  forests,  for  his  sup- 
port and  encouragement. 

Finally  special  thanks  to  Mrs  Paddy  Wil- 
son, wife  of  the  senior  author  for  the  drawing 
of  the  maps.  Mr  Kevin  Wilson  and  Mr  Vau- 
ghan  Southey  kindly  produced  this  paper  on 
the  computer.  Kevin  Wilson  also  kindly  pho- 
tographed the  duiker  horns. 

The  Trustees  of  the  Chipangali  Trust 
should  also  be  thanked  for  providing  funds  for 
the  entire  programme  and  the  cost  of  this 
publication. 


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DAVIES,  A.G.  1987.  The  Gola  Forest  Re- 
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vation and  Forest  Management.   lUCN 


35 


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KUHN,  H.J.  1956.  A  provincial  list  of  mam- 
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log  ica  46(5):  321-340. 

LOWES,  R.H.G.  1970.  Destruction  in  Sierra 
Leone.  Oryx  10:  309-310. 

MERZ,  G.  1986.  The  status  of  the  forest  ele- 
phant Loxondonta  africana  cyclotis, 
Matschie,  1900  in  the  Gola  Forest  Re- 
serves, Sierra  Leone.  Biological 
Conservation  36:  83-94. 

MONTAGUE,  F.A.  1959.  The  Natural  History 
of  Sierra  Leone  (Mammals).  In  Revised 
edition  of  Sierra  Leone  Handbook 
pages  34-52. 

PHILLIPSON,  J.A.  1978.  Wildlife  Conservation 
and  management  in  Sierra  Leone,  pp. 
188  Special  Report  to  MANRF,  Free- 
town. 

ROBINSON,  P.T.  1971.  Wildlife  trends  in  Libe- 
ria and  Sierra  Leone.  Oryx  II:  117-122. 


STANLEY,  W.B.  1928.  Game  preservation  in 
Sierra  Leone.  Sierra  Leone  Studies  1 1 : 
(2-15). 

TOBOKU-METZGER,  D.  1979.  Nature  conser- 
vation in  Sierra  Leone.  African  Wildlife 
News  14  (3):  12-16. 

TELEKI.  G.  &  BALDWIN,  L  1981.  Sierra 
Leone's  Wildlife  Legacy.  Options  for 
Sun^ival.  Zoonoz  54  (10):  21-23. 

WILKINSON,  A.F.  1974.  Areas  to  preserve  in 
Sierra  Leone  Oryx  12  (5):  596-597. 

WILSON,  V.J.  1987.  Pan  African  Decade  of 
Duiker  Research  (1985-1994)  and  the 
Chipangali  Wildlife  Trust,  Bulawayo, 
Zimbabwe. 


Article  culled  from  Arnoldia  Zimbabwe 
Vol.  9,  n°  33,  1990,  pp.  451-462 

*Author's  address: 
Chipangali  Wildlife  Trust 
P.O.  BOX  1057 
Bulawayo,  Zimbabwe 

(NDLR:  Mr  B.LB.  Wilson  died  accidentally 
on  January  91). 


36 


Wildlife  management  for  rural 
development  in  sub-Saharan  Africa 


(voir  traduction  page  70) 


by  E.O.A.  Asibey  and  G.S.  Child' 


The  authors  of  this  article  present  a  criti- 
cal review  of  the  status  of  wildlife  manage- 
ment in  the  sub-Saharan  countries  of  Africa, 
and  suggest  the  approaches  to  ensure  the 
sustainable  utilization  of  this  critical  resource. 

More  tiian  130  million  hectares  in  sub- 
Saharan  Africa  have  been  set  aside  for  wildlife 
conservation.  Extensive  areas  have  also 
been  established  in  which  the  utilization  of 
wildife  resources  is  controlled.  In  addition, 
virtually  every  country  in  the  region  has  hun- 
ting legislation  in  force,  which  is  usually  des- 
igned to  manage  recreational  hunting,  and  as 
a  mechanism  for  raising  revenue,  in  the  form 
of  fees  and  taxes  for  hunting  licences.  Thus, 
wildlife  management  is  recognized  by  govern- 
ments as  a  viable  option  in  the  designation  of 
land  for  various  uses. 

However,  the  actual  and  potential  contri- 
butions of  wildlife  to  rural  economies  and  nu- 
trition as  a  source  of  food  and  an  object  of 
commerce  are  rarely  recognized  officially.  In- 
deed, in  many  countries  these  aspects  are,  to 
a  large  extent,  illegal  by  definition. 

The  urgent  requirement  today  is  for  a 
significant  and  sustained  effort  to  include  the 
evaluation,  development,  management  and 
utilization  of  wild  animals  in  national  plans  for 
socio-economic  development.    The  involve- 


ment of  national  planning  and  financial  institu- 
tions at  all  levels  is  essential  and  assistance 
may  also  be  required  from  competent  interna- 
tional agencies  to  ensure  success.  At  the 
same  time  long-term  sustained  utilization  of 
wildlife  resources  cannot  succeed  without  lo- 
cal people  participating  in  management  and 
receiving  a  fair  share  of  the  benefits  that  ac- 
crue. 

Human  and  animal  populations 

As  a  starting  point  for  an  examination  of 
sub-Saharan  wildlife,  a  brief  review  of  human 
population  trends  and  related  environmental 
factors  is  appropriate,  as  these  exert  funda- 
mental infleunces  on  wildlife  resources. 

Sustained  high  rates  of  population  growth 
characterize  almost  every  country  in  sub- 
Saharan  Africa.  The  associated  urgent  de- 
mand for  increased  food  production  is  lea- 
ding African  farmers  to  shorten  fallow  periods, 
to  try  to  obtain  increased  yields  from  low  ferti- 
lity soils,  and  to  grow  crops  on  marginal  land. 
The  result  is  that  arable  land  is  steadily  being 
degraded.  And,  where  livestocl<  populations 
are  increasing  as  fast  as  and  in  some  areas 
faster  than  the  human  population,  Africa's 
vast  grazing  lands  are  undergoing  similar  des- 


37 


truction.  This  is  especially  true  where  the  loss 
of  traditional  grazing  land  to  crop  production 
intensifies  the  pressure  on  the  remaining  area. 

in  the  drier  parts  of  Africa,  millions  of  hec- 
tares of  grazing  land  and  rangeland  are  threa- 
tened by  overgrazing.  Many  of  the  perennial 
rangeland  grasses  are  being  replaced  by  nu- 
tritionally poorer  annual  ones,  threatening  to 
impair  permanently  the  rangeland's  potential 
for  recovery,  and  decrease  its  carrying  capa- 
city. As  the  vegetation  has  been  removed  or 
reduced,  the  wind  has  also  wfnnowed  out  the 
small  amount  of  silt  that  the  soil  contains,  re- 
ducing its  ability  to  retain  moisture. 

Sub-Saharan  Africa's  forests  and  woo- 
dlands are  also  being  depleted;  an  area  of 
nearly  four  million  ha  is  being  deforested  or 
degraded  annually,  largely  in  humid  and 
sub-humid  West  Africa.  The  main  cause  of 
deforestation  is  clearing  for  agriculture,  but 
uncontrolled  logging,  gathering  for  fuelwood, 
fire  and  overgrazing  are  also  taking  their  toll. 
It  was  estimated  that  deforestation  rates  in 


tropical  Africa  exceeded  planting  rates  by  a 
factor  of  29  to  1  in  the  period  1975-1980  (Lan- 
ly,  1982). 

Of  course,  these  rangelands  and  forests 
are  also  the  habitat  for  wild  animals.  Drastic 
changes  in  habitat  such  as  those  at  present 
being  experienced  in  Africa  lead  inexorably  to 
changes  in  species  composition  and  diversity 
and  may  have  adverse  effects  on  total  popu- 
lations. Therefore,  the  major  challenge  for 
wildlife  management  in  sub-Saharan  Africa  to- 
ward the  twenty-first  century  is  to  coordinate 
the  management  of  wild  animals  and  their  ha- 
bitat with  overall  socio-economic  develop- 
ment efforts. 

Wildlife  as  food 

The  first  human  beings  depended  comple- 
tely on  wild  animals  for  their  protein  supply. 
With  domestication  of  animal  stock  and 
settled  agriculture,   humans  have  gradually 


Over  grazing  is  threatening  to  impair  permanently  the  carrying  capacity  of  millions  of  hectares  of  diyland  range  in  Africa 
Le  surp^turage  menace  des  millions  d'hectares  de  pdturage  en  Afrique  et  risque  de  r^duire  la  capacity  de  charge  des  parcours 

(photo  Y.MuIler,FAO) 


38 


moved  from  complete  to  partial  dependence 
on  wild  animals  for  meat.  Nontheless,  in  all 
cultures  of  the  modern  world,  wherever  peo- 
ple eat  meat,  there  is  still  a  singificant  demand 
for  wild  meat.  Wild  animals  of  various  forms 
and  sizes,  both  vertebrates  and  invertebrates, 
form  part  of  the  diet  of  people  across  the 
globe. 

In  sub-Saharan  Africa  the  proportion  of 
wild  animal  meat  in  total  protein  supplies  is 
exceptionally  high.  For  example,  communi- 
ties living  near  a  forest  in  Nigeria  obtain  84 
percent  of  their  animal  protein  from  bush- 
meat.  In  Ghana,  approximately  75  percent  of 
the  population  consumes  wild  animals  regu- 
larly; in  Liberia,  70  percent;  and  in  Botswana, 
60  percent  (FAO,  1989).  However,  even  these 
high  figures  may  understate  the  reality  of  the 
situation  as  wildlife  consumption  is  often  un- 
recorded as  part  of  the  informal  sector. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  measure  of 
the  local  value  of  bushmeat  comes  from  stu- 
dies that  ask  people  what  they  value  most 
from  forests.  In  an  evaluation  of  the  Subri 
forestry  project  in  Ghana,  Korang  (1986) 
found  that  94  percent  of  those  surveyed 
considered  the  worst  Impact  of  forest  conver- 
sion to  be  the  loss  of  bushmeat  in  the  area. 

In  considering  the  role  of  wild  animals  as 
food,  it  is  important  to  take  a  wide  view  rather 
than  a  limited  perspective  covering  only  large 
"game  animals".  In  fact,  small  animals  gene- 
rally provide  the  greatest  amount  of  meat  to 
the  subsistence  diet.  Various  types  of  snails, 
snakes  and  other  reptiles  and  amphibians  are 
also  consumed.  For  example,  in  Ghana  and 
several  other  parts  of  West  Africa,  residents  of 
districts  with  high  concentrations  of  snails  are 
considered  lucky  by  inhabitants  of  other 
areas.  Insects  also  often  make  a  singificant 
contribution  to  overall  protein  supplies. 


Nutritional  value  of  bushmeat 

Available  evidence  indicates  that  fresh 
bushmeat  compares  favourably  with  dome- 
stic meat.  In  terms  of  both  yield  of  lean  meat 
per  kg  of  live  weight,  and  in  mineral  and  pro- 
tein content  (Asibey  and  Eyeson,  1975;  Led- 
ger and  Smith,  1964).  Studies  also  indicate 
that  the  meat  of  wild  animals  has  superior  fat 
content  (Hoogesteijn  Reul,  1979). 

HIadik  et  al.  (1987)  argue  that  the  caloric 
value  of  bushmeat  is  as  important  as  the  pro- 
tein it  provides.  They  note  that  many  highly 
prized  bushmeat  species  are  preferred  for 
their  fatty  consistencies. 

Unfortunately,  there  is  little  information  on 
the  nutritional  value  of  preserved  bushmeat 
(smoked,  salted,  biltong).  Methods  of  preser- 
vation vary  according  to  locality  and  re- 
sources. The  traditional  method  of  smoking 
is  widespread  in  use,  suitability  and  accept- 
ability, despite  Its  limitations.  Salting  is  re- 
stricted by  the  availability  of  salt.  Biltong  can 
be  prepared  where  a  combination  of  salt  and 
sunshine  is  available.  More  systematic  work 
in  this  area  is  necessary  to  cover  the  wide 
range  of  wild  animals  eaten,  as  well  as  the  nu- 
tritional impact  of  prevailing  methods  of  pre- 
paration and  preservation. 

Factors  influencing  consumption 
of  wild  meat 

The  deternlining  factor  influencing  wild 
animal  consumption  appears  to  be  the  ade- 
quacy of  supply.  In  fact,  wherever  it  has  been 
investigated  in  African  countries,  it  has  be- 
come evident  that  the  majority  of  meat-eating 
people  would  eat  bushmeat  If  it  were  readily 
available.  Studies  In  Ghana  and  Nigeria  have 


39 


demonstrated  this  to  be  true  irrespective  of 
ciass,  income  ievei,  educational  bacl<ground, 
religion  or  sex  (Blaxter,  1975;  Martin,  1983; 
Ntiamoa-Baidu,  1986). 

The  demand  for  wild  meat  is  in  no  way 
limited  to  rural  areas.  In  fact,  rapidly  increa- 
sing urbanization  has  created  a  spiralling  de- 
mand for  wildmeat  in  the  cities  of  Africa. 
Throughout  sub-Saharan  Africa  and  particu- 
larly in  West  Africa,  there  is  a  long  tradition  of 
bushmeat  trade  based  on  supplies  from  rural 
areas  to  markets  In  urban  areas.  There  are 
well-established  chains,  from  the  hunter 
through  retailers  in  the  cities.  This  system 
provides  employment  and  Income  for  large 
numbers  of  people. 

Bushmeat  is  by  far  the  most  expensive 
meat  In  many  countries.  For  example.  In  Iba- 
dan,  Nigeria  In  1975,  when  market  prices  for 
mutton  and  beef  were  US$2.80  and  $4.20  per 
kg  respectively,  grasscutter  meat  cost  as 
much  as  $9.60  per  kg  and  wild  hare  cost 
$7.20  per  kg  (Asibey,  1987). 

Often,  the  demand  for  bushmeat  and  the 
consequent  bushmeat  prices  are  increasing 
much  more  rapidly  than  those  for  domestic 
meat.  For  example,  an  analysis  of  market 
prices  in  Accra,  Ghana  revealed  that  in  the 
period  1980-1986  bushmeat  prices  increased 
eightfold,  while  those  for  beef  increased  six- 
fold (Asibey,  J  987). 

In  many  parts  of  Africa,  the  high  demand 
for  and  cost  of  bushmeat,  compared  to  other 
forms  of  animal  protein,  has  created  a  situa- 
tion where  the  hunter  finds  It  more  profitable 
to  sell  his  catch,  rather  than  eat  it. 

Wildlife  as  a  source  of  income 

In  most  sub-Saharan  countries,  subsis- 
tence agriculture  provides  employment  for 


the  majority  of  people.  Activities  that  gene- 
rate additional  Income  or  reduce  expenditure 
are  invaluable,  particularly  where  they  en- 
hance the  quality  of  rural  life.  The  forest, 
forest  products  and  wild  animals  provide  such 
possibilities.  Hunting  activities  generate 
considerable  income  in  many  parts  of  Africa 
(Asibey,  1978a,b,  1987). 

In  the  Bendel  State  of  Nigeria,  when  25 
percent  of  the  population  were  earning  an  an- 
nual income  of  less  than  US$130  per  annum, 
and  38  percent  were  earning  between 
US$130  and  US$600,  a  grasscutter  {Thryono- 
mys  swinderianus  Temminck),  a  small  rodent, 
was  selling  for  US$7.61 .  Therefore,  a  hunter 
who  was  able  to  kill  four  grasscutters  per 
month,  was  very  comfortably  in  the  second- 
income  bracket  (Martin,  1983). 

In  Ghana  In  January  1987  the  official  mini- 
mum daily  wage  was  90  cedis  (Ed.  note:  cur- 
rency fluctuations  make  a  US$  comparison 
impractical);  at  the  same  time,  a  grasscutter 
brought  a  minimum  of  200  cedis  in  the  rural 
areas,  and  from  700  to  3,400  cedis  in  Accra 
(Asibey,  1987).  In  an  earlier  study  Asibey 
(1978b)  found  that  farmers  more  than  dou- 
bled their  agricultural  income  by  selling  bush- 
meat to  chop  bars  (traditional  restaurants)  in 
Sunyani,  the  regional  capital. 

These  examples  are  not  isolated  cases. 
Hunting  and  gathering  of  wild  animals  as  food 
items  provide  substantial  income  directly  or 
indirectly  for  large  numbers  of  rural  people 
across  Africa  (Asibey,  1978a).  For  many  of 
them,  income  from  hunting  is  an  essential 
part  of  their  subsistence  economy:  they  must 
hunt  to  survive. 

The  income  derived  from  hunting  is  often 
spent  on  cheaper  protein  (usually  poorly  pre- 
served fish)  with  the  savings  used  to  meet 
other  expenses  (Asibey,  1974b,  1978a,  b). 
Clearly  this  trend  has  the  potential  to  affect 


40 


the  diet  of  rural  people  adversely  and  to  threa- 
ten their  food  security  In  terms  of  quality  and 
nutritional  status  of  diet.  If  the  availability  of 
bushmeat  is  not  increased,  rural  consumption 
may  decline,  as  the  rate  of  exploitation  and  in- 
tensity of  hunting  to  supply  urban  markets  are 
increased  by  demand.  The  situation  is  com- 
pounded where  domestic  animal  husbandry 
is  unable  to  meet  protein  needs,  for  example 
in  trypanosomiasis-infested  areas.  The  socio- 
economic cost  of  this  scenario  to  the  rural 
communities  requires  critfcal  examination. 

International  trade  in  bushmeat 

Throughout  the  world,  bushmeat  has  be- 
come increasingly  important  as  an  item  of  in- 
ternational trade.  Yet  despite  the  considera- 
ble production  of  bushmeat  in  Africa,  no 
country  stands  out  as  an  exporter.  In  part, 
this  is  because  of  the  stringent  standards  de- 
manded by  the  principal  importers,  notably 
the  Federal  Republic  of  Germany  and  France. 
However,  this  is  mainly  due  to  the  lack  of  sta- 
tistical information  on  bushmeat  trade  within 
Africa.  Most  countries  of  the  region  (except 
Ghana)  still  give  no  systematic  consideration 
to  bushmeat  consumption  or  trade  at  national 
levels  of  planning,  finance  and  development. 
The  limited  Information  collected  remains  un- 
published and  thus  unavailable. 

This  is  a  serious  omission,  with  unfortu- 
nate consequences  for  those  whose  survival 
is  closely  linked  to  wild  animals,  as  a  source 
of  food  and  Income,  and  also  for  efforts  to 
conserve  and  manage  wildlife  resources. 


Conservation  and  management 
of  wildlife 

In  most  countries  of  sub-Saharan  Africa, 
wildlife  conservation  efforts  have  stemmed 
from  concern  over  the  severe  depletion  and  in 
some  cases  near  or  complete  extinction  of 
selected  large  game  species  ~  lion,  elephant, 
rhino,  etc.  ~  that  represent  significant  poten- 
tial sources  of  national  income.  Given  this 
orientation,  the  most  common  approach  has 
been  the  application  of  stringent  laws  des- 
igned to  prevent  all  exploitation  of  wildlife  wi- 
thin protected  areas,  and  to  restrict  utilization 
severely  throughout  the  country. 

Where  animals  and  their  habitat  are  in  jeo- 
pardy, this  approach  is  often  the  only  practi- 
cal first  step  available  toward  long-term  sus- 
tained conservation  and  management.  But  it 
must  be  clearly  recognized  as  a  temporary 
and  transitional  phase. 

Various  options  are  open  for  this.  The 
simplest  and  often  the  most  effective  Is  to  pro- 
tect existing  populations.  Where  viable  popu- 
lations no  longer  remain,  suitable  parts  of  the 
former  range  of  a  species  may  be  selected  for 
reintroduction  of  wild  animals.  There  is  evi- 
dence that  introduced  species  can  multiply  to 
economically  exploitable  levels  (Teer,  1971). 
The  technology  is  available  but  funding  is  a 
constraint.  Attractive  returns  that  have  been 
demonstrated  need  to  be  further  consolidated 
and  better  communicated  to  potential  inves- 
tors. 

However,  there  is  clear  evidence  that  at- 
tempts to  protect  or  re-establish  wildlfe  re- 
sources that  do  not  take  into  consideration 
the  socio-economic  needs  of  local  people  are 
doomed.  Preservation  laws  are  often  abused 
with  Impunity.  This  is  to  be  expected  where 
resources  are  linked  with  survival.     People 


41 


with  very  low  incomes  survive  as  best  tiiey 
can.  The  temptation  to  break  preservation 
laws  is  great,  since  wild  animals  can  provide 
food  and  cash.  Furthermore,  the  people  who 
should  enforce  the  law  often  receive  inade- 
quate salaries  and  therefore  may  be  tempted 
to  turn  a  blind  eye  to  or  even  aid  rich  exploi- 
ters such  as  illegal  trophy  hunters. 

If  a  wildlife  management  programme  is  to 
be  effective  in  the  long  term,  it  must  be  based 


Bushmeat  being  sold  in  Kumasi  central  market  (Ghana) 
Viande  de  brousse  vendue  au  march^  central  de  Kumasi 
(photo  J.  Falconer) 

on  the  active  involvement  and  participation  of 
local  people,  and  provide  them  with  signifi- 
cant and  sustainable  benefits  in  terms  of  both 
food  and  income  (see  article  on  a  successful 
effort  in  Zambia  on  p.  10). 


Management  of  wild  animals  to 
increase  food  resources 

Although  the  domestication  of  many  spe- 
cies of  wild  animals  is  theoretically  possible, 
relatively  little  progress  has  been  made  in  this 
area.  There  is  high  potential  for  the  taming 
and  handling  of  many  species  of  animals.  For 
example,  in  Ghana  it  has  been  demonstrated 
that  the  grasscutter  can  be  raised  for  quality 
meat  in  boxes  in  human  dwellings  (Asibey, 
1974b,c). 

Even  without  domestication,  however, 
there  are  indications  that  wild  animals  could 
be  successfully  managed  for  food,  either  in 
isolation  or  integrated  into  existing  agricultu- 
ral systems,  i.e.  livestock  production,  forestry, 
and  crop  production. 

Commercial  production  of  bush- 
meat 

in  some  countries,  besides  subsistence 
captive  breeding,  attempts  have  been  made 
at  commercial  farming  or  ranching  of  wild  ani- 
mals for  meat  and  by-products.  Bushmeat  is 
not  a  new  commodity  that  needs  to  be  adver- 
tised. None  of  the  countries  in  which  assess- 
ments have  been  made  have  sufficient  wild 
animals  to  meet  bushmeat  demand.  Any  In- 
novation that  increases  productivity  is  there- 
fore desirable.  Captive  breeding  and  ran- 
ching could  be  key  concepts  in  this  connec- 
tion, and  there  are  indications  of  a  good  fu- 
ture for  the  development  of  more  such 
ranches  (Jintanugool,  1978). 

Where  it  is  desirable  to  create  ranches  or 
centres  for  bushmeat  production,  the  estab- 
lishment of  these  facilities  near  consumer 
communities  gives  the  advantages  of  a  ready 


42 


market,  mlnimai  transport  and  possibilities  for 
recreational  use  to  generate  additional  in- 
come. 

Besides  reducing  pressures  on  wild  popu- 
lations, ranching  and  captive  breeding  can  al- 
so ease  competition  between  urban  and  rural 
users.  Non-consumptive  use,  I.e.  game  wat- 
ching, and  sport  hunting  on  wild  animal 
ranches  can  generate  additional  employment, 
income  and  revenue. 

Integration  of  wild  animal  and 
livestock  production 

Both  wild  and  domestic  animals  convert 
vegetable  matter  into  valuable  meat;  however, 
until  recently  Indigenous  animals  have  been 
deliberately  exterminated  to  allow  exclusive 
use  of  rangelands  by  domestic  stock.  Limited 
narrow  knowledge,  and  a  fear  of  reduction  In 
productivity  resulting  from  competition  be- 
tween wild  and  domestic  animals,  as  well  as 
the  presumed  transfer  of  diseases  were 
among  the  root  causes  for  this  approach. 

Benchmark  studies,  however,  have 
conclusively  established  that  the  meat-produ- 
cing potential  of  wild  animals  often  compares 
favourably  with  livestock  (Asibey,  1966;  Blax- 
ter,  1975;  King  and  Heath,  1975;  Hoogesteijn 
Reul,  1979;  Thresher,  1980). 

Moreover,  the  elimination  of  wild  animals 
does  not  necessarily  lead  to  maximum  utliza- 
tion  ot  vegetation  on  rangelands.  Domestic 
animals  are  selective  in  their  feeding  and  not 
all  plants  on  the  range  are  utilized.  A  variety 
of  comaptible  animals,  which  do  not  compete 
for  food  resources,  can  thus  be  advantageous 
(Asibey  and  Asare,  1978).  This  is  possible 
with  a  suitable  mix  of  domestic  and  wild  ani- 
mal species.  For  example,  domestic  cattle 
and  kudu,  impala  and  hartebeeste  are  mana- 


ged in  combination  in  South  Africa,  resulting 
in  an  overall  increase  In  yield  per  hectare 
(Hoogesteijn  Reul,  1979).  Systematic  integra- 
tion of  wild  animals  with  domestic  livestock  is 
also  practised  in  Zimt)abwe  (Woodford,  1983; 
Worou,  1983).  It  should  be  observed  that  the 
plants  consumed  by  the  wild  animals  might 
otherwise  have  to  be  controlled  manually  or 
chemically.  It  is  therefore  more  economical 
to  combine  livestock  with  wild  animals  on  ran- 
gelands to  maximize  the  use  of  vegetation 
and  avoid  the  need  for  weed  control. 

Given  the  potential  for  bushmeat  produc- 
tion alongside  livestock,  it  is  important  to  fo- 
cus on  the  developing  systems  and  technolo- 
gies to  improve  integration  and  increase  meat 
production.  There  is  a  need  to  pull  together 
information  on  the  integration  of  wild  animals 
and  livestock  and  evaluate  socio-economic 
returns.  This  should  provide  direction  for  fu- 
ture development  and  more  rational  utilization 
of  rangelands.  The  additional  revenue  that 
can  be  derived  from  wild  animals  through 
sport  hunting  and  recreation  should  also  be 
borne  in  mind. 

Wild  animals  and  forestry 

Wild  animals  are  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant direct  contributions  of  the  forests  to  the 
well-being  of  local  people,  yet  in  the  past  they 
have  been  regarded  by  foresters  as  "minor" 
products  or  even  as  pests.  Forest  manage- 
ment efforts  have  generally  not  included  the 
deliberate  application  of  techniques  designed 
to  increase  the  sustainable  yield  of  bushmeat 
from  forest-based  wild  animals.  Further 
consideration  of  this  possibility  could  lead  to 
significant  improvements  in  forestry  develop- 
ment efforts,  both  those  aimed  at  commercial 


43 


production  as  well  as  those  concentrating  on 
conservation  of  the  resource  base. 

Selective  timber  extraction  enhances  ve- 
getation growth  and  therefore  favours  in- 
creases in  the  populations  of  many  forest  ani- 
mals. For  example,  a  recent  study  (Prins  and 
Reitsma,  1989)  found  that  in  southwest  Ga- 
bon the  African  buffalo  {Syncerus  caffer  na- 
nus Sparrman)  was  absent  in  primary  forest 
but  present  in  secondary  forest.  Although  the 
study  did  not  produce  conclusive  evidence 
with  regard  to  smaller  animals,  it  is  probable 
that  the  relationship  holds  for  these  as  well. 
Allowing  or  even  encouraging  hunting  of 
small  animals  in  logging  areas  by  local  people 
could  help  them  to  achieve  food  security  and 
therefore  to  ensure  that  the  forest  would  be 
more  valuable  to  them  as  forest  than  under 
any  other  form  of  land  use. 

Similarly,  in  conservation  areas  local  peo- 
ple could  be  allowed  to  hunt  in  exchange  for 
assistance  in  reafforestation  efforts.  This 
would  provide  a  motivated  source  of  local  la- 
bour, a  serious  constraint  in  many  forestry  ef- 
forts. 

On  the  other  hand,  monoculture  tree  plan- 
tations tend  to  result  in  reductions  of  both 
quantity  and  variety  of  wild  animal  species, 
particularly  where  exotic  tree  species  are 
used.  The  alteration  of  the  natural  ground 
cover  may  create  an  inappropriate  environ- 
ment for  animal  species.  This,  in  turn,  can  re- 
sult in  an  increased  risk  of  fire,  as  under- 
growth that  was  formerly  eaten  by  animals  is 
left  untouched.  Planting  might  be  organized 
in  such  a  way  as  to  allow  indigenous  species 
of  fodder  value  to  remain  in  or  along  the  bor- 
ders of  the  plantation  area.  The  trade-off  that 
would  be  socio-economically  optimal  has  yet 
to  be  determined. 

Habitat  manipulation  techniques  also  may 
be  developed  and  improved  to  enhance  wild 


animal  production  in  savannah  forests.  For 
example,  the  planting  of  indegenous  trees  of 
nutritional  value  would  help  to  increase  bush- 
meat  yield  potential  where  other  interventions 
may  be  inadvisable. 

Wild  animals  in  crop  production 
systems 

In  general,  agricultural  crops  have  been 
regarded  as  being  in  direct  competition  with 
wild  animals,  with  the  result  that  extensive 
efforts  have  been  devoted  toward  their  com- 
plete extermination.  In  fact,  the  origin  of 
many  of  the  national  game  departments  in 
southern  Africa  can  be  traced  to  the  percei- 
ved need  for  an  organization  with  the  respon- 
sibility for  destroying  wild  animal  "pests"  that 
threatened  government  plantations. 

Wild  animals  can  and  do  cause  tremen- 
dous damage  to  agricultural  crops.  Some 
antelope  species  browse  young  trees  and  eat 
valuable  agricultural  crops.  Birds,  notably  the 
quelea,  are  known  to  cause  serious  damage 
to  grain  crops  and  drastically  reduce  yield. 
Rodents  cause  untold  millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  losses,  both  in  the  field  and  after  har- 
vest. 

But  the  plantation  system  also  creates  an 
environment  that  is  particularly  favourable  to 
the  harvesting  and  utilization  of  wild  animals 
as  food.  Unfortunately,  the  anxiety  generated 
by  the  damage  tends  to  be  so  ovenA/helming 
that  possibilities  to  utilize  pest  species  for 
nutritional  purposes  are  rarely  examined.  In 
many  situations  the  development  of  techni- 
ques for  the  sustainable  exploitation  of  the 
animals  concerned  could  control  damage  and 
provide  an  additional  source  of  income  and 
food. 

Ironically,  in  many  situations  effective  tra- 


44 


ditional  techniques  already  exist  but  are  unu- 
sed because  local  people  are  often  employed 
only  as  a  source  of  labour  in  plantation  sys- 
tems; their  knowledge  of  local  conditions  is 
ignored.  For  example,  in  West  Africa,  various 
traditional  methods  exist  to  trap  and  utilize 
potential  rodent  pests,  e.g.  grasscutter 
{Thryonomys  swinderianus  Temmnick)  in 
Ghana,  Benin  and  Cote  d'lvoire,  and  giant  rat 
{Cricetomys  gambianus)  in  Nigeria  around 
agricultural  crops.  This  both  provides  food 
and  keeps  the  population  of  these  animals  be- 
low excessive  levels.  By  including  local  peo- 
ple in  plantation  efforts,  these  methods  could 
be  applied  cost-effectively  on  a  large  scale. 
In  fact,  on  many  cocoa  and  oil-palm  planta- 
tions, local  workers  can  be  observed  trapping 
so-called  pests  for  food  in  their  free  time. 

Rice  cultivation  under  irrigation  in  northern 
Ghana  faced  serious  problems  with  grain- 
eating  bird  pests.  Local  workers  were  trained 
in  using  mist-nets,  with  the  result  that  the  da- 
mage was  substantially  reduced  and  the  far- 
mers obtained  a  good  source  and  regular 


supply  of  protein  in  what  was  previously  a 
protein-deficient  area  (Ntiamoa-Baidu,  1986). 

Another  approach  to  integrating  wild  ani- 
mal and  crop  production  could  be  the  mainte- 
nance or  creation  of  patches  of  natural  mixed 
vegetation  alongside  plantation  areas,  which 
will  allow  wild  animals  to  survive.  In  many 
countries  hedgerows  and  shelter-belts  pro- 
vide a  valuable  habitat  in  areas  that  would 
otherwise  be  devoid  of  wild  animals.  Al- 
though not  deliberately  instituted  for  bush- 
meat  production,  systematic  application 
could  be  valuable  in  many  sub-Saharan  coun- 
tries where  large  stretches  of  land  are  farmed. 

There  has  been  no  major  deliberate  effort 
to  integrate  wild  animals  into  cropping  sys- 
tems in  sub-Saharan  Africa.  It  is  hoped  that  in 
the  long  run  the  renewed  interest  in  the  inte- 
gration of  tree  growing  into  agricultural  sys- 
tems (agroforestry)  will  be  followed  by  inte- 
gration with  wild  animals  that  will  take  advan- 
tage of  the  tree  cover. 


Wildlife  legislation 


Large  game  species  have  been  depleted  in  many  counties,  leading  to  imposition  of  protective  legilatioh 
La  rarefaction  du  gros  gibier  dans  de  nombreux  pays  a  amend  a  promulguer  des  lois  scveres  de  protection 

(photo  J.J.  Leroy) 


Legislation 
has  been  a  ma- 
jor constraint  to 
the  utilization  of 
wild  animals  for 
food  in  subsis- 
tence econo- 
mies, because  it 
is  designed  to 
protect  endan- 
gered species 
and  regulate  tro- 
phy hunting.  Le- 
gislation in  tropi- 
cal countries  of- 
ten seeks  to  es- 


45 


tablish  sport  hunting  as  perceived  in  Europe. 
Tlius,  sucli  concepts  as  game  animals,  liun- 
ting  seasons,  bag  limits,  trophies,  hunting  re- 
serves and  royal  game,  have  been  freely 
adopted.  Their  biological  validity  under  tropi- 
cal conditions  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
questioned. 

A  serious  defect  of  such  legislation  Is  that 
traditional  utilization  is  ignored  or  defined  as 
poaching  and  the  technologies  used  declared 
unlawful  methods  of  hunting.  Furthermore, 
possession,  disposal  and  commercialization 
of  wild  animal  meat  or  other  products  are  ille- 
gal. To  cater  for  conflicts  with  livestock  and 
agriculture,  the  concept  of  vermin  has  been 
adopted. 

Thus,  by  focusing  on  endangered  and  tro- 
phy species,  national  legislation  in  many  de- 
veloping countries  has  had  a  negative  effect 
on  the  management  of  species  that  do  not  fall 
Into  these  categories.  The  institution  of  state 
ownership  of  wildlife,  centrally  imposed  li- 
cences and  restrictions  on  the  sale  of  pro- 
ducts prevent  landholders  from  considering 
wildlife  management  as  a  potentially  profita- 
ble land  use  option.  Thus,  incentives  to 
conserve  wildlife  are  stiffled. 


Conclusioi\ 


Hitherto  there  has  been  little  or  no  serious 
planning  to  develop  the  potential  of  wild  ani- 
mals to  contribute  to  rural  economies.  For 
over  two  decades  in  most  of  sub-Saharan 
Africa,  wild  animals  have  received  relatively 
serious  attention  for  their  role  in  tourism.  The 
role  of  wild  animals  as  food,  however,  gene- 
rally Is  taken  for  granted  and  ignored,  or  sim- 
ply not  acknowledged  as  being  of  any  signifi- 
cance. 


The  management  of  wildlife  resources  for 
their  meat-producing  potential  has  remained 
essentially  an  academic  exercise.  An  excep- 
tion is  in  Zimbabwe,  where  both  commercial 
and  communal  landholders  now  show  interest 
in  developing  their  wild  animal  stocks  for  both 
economic  benefits  and  for  food. 

In  most  countries,  however,  the  basic  in- 
formation necessary  to  regulate  and  sustain 
the  use  of  wildlife  resources  for  food  does  not 
exist.  Detailed  work  is  necessary  to  survey 
wild  animal  resources,  to  ascertain  the  pre- 
sent level  of  dependence  of  subsistence  eco- 
nomies on  wild  animals  for  food  and  income, 
and  to  develop  options  for  management. 

In  most  cases,  progress  Is  hindered  by  a 
shortage  of  adequately  trained  workers  and  a 
lack  of  resources.  To  date,  wildlife  conserva- 
tion and  management  have  fallen  on  the 
shoulders  of  a  dedicated  few,  although  for- 
mally there  has  been  official  participation  on  a 
continuing  basis.  Lack  of  interest  at  national 
and  international  levels  has  been  a  chronic 
blockage  to  advancement  from  local  or  indivi- 
dual efforts  to  wide-ranging  programmes.  Al- 
though most  African  wildlife  management 
programmes  require  an  increase  in  funding  to 
support  the  human  and  material  resources 
and  technology  needed  to  turn  overexploita- 
tion  into  sustained  utilization,  in  many  In- 
stances relatively  modest  resources,  when  di- 
rected to  effective  approaches,  could  yield 
substantial  results.  What  is  most  required  is  a 
broad-based  commitment  to  the  sustainable 
utilization  of  wildlife  resources  for  rural  deve- 
lopment. 

In  this  context,  it  is  noteworthy  that  in  de- 
veloped countries  wild  animals  continue  to  be 
managed  and  utilized  as  a  food  resource,  as 
well  as  for  sport  and  recreation.  A  similar, 
multiple-use  approach  should  be  strongly  ad- 
vocated for  sub-Saharan  Africa. 


46 


The  time  Is  ripe 
to  focus  critical 
eyes  on  the  poten- 
tial role  of  wild  ani- 
mals in  food  securi- 
ty, and  particularly 
on  possibilities  for 
Incorporating  these 
considerations  In 
ongoing  rural  deve- 
lopment projects. 
The  potential  also 
exists  for  linkages 
between  wildlife 
management  ef- 
forts and  nutrition 
projects  in  develo- 
ping countries. 

Forest  reserves 
and  forested  land 
have  important 
contributions  to 
make  in  maintaining  wild  animal  populations 
for  sustained  utilization.  However,  for  forests 
to  fulfil  this  potential,  forest  management 
plans  must  be  re-evaluated  to  ensure  that 
they  consider  all  forest  resources,  including 
wildlife,  as  a  source  of  local  as  well  as  natio- 
nal benefits. 


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Ghana  Farmer,  10: 165-170. 
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protein  In  Africa  south  of  the  Sahara. 

Bio-Consen/ation,  6(1):  32-39. 
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economic  aspects  of  the  grasscutter 

(Thrynomys  swinderianus  Temminck), 


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infested  areas  Les  especes  d'animaux  sauvages  resistant  a  la  tiypanosoraiase  (id  un  topi)  pour- 
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mammalia,  rodenta  {Hystricomorpha) 
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Asibey,  E.O.A.  1974c.  The  grasscutter,  Tryo- 
nomys  swinderianus  Temminck,  in 
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partment of  Game  and  Wildlife,  (mi- 
meo) 

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AAASA  3rd  General  Conference,  p.  83- 
115.  Vol.  II.  Ibadan,  Nigeria. 


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and  body  composition  of  Uganda  kob. 
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*E.O.A.  Asibey,  formerly  Chief  Administra- 
tor, Forestry  Commission,  Ghana,  is  currently 
an  Ecologist  at  the  World  Bank  In  Washing- 
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*G.S.  Child  Is  Senior  Officer  (Wildlife  and 
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Article  culled  from  Unasylva, 
Vol.  41,  n"  161,  pp.  3-10 


48 


The  fate  of  the 
African  rhinoceros  : 
tragedy  on  a 
continental  scale* 

by  Bernard  de  Wetter** 

Violent,  dangerous,  aggres- 
sive, vicious:  there  is  no  limit  to 
adjectives  to  describe  the  rhince- 
ros.  Such  a  reputation  which  was 
purposely  maintained  for  dozens 
of  years  by  the  accounts  of  great 
hunters  is,  however,  unjustified. 
Of  course,  the  rhinoceros  have 
then-  character:  they  are  some- 
times irritable  and  their  reac- 
tions are  always  unpredictable. 
However  they  are  not  the  aggres- 
sive monsters  which  exist  only  in 
the  minds  of  men,  when  the  lat- 
ter ovecome  the  animals  in  order 
to  better  justify  their  own  ten- 
dency to  crudeness  and  vio- 
lence- 
Surprising,  anachronistic  and 
strange,  rhinoceros  are  the  last 
descendants  of  an  ancient  line, 
the  only  survivors  of  a  family 
which  had  its  moments  of  glory 
in  an  era  when  man  did  not  yet 
exist.  As  Uving  fossils  rescued 
from  prehistory  and  proof  of  an 
ended  era,  rhinoceros  have  gone 
through  the  ages  untouched. 
Evolution  made  them  machines 
perfectly  adapted  to  the  world  in 
which  they  live,  but  it  was  not 
able  to  protect  them  from  the  co- 
vetousness  of  man. 

A  100,000  black  rhinoceros 
still  Uved  in  Africa  just  a  few  do- 


zens of  years  ago.  Today,  there 
remain  less  than  3,500  and  the 
poaching  craze  which  broke  out 
over  most  of  the  continent  is  per- 
haps in  the  process  of  giving 
them  the  final  death-blow.  As 
regarding  the  white  rhinoceros, 
the  other  species  present  in  Afri- 
ca, the  current  numbers  repre- 
sent no  more  than  a  fraction  of 
what  they  were  in  the  last  centu- 
ry- 

Although  the  fact  remains 
that  they  are  declining,  it  is  the 
underlying  causes  of  this  decline 
which  are  unacceptable.  The 
rhinoceros  do  not  in  any  way 
come  into  conflict  with  man's  ac- 
tivities, and  pose  no  danger  to 
the  latter.  Besides,  they  still  have 
enough  space  to  be  able  to  live 
alright  in  most  parts  of  their  dis- 
tribution areas.  If  they  disap- 
pear, it  is  only  because  they  have 
been  massacred  in  great  num- 
bers and  particularly  for  frivo- 
lous reasons,  since  it  is  purely 
more  or  less  to  sustain  the  tradi- 
tions and  beliefs  solidly  entren- 
ched in  the  mentality  of  certain 
peoples. 

The  rhinoceros  suffer  all 
these  misfortunes  because  of  the 
horns  sticking  out  in  front  of 
their  heads.  These  are  not  joi- 
ned to  the  skeleton  of  the  animal. 
In  fact,  they  are  nothing  more 
than  a  cluster  of  keratin,  that  is 
to  say,  a  material  comparable  to 
our  finger-nails  or  the  hoofs  of 
horses.  However,  they  are  gree- 
dily craved  for  in  some  parts  of 
the  world.   In  the  Far  East,  they 


are  taken  as  medication,  and  are 
supposed  to  have  several  powers, 
almost  magical  (but  its  actual 
ineffectiveness  has  now  been 
scientifically  proven).  In  Yemen, 
they  are  used  to  make  the  cross- 
heads  of  traditional  daggers, 
"djambiahs",  which  every  male 
Yemeni  who  respects  himself 
must  carry. 

The  contentions  between  rhi- 
noceros and  man  date  a  long  way 
back:  for  thousands  of  years 
these  animals  have  been  coveted 
by  human  beings  who  attributed 
supernatural  virtues  to  them.  In 
Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages,  was 
it  not  mistaken  for  the  Unicorn, 
that  mystic  animcil?  Man's  inter- 
est in  the  rhinoceros  has  left 
traces  throughout  history. 

The  horns  of  the  rhinoceros 
were  greatly  used  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Christian  era  in  impe- 
rial China.  Shaped  by  renowned 
artisans,  they  were  transformed 
into  ornamental  objects  reserved 
for  the  affluent  in  society.  Most 
of  the  horns  used  in  the  Far  East 
in  that  era  were  however  trans- 
formed into  sculptured  cups 
which  only  served  as  items  of  col- 
lection. Consequently,  the  cups 
mainly  served  to  detect  the  pre- 
sence of  poison  in  a  drink.  The 
practice  of  testing  drinks  with 
the  horn  spread  in  the  Far  East, 
Europe  and  even  in  some  parts 
of  Africa.  But  the  rhinoceros 
horn  was  at  all  times  used  mainly 
in  the  field  of  medicine.  Euro- 
peans attributed  curative  powers 
to   it   for   several   hundreds   of 


49 


years.  However,  it  was  in  Asia 
that  the  use  of  the  rhinoceros 
horn  in  traditional  medicine  was 
widespread.  As  a  universal  pa- 
nacea, or  almost,  the  horn  was 
considered  cis  possessing  (and 
still  possesses)  cures  for  a  whole 
range  of  illnesses  ranging  from 
fevers  and  migraines,  food  poiso- 
ning to  snake  bites  !  Only  the 
Gujaratis  of  eastern  Inida,  howe- 
ver, attributed  aphrodisiac  po- 
wers to  the  rhinoceros  horn. 

The  trade  in  rhinoceros  horn 
was  already  a  flourishing  busi- 
ness in  some  parts  of  Africa  well 
before  the  arrival  of  the  Whites. 
Already  in  the  first  centuries  of 
the  Christian  era,  the  Arabs 
maintained  relations  with  the 
African  ports  of  the  Red  Sea  and 
the  horn  collected  on  the  conti- 
nent was  exported  to  Arab  and 
Indian  ports,  from  where  it  then 
went  on  to  China.  The  trade  be- 
tween Africa  and  the  East  went 
on  over  the  centuries,  via  the 
port  cities  of  the  Red  Sea  and 
the  Indian  Ocean.  The  English 
and  Germans  who  divided  up 
East  Africa  in  the  last  century 
continued  the  trade  in  rhinoce- 
ros horn.  It  is  estimated  that  du- 
ring the  second  half  of  the  19th 
century,  an  average  of  eleven 
tons  of  horn  was  exported  an- 
nu£illy,  which  means  the  death  of 
at  least  170,000  animals  ! 

The  value  of  the  horn  increa- 
sed gradually  thro^i^out  the 
20th  century.  The  sale  of  the  rhi- 
noceros horn  and  ivory  became 
the  monopoly  of  the  State  in  east 


and  southern  Africa  after  inde- 
pendence. At  the  end  of  the 
1960's,  the  horn  was  sold  at  £30  a 
kilo.  But  this  figure  was  to  in- 
crease tenfold  some  ten  years  la- 
ter and  continued  thereafter  to 
soar  to  astronomic  amounts.  Se- 
veral factors  are  responsible  for 
this  rocketing  of  prices,  the  main 
one  being  the  entry  onto  the 
scene  of  a  new  buyer  in  the 
1970's  -  Yemen.  North  Yemen 
for  decades,  remained  a  particu- 
larly poor  nation  and  completely 
cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  world, 
but  due  to  a  terrible  civil  war 
which  devastated  it  for  more 
than  eight  years,  the  country 
opened  up  to  international  aid. 
At  the  same  time,  many  Yemenis 
went  to  work  in  the  oil  fields  of 
Saudi  Arabia  at  the  beginning  of 
the      1970's.  Considerable 

amounts  of  foreign  exchange 
brought  back  by  these  workers 
propped  up  the  economy  of  the 
country  and  allowed  the  buyers, 
who  were  still  many,  to  obtain  a 
luxury  item,  up  till  then  reserved 
for  the  elite  of  the  society:  a  dag- 
ger with  the  handle  sculptured  in 
rhinoceros  horn.  At  the  end  of 
the  1970's,  Esmond  Bradley 
Martin,  an  American  geogra- 
pher, threw  light  on  the  role 
played  by  North  Yemen  in  the 
disappearance  of  the  Africzm 
rhinoceros.  This  small  country 
with  a  population  of  less  than  six 
million  people,  absorbed  all  by 
itself  not  less  than  50%  of  the  to- 
tal volume  of  trade  in  African 
rhinoceros. 


Nobody  ever  knew  and  nobo- 
dy will  ever  know  how  many  rhi- 
noceros there  were  in  Africa  at 
the  time  the  first  white  explorers 
set  foot  on  this  land  which  was 
up  until  then  unknown.  Indeed 
the  accounts  of  the  first  travellers 
are  full  of  encounters  with  rhino- 
ceros and  it  was  not  uncommon 
to  come  upon  60-80  rhinoceros 
in  just  one  day  of  walking.  With 
the  development  of  colonial 
structures,  the  golden  age  of  the 
great  hunters  started  and  since 
the  end  of  the  last  century,  Afri- 
can wildlife  has  had  an  irresisti- 
ble attraction  for  hunters  from 
all  horizons.  Big,  calm  and  har- 
dly suspicious  beasts,  the  rhino- 
cerous,  handicapped  by  their  in- 
difference, constituted  the  first 
targets. 

The  white  man  went  on  a  real 
carnage,  especially  in  South  Afri- 
ca. The  white  rhinoceros  was  the 
first  to  be  affected  by  this  abusive 
hunting.  In  1890,  the  species  had 
disappeared  from  the  south  of 
the  continent,  so  to  speak.  In 
1890,  a  group  of  six  were  howe- 
ver seen  in  Natal  and  for  the  first 
time,  measures  to  protect  these 
animals  were  taken;  hunting  was 
prohibited  and  a  reserve  was 
soon  estabhshed  for  their  protec- 
tion. In  central  Africa,  the  white 
rhinoceros  was  already  the  ob- 
ject of  exploitation  well  before 
the  arrival  of  the  whites  but  the 
latter  soon  associated  themselves 
with  Arab  traders  in  search  of 
rhinoceros,  especially  in  Chad. 


50 


The  black  rhinoceros  which 
are  more  in  number  and  less  easy 
to  locate  than  their  white  "cou- 
sins", managed  to  Uve  much  lon- 
ger, but  their  numbers  continued 
to  dwindle  throughout  the  whole 
of  the  first  half  of  the  20th  centu- 
ry and  already  in  the  1940's,  the 
species  became  very  rare  in  some 
countries  such  as  Chad,  Ethiopia 
and  Somalia.  Elsewhere  on  the 
contrary,  the  period  between  the 
two  wars  marked  an  era  of  reco- 
very for  the  rhinoceros,  and  it 
was  rather  the  cultivation  of  new 
lands  and  not  hunting  which  re- 
duced their  numbers. 

At  the  beginning  of  the 
1950's,  though  the  rhinoceros 
had  thus  disappeared  from  part 
of  their  distribution  area,  their 
future  as  a  species  was  not  threa- 
tened in  any  way.  In  South  Afri- 
ca on  the  contrary,  the  white  rhi- 
noceros had  a  remarkable 
growth.  But  the  years  of  recove- 
ry did  not  continue  for  long...  Al- 
ready in  the  1950's,  there  was  re- 
newed poaching  of  rhinoceros,  a 
tendency  which  only  increased 
thereafter  almost  everywhere  in 
Africa.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
1970's,  traditional  arms  were  re- 
placed by  modern  and  dangerous 
equipment  -  automatic  hunting 
guns  and  rifles.  A  real  wave  of 
poaching  started  to  break  out  in 
Africa,  eliminating  along  its  way 
the  rhinoceros  in  one  coimtry  af- 
ter another.  The  rhinoceros,  so 
to  speak,  disappeared  from 
Ethiopia,  Somalia,  Chad,  Sudan, 


Angola  Mozambique  and  Ugan- 
da at  the  end  of  the  1970s. 

East  Africa  was  equally  hard 
hit.  Kenya,  which  still  had  20,000 
black  rhinoceros  in  1970,  had  no 
more  than  500  fifteen  years  later. 
The  poaching  disease  then  hit 
neighboring  Tan2ania  and  Zam- 
bia and  the  rhinoceros  were  de- 
cimated within  a  few  years.  The 
Central  African  Republic  was  for 
a  long  time  considered  as  a  sure 
bastion   for   rhinoceros,   but   in 

1983,  members  of  the  Bokassa 
government  suddenly  became 
aware  of  the  incredible  potential 
of  the  country's  3,000  rhinoceros, 
so  the  massacre  was  carried  out 
with  unprecedented  efficiency 
and  99%  of  the  rhinoceros  in  the 
country  were  annihilated  in  a 
matter  of  months... 

Only  one  country,  Zimbabwe 
(formerly  Southern  Rhodesia  in 
the  British  colonial  era),  still  had 
several  thousand  rhinoceros  in 

1984,  but  in  this  very  year,  the 
rhinoceros  killers  turned  theu-  at- 
tention to  this  last  bastion.  The 
first  incursions  of  poachers  were 
recorded  in  December  1984  and 
the  country  had  to  quickly  deal 
with  a  real  invasion  of  well-orga- 
nised poachers  who  were  power- 
fully armed  and  particularly  ag- 
gressive, operating  initially  from 
neighbouring  Zambia. 

Where  the  poUtical  situation 
permitted,  more  intensive  efforts 
were  carried  out  to  ensure  the 
protection  of  the  rhinoceros,  but 
the  anti-poaching  fight  and  the 
reinforcement  of  the  means  of 


surveillance  could  however  not 
prevent  the  killers  from  perpe- 
trating their  misdeeds  even  in  the 
most  frequented  sites.  Kenya 
was  soon  forced  to  gather  most 
of  her  500  surviving  rhinoceros 
into  special  sanctuaries  built  for 
them.  From  1985,  a  national 
plan  for  the  rescue  of  rhinoceros 
was  implemented,  and  work  was 
undertaken  in  order  to  provide 
sancutaries  in  five  national  parks. 
These  sanctuaries  are  real  for- 
tresses surrounded  by  a  three 
meter  high  fence  electrified  with 
5,000  volts  of  current  and  fitted 
with  electronic  alarm  systems. 
They  are  under  permanent  sur- 
veillance day  and  night  by  guards 
who  walk  round  the  fence  along 
which  patrol  posts  have  been 
erected  at  intervals  of  a  few  kilo- 
meters. Five  national  parks  were 
designated  to  possess  such  sanc- 
tuaries of  areas  varying  from 
2,500  to  22,000  hectares,  namely 
Nakuru,  Nairobi,  Meru,  Tsavo 
and  Aberdares.  Four  private 
ranches  which  currently  keep 
more  than  one  third  of  Kenya's 
rhinoceros  were  £ilso  included  in 
the  national  plan  for  the  rescue 
of  these  animals... 

More  than  1,000  white  rhino- 
ceros were  in  the  Garamba  Na- 
tional Park  in  Zaire  at  the  tune 
of  independence,  but  only  14  re- 
mained in  all,  when  an  ambitious 
rescue  programme  for  these  ani- 
mals was  launched  in  1984.  Fi- 
nanced by  UICN,  The  Zoologi- 
cal Society  of  Frankfurt  and 
UNESCO,     the     rehabihtation 


51 


programme  for  the  Garamba  Na- 
tional Park  has  since  1984  car- 
ried out  careful  surveillance  on 
the  white  rhinoceros  whose  num- 
bers have  since  risen  to  22. 
These  are  the  last  survivors  of  a 
formerly  flourishing  population 
of  several  tens  of  thousands  of 
animals  spread  over  a  vast  terri- 
tory covering  Chad,  Central  Afri- 
can Republic,  Sudan,  and  the 
north  of  Zaire  and  Uganda. 

From  the  moment  of  the  first 
attacks  by  poachers  in  the  Zam- 
bezi Valley  in  Zimbabwe,  the  go- 
vernment undertook  a  large- 
scale  fight  to  save  its  rhinoceros, 
but  in  spite  of  the  absolutely  re- 
markable efforts  made  by  this 
country,  the  black  rhinoceros  in 
the  Zambezi  Valley  were  deci- 
mated in  hundreds.  In  1985,  the 
Department  of  National  Parks 
consequently  undertook  to  cap- 
ture as  many  rhinoceros  as  possi- 
ble in  the  Zambezi  Valley  so  as 
to  release  them  on  the  other  sites 
situated  fcir  from  the  borders 
where  they  remaijied  safe  from 
the  killers.  Several  hundreds  of 
rhinoceros  were  already  involved 
in  this  exercise,  while  in  the 
Zambezi  Valley  a  rhinoceros  war 
continued,  a  war  which  sacrificed 
dozens  of  human  lives,  those  of 
the  wardens  each  year... 

The  efforts  made  in  Kenya, 
Zaire  and  Zimbabwe  probably 
constitute  the  last  chance  of  sur- 
vival for  the  rhinoceros  in  Africa. 
As  long  as  the  rehabilitation  pro- 
gramme lasts  in  the  Garamba 
National  Park,  one  can  hope  that 


the  white  rhinoceros  of  central 
Africa  will  survive  and  slowly 
multiply.  If  the  fortresses  in  Ke- 
nya manage  to  succeed  in  their 
role,  they  will  make  possible  an 
important  centre  for  reproduc- 
tion for  black  rhinoceros,  lasting 
for  as  long  as  necessary.  As  long 
as  the  anti-poaching  fight  is  car- 
ried out  with  as  much  vigor  in  the 
Zambezi  Valley,  the  poachers 
cannot  attack  the  rhinoceros  po- 
pulations in  South  Africa,  where 
today,  the  two  species  still  enjoy 
exemplary  protection.  A  few 
small  populations  of  these  pachy- 
derms are  surviving  in  Botswana, 
Namibia,  Malawi  and  Swaziland. 
South  Africa  is  the  last  countury 
in  Africa  where  the  numbers  of 
the  two  species  are  constantly  in- 
creasing. 

The  rhinoceros  suffered  from 
all  these  mistakes.  They  occu- 
pied and  still  occupy  an  ambi- 
guous place  in  the  minds  and 
cultures  of  peoples  as  different 
from  one  another  as  Chinese, 
Arabs,  Indians  and  Zulus. 

For  thousands  of  years  the 
rhinoceros  gave  man  a  feeling  of 
fascination  mixed  with  supersti- 
tion and  fear.  While  conferring 
supernatural  qualities  on  them, 
man  sought  to  eliminate  them  all 
along,  as  if  the  existence  of  the 
rhinoceros  was  unbearable  for 
him  because  these  strange  crea- 
tures perhaps  had  the  power  to 
bring  the  human  species  to  its 
right  size  and  place.  The  rhino- 
ceros are  there  to  remind  us  that 


life  on  earth  did  not  begin  with 
the  appearance  of  man... 

If  they  disappeared,  the 
world  would  no  doubt  continue 
to  go  on,  but  would  nature  in 
Africa,  with  its  wonders  of  co- 
lours and  shapes,  still  be  the 
same  without  the  rhinoceros  ?  If 
it  proves  impossible  to  save  ani- 
mals as  prestigious  as  these,  what 
chances  of  survival  would  there 
be  for  the  thousands  of  other  en- 
dangered species  elsewhere  in 
the  world,  animals  less  known, 
even  insignificant,  not  to  mention 
plants  ?  What  hope  would  there 
be  of  keeping  the  naturzil  com- 
munities intact  as  well  as  all  the 
creatures  which  constitute  them; 
mammals,  birds,  fish,  insects  and 
other  invertebrates  from  the 
most  visible  to  the  most  discreet, 
the  most  imposing  to  the  cal- 
mest, the  most  popular  to  the 
least  liked,  the  most  famous  to 
the  most  absurd,  and  upon  what, 
without  exception,  rests  yet  still 
the  very  foundation  of  life  on  our 
planet  ? 

In  a  few  exceptional  sanctua- 
ries, the  last  African  rhinoceros 
still  live  their  peaceful  life,  hee- 
dless of  the  patterns  of  day  and 
night,  seasons  and  years  as  they 
have  always  done  and  could  still 
do  till  the  end  of  time.  On 
condition  that  man  gives  them 
the  chance  to  do  so... 

*  culled  from: 

"Les  Cahiers  d'Ethologie  Appliqui 

1989,9(1):  97-102 

**  Author's  address:  35,rue  Leys 

B-1040  BRUSSELS  (Belgium) 


52 


Les  communautes 
africaines  au 
secours  de  la  faune: 
Texemple  de  la 
Zamble  * 

D.M.  Lewis,  A.  Mwenya  et 
G.B.  Kaweche 


A  notre  ipoque,  la  coexistence 
des  ruraux  avec  la  faune  est  tris 
pricaire  et  nicessite  beaucoup 
d'assistance.  Ritablir  I'equilibre  d 
long  terme  est  une  tdche  enorme 
pour  laquelle  il  ne  suffira  pas  de 
l^giferer  et  de  riprimer.  La  coope- 
ration des  communautes  rurales, 
comme  dans  les  anciens  temps, 
est  essentielle. 


Les  soci6t6s  africaines  tradi- 
tionnelles  vivaient  en  6quilibre 
avec  la  faune.  En  effet,  la  cul- 
ture africaine  attache  une  grande 
importance  ^  la  conservation  de 
Penvironnement  (Hadley,  1985; 
Marks,  1976).  Mais  I'avenement 
des  administrations  coloniales 
centralis6es  a  sap6  le  droit  cou- 
tumier  ainsi  que  I'autoritd  des 
chefs  traditionnels  qui  en  6taient 
les  ddpositaires  (Swift,  1982;  Wil- 
lis, 1985).  Les  administrations 
coloniales  n'ont  pas  pu  mettre  en 
place  d'autres  structures  effi- 
caces  pour  la  conservation  de  la 
faune,  d'oii  une  course  effr6n6e 
vers  la  corne  de  rhinoceros,  I'i- 
voire  et,  d'une  fa9on  g6n6rale,  le 
braconnage. 


Aprds  I'inddpendance,  la  plu- 
part  des  Etats  africains  ont  mai- 
tenu  la  structure  coloniale  cen- 
tralis6e  des  services  de  la  faune 
et  des  pares  nationaux.  Dans  la 
plupart  des  cas,  l'am6nagement 
de  la  faune  se  limitait  k  des  me- 
sures  r6pressives,  qui  ont  mainte- 
nu  une  barridre  entre  les  habi- 
tants des  zones  prot6g6es  ou  du 
voisinage  et  la  faune. 

Pendant  plus  de  10  ans,  la 
2jambie  s'est  attach6e  h.  ram6na- 
gement  de  la  faune  et  plus  pr6ci- 
s6ment  a  la  lutte  contre  le  bra- 
connage, qui  avait  atteint  des 
proportions  alarmantes  (Lewis  et 
Kaweche,  1985;  Lewis,  Kaweche 
et  Mwenya,  1989;  Leder-Wil- 
Uams,  1985).  De  grandes  cam- 
pagnes  de  r6pression  ont  tit  lan- 
c6es  dans  certaines  zones  du 
pays  avec  des  financements 
considerables.  On  avait  beau 
mettre  les  braconniers  en  prison, 
la  destruction  de  la  faune  se 
poursuivait;  dans  certains  cas, 
elle  s'aggravait  meme  (Lewis, 
1986).  Les  pertes  ont  tit  consi- 
derables: quasi-extinction  du  rhi- 
noc6ros  noir,  rdduction  de  plus 
de  50%  de  la  population  d'616- 
phants.  Des  tendances  analo- 
gues ont  tit  observ6es  en  R6pu- 
blique-Unie  de  Tanzanie,  en  Ou- 
ganda,  en  Namibie  et  au  Kenya. 

Alors  meme  que  la  politique 
de  rdpression  continuait  d'etre 
appliqu6e,  le  Service  zambien 
des  pares  nationaux  et  de  la 
faune  a  entrepris  des  6tudes  ex- 
pdrimentales  (Lewis,  Kaweche  et 
Mwenya,  1889)  et  organise  un 


atelier  technique  (Dalai-Clayton 
et  Lewis,  1984)  pour  identifier 
les  causes  profondes  de  la  chasse 
ill6gale.  Ces  efforts  ont  debou- 
ch6  sur  une  nouvelle  politique 
d'amenagement  de  la  faune: 
I'ADMADE,  qui  vise  a  combat- 
tre  ces  causes  (Mwenya,  Ka- 
weche et  Lewis,  1988). 

L'ADMADE,  qui  repose  sur 
la  participation  populaire,  s'est 
xtvt\t&  extremement  efficace. 
Par  exemple,  dans  une  zone  ou  la 
participation  populaire  a  tit  ac- 
tive, le  braconnage  des  61ephants 
a  6te  rdduit  de  plus  de  90%  en 
trois  ans  (Lewis,  Kaweche  et 
Mwenya,  1989),  et  aucun  rhino- 
ceros noir  n'a  6te  tu6  alors  qu'il 
en  existait  suffisamment  pour  at- 
tirer  les  braconniers  (Lewis,  don- 
n6es  non  publi6es).  Ces  r6sultats 
ont  tit  obtenus  pour  un  cout  au 
kilometre  carr6  bien  inferieur  a 
ce  que  beaucoup  d'experts  esti- 
ment  necessaire  pour  assurer 
une  bonne  protection  de  la  faune 
en  Afrique  (Parker,  1984;  Bell  et 
Clarke,  1984). 

Cet  article  presente  tout  d'a- 
bord  certaines  variables  quanti- 
fiables  identifi6es  h.  la  suite  des 
6tudes  ci-dessus  et  de  I'applica- 
tion  de  I'ADMADE  comme  les 
principaux  facteurs  k  prendre  en 
compte  pour  pr6dire  I'intensitd 
du  braconnage  et  les  problemes 
d'am6nagement  de  la  faune  dans 
une  zone  donnde.  Diverses  me- 
thodes  ou  formules  d'amenage- 
ment capables  de  modifier  la  va- 
leur  de  ces  variables,  et  done  de 
r6duire  la  frequence  et  I'intensitd 


53 


du  bracoimage,  sont  pr6sent6es 
ensuite.  L'article  se  termine  par 
un  ensemble  de  principes  direc- 
teurs  qui  pourraient  aider  les 
planificateurs  et  les  responsables 
de  la  faune  africains  a  choisir  les 
options  d'cimenagement  de  la 
faune 

VARIABLES  ET 
RELATIONS  CAUSALES 


Les  ressources  locales 
en  proteines 

La  ou  il  y  a  peu  de  sources 
"16gales"  de  proteines,  les  ruraux 
tendent  k  enfreindre  la  loi  pour 
se  procurer  au  moins  une  ration 
minimale.  En  I'absence  de  re- 
pression, ils  ne  se  limitent  pas  a 
ce  dont  ils  ont  besoin  pour  I'au- 
toconsommation.  Ainsi,  les  villa- 
geois  vivzint  a  proximite  des 
zones  prot6g6es  n'hesitent  pas  a 
y  braconner  malgre  le  risque  d'e- 
tre pris. 

Une  comparaison  entre  deux 
villages  voisins,  tous  deux  situes 
dans  une  zone  infestee  par  la 
mouche  tse-tse,  et  ou  il  n'y  a 
done  pas  d'animaux  domesti- 
ques,  montre  bien  a  quel  point 
I'existence  d'autres  sources  de 
proteines  influe  sur  I'intensite  du 
braconnage  parmi  les  villageois 
vivant  a  proximite  des  zones  pro- 
tegees (Lewis,  1988;  Lewis,  don- 
nces  non  publices).  L'un  de  ces 
villages  est  situe  en  bordure 
d'une  riviere  tres  poissonneuse. 


Dans  I'autre,  I'unique  source  de 
proteines  d'une  certaine  impor- 
tance est  constituee  par  la  faune 
tres  appauvrie  de  la  zone.  Le 
premier  village  compte  beau- 
coup  moins  de  chasseurs  tradi- 
tionnels  que  le  second,  et  le  bra- 
connage y  est  beaucoup  moins 
important. 

Les  possibilites  d'influer  sur 
cette  variable  peuvent  etre  limi- 
tees  et  dependent  des  caracteris- 
tiques  de  la  zone.  Une  option 
possible  consiste  a  developper 
d'autres  sources  de  proteines 
(pisciculture,  cultures  riches  en 
prot6ines,  etc.).  Une  autre  serait 
d'allouer  aux  chasseurs  de  cha- 
que  village  des  quotas  raisonna- 
bles  pour  approvisionner  en 
viande  la  communaute.  Cela  re- 
duirait  la  pression  que  subissent 
les  especes  tout  en  permettantde 
mieux  controler  le  taux  d'exploi- 
tation.  On  peut  meme,  si  cela  est 
souhaitable  du  point  de  vue  de 
I'amenagement,  fixer  le  quota  de 
fagon  a  obtenir  une  augmenta- 
tion des  populations  visees. 


Emploi 

A  mesure  que  les  ressources 
naturelles  s'amenuisent  et  de- 
viennent  moins  accessibles,  les 
soci6tes  rurales  africaines  ont  de 
plus  en  plus  besoin  d'activitds  r6- 
muneratrices.  Comme  il  existe 
un  marche  exterieur  tr^s  porteur 
des  produits  tels  que  viande,  tro- 
phees  (peaux,  cornes,  dents), 
etc.,  I'exploitation  de  la  faune,  16- 
gale  ou  ill^gale  est  bien  tentante 
pour  des  populations  qui  man- 
quent  terriblement  d'argent.  Peu 
instruites,  elles  ignorent  bien 
souvent  la  valeur  marchande 
reelle  des  produits  de  la  faune 
recherch6s  par  la  clientele  etran- 
gere  et  les  troquent  ou  les  ven- 
dent  a  vil  prix. 

Les  possibilites  d'emploi  et 
les  ressources  en  proteines  va- 
rient  d'une  zone  k  I'autre,  mais  il 
est  relativement  facile  de  les  me- 
surer.  Ces  informations  permet- 
tent  de  predire  I'intensite  du  bra- 
connage (voir  figure  1). 
Les  autorites  responsables  de  Ta- 


Disponibilitc 
d'autres 
sources  de 
proteines 


PEU  NOMBREUX 


Emplois 


Figure  1  Intensite  et 
caractere  du  bracon- 
nage en  fonction  des 
disponibilit^s  de  pro 
twines  et  d'emplois 


54 


menagement  de  la  faune  peuvent 
aider  de  plusieurs  fagons  a  ac- 
croitre  I'emploi.  Elles  peuvent 
notamment: 

Employer  pour  I'amenagement 
de  la  faune  line  majorite  d'hahi- 
tants  de  la  zone,  apres  leur  avoir 
donne  une  fonnation  appropriee. 
Un  programme  de  ce  genre  a  6le 
lance  a  litre  experimental  en 
1985  par  le  Service  zambien  dcs 
pares  nationaux  et  de  la  faune 
(Lewis,  Kaweche  et  Mwenya, 
1989).  Les  habitants  ont  alors 
mieux  compris  et  apprecie  I'im- 
portance  de  la  faune,  sa  valeur 
economique  et  la  necessite  d'em- 
pecher  les  non-residents  de  venir 
chasser  illegalement  dans  leur 
zone.  Les  gardes  recrutes  loca- 
lement  pour  proteger  la  faune  de 
leur  chefferie  connaissent  beau- 
coup  mieux  la  terre  et  sont  moins 
enclins  a  I'absenteisme  que  les 
fonctionnaires,  qui  generalement 
proviennent  d'une  autre  region. 
Ces  gardes  villageois  ont  reussi  a 
arreter  beaucoup  plus  de  bra- 
conniers  que  les  gardes  fonction- 
naires, pour  un  cout  bien  moin- 
dre  car  ils  sont  remuncres  selon 
un  barcme  local. 

Promouvoir  des  programmes 
encourageant  les  populations  lo- 
cales a  se  lancer  dans  de  petits  ar- 
tisanat!  bases  sur  I'exploitation 
viable  ou  Vohservation  de  la 
faune.  L'experience  prouve  que 
les  villageois  s'interessent  d'au- 
tant  plus  h.  la  conservation  de  la 
faune  qu'ils  en  tirent  un  rende- 
ment  soutenu.    Dans  ces  condi- 


tions, ils  comprennent  mieux 
I'activite  de  prevention  et  de  re- 
pression des  gardes  recrut6s  lo- 
calement.  Par  exemple,  ils  peu- 
vent spontanement  les  informer 
quand  des  braconniers  pcnetrent 
dans  la  zone,  comme  cela  est  ar- 
rive en  Zambie  (Lewis,  1989). 

Encourager  les  villageois  a  se 
reunir  pour  faire  connaitre  leur 
avis  et  eventuellement  leurs  criti- 
ques QonQQrnQtit  Vammag^mmt 
de  la  faune  locale.  Ces  reunions 
aident  a  combattre  les  prejuges 
et  a  promouvoir  I'autodiscipline 
pour  Tamenagement  et  la  protec- 
tion de  la  faune  (Lewis,  1988  et 
donnees  non  publiees).  Cette 
approche  est  essentiellc  pour 
etablir  entre  les  services  techni- 
ques du  gouvernement  et  les  po- 
pulations locales  une  coopera- 
tion permettant  a  ces  dernieres 
de  tirer  legalement  de  la  faune 
des  avantages  durables  (Mwe- 
nya, Kaweche  et  Lewis,  1988). 

Reconnaissance  du  role 
des  chefs  coutumiers 

Les  chefs  coutumiers  sont  la 
pierre  angulaire  des  societes  ru- 
rales  africaines  et  des  traditions 
qui  donnent  aux  villages  leur  uni- 
te et  leur  ordre.  Autrefois,  ces 
chef  prenaient  les  decisions 
concernant  la  tenure  des  terres 
et  I'acces  aux  ressources  natu- 
relles  dans  Tinteret  commun.  Le 
regime  colonial  et  les  gouverne- 
ments  qui  lui  ont  succede  ont  al- 


ter6  ou  supprim6  ces  pouvoirs 
traditionnels  sans  que  les  admi- 
nistrations centrales  soient  en 
mesure  de  prendre  la  releve  et 
de  faire  appliquer  la  loi  pour 
proteger  la  faune.  D'oii  un  cer- 
cle  vicieux:  comme  les  ressources 
continuent  a  etre  utilisees  de  fa- 
9on  abusive,  la  repression  est 
maintenue,  et  cela  tend  a  reduire 
encore  I'influence  des  chefs  cou- 
tumiers. 

II  faudrait  permettre  aux 
chefs  coutumiers  de  jouer  un 
role  dans  les  programmes  de 
conservation  de  la  faune  des 
gouvernements  modernes  en 
constituant  une  veritable  associa- 
tion entre  ces  deux  autorites. 
C'est  ce  qu'a  reussi  a  faire  I'AD- 
MADE  (Mwenya,  Kaweche  et 
Lewis,  1988)  en  creant  des  comi- 
tes  de  la  faune  dans  chaque  zone 
d'amenagement.  Presides  par  le 
gouverneur  de  district,  ces  comi- 
tes  sont  composes  de  chefs  cou- 
tumiers locaux  et  de  fonction- 
naires specialistes  de  la  faune. 
lis  se  reunissent  periodiquement 
pour  proceder  a  des  echanges  de 
vue  et  adopter  des  poUtiques  d'a- 
menagement pour  la  zone 
concernee.Les  apports  techni- 
ques directs  et  les  investisse- 
ments  peuvent  ainsi  etre  achemi- 
nes  par  les  fiUeres  gouvernemen- 
tales,  tandis  que  les  chefs  coutu- 
miers exercent  leur  influence 
pour  mobiliser  I'appui  et  la  co- 
operation des  populations  lo- 
cales. 

Dans  la  zone  de  Chikwa-Lue- 
lo,  dans  la  vallee  du  Luangwa,  les 


55 


deux  chefs  ont  acceptd  I'AD- 
MADE  qui  leur  conferait  ex  offi- 
cio la  presidence  du  Sous-Comi- 
ty de  gestion  de  la  faune  dans 
leur  chefferie.  Les  sous-comites 
transmettent  les  propositions  et 
les  demandes  de  financement  au 
Comit6  de  gestion  de  la  faune. 
Les  chefs  ont  renforce  leur  auto- 
rit6  en  condamnant  le  bracon- 
nage,  tout  en  assurant  a  leurs 
communautds  qu'elles  rece- 
vraient  leur  juste  part  des  bene- 
fices provenant  de  la  faune  dans 
le  cadre  de  I'ADMADE.  II  a 
suffi  d'un  an  pour  que  le  bracon- 
nage  diminue  beaucoup. 

Le  prestige  des  chefs  a  aug- 
mente  du  fait  qu'ils  avaient  utili- 
s6  leurs  pouvoirs  traditionnels  au 
profit  de  leurs  communautes:  les 
recettes  ont  ete  partag6es 
comme  I'avait  promis  le  Service 
des  pares  nationaux  et  de  la 
faune,  et  des  habitants  de  la  zone 
nonmi6s  gardes  villageois  ont  pu 
gagner  de  I'argent  en  gerant  et 
protdgeant  la  faune  de  la  cheffe- 
rie. Comme  le  braconnage  avait 
deja  diminue  avant  I'entree  en 
fonction  des  gardes  villageois,  ce 
resultat  a  ete  attribue  a  I'in- 
fluence  des  chefs  coutumiers 
(communication  personnelle  de 
Peter  Mwanza,  chef  de  rUnit6 
de  la  zone  de  Chikwa-Luelo). 

Les  chefs  coutumiers  obtien- 
nent  des  resultats  analogues  dans 
plusieurs  autres  zones  d'am6na- 
gement  de  la  faune  ou  I'AD- 
MADE rapporte  des  recettes 
considerables.  Ainsi,  dans  la 
plupart    des    zones    visees    par 


I'ADMADE,  les  comit6s  de  la 
faune  ont  ouvert  des  comptes  de 
developpement  communautaire 
ou  est  versee  la  part  de  recettes 
qui  revient  a  la  communaute.  En 
1988,  cette  part  a  et6  de  230  000 
dollars  U.S.  pour  un  total  de  10 
unitds  de  I'ADMADE.  Afin  de 
garantir  que  les  fonds  soient 
reellement  utilises  comme  le  sou- 
haitent  les  communautes,  les 
projets  ne  peuvent  etre  recom- 
mandes  au  Comite  que  par  les 
sous-comites,  compos6s  essen- 
tiellement  des  chefs  de  villages, 
lesquels  ont  la  signature  pour  les 
comptes  de  developpement  villa- 
geois. 


L'ADMADE  a  fait  ressortir 
clairement  le  role  des  chefs  cou- 
tumiers dans  I'amenagement  de 
la  faune;  cette  formule  est  beau- 
coup  plus  rentable  que  la  gestion 
directe  par  une  administration 
nationale  (voir  figure  2).  Par 
exemple,  dans  les  zones  d'ame- 
nagement  de  la  faune  de  Luano 
et  de  Sichifula-Mulobezi,  les 
chefs  bannissent  les  villageois 
convaincus  de  braconnage  parce 
qu'ils  donnent  le  mauvais  exem- 
ple et  sont  incapables  de  vivre  en 
bonne  harmonic  avec  la  faune. 
La  figure  3  illustre  les  relations 
entre  les  chefs  coutumiers  et  les 
chasseurs  et  I'influence  qu'elles 
peuvent  avoir  sur  le  braconnage. 


Intensit 

d 

Braconnage 


Interruption  des  apports 


Cout  de  i'amenagement 


figure  2:  reduction  de  I'intensit^  de  braconnage  en  fonction  de  raccroissement 
des  depenses  d'amenagement;  comparaison  entre  2  types  d'amenagement: 

a/  emploi  de  fonctionnaires  charges  d'appliquer  des  mesures  de  repression  sans 
participation  locale 

b/  participation  des  populations  locales  sous  I'autorit^  conjonte  des  chefs  coutu- 
miers et  de  {'administration 


56 


Nombre 
de    chasseurs! 
traditionnels 


BRACONNAGE 
INTENSE 

d'especes  de  grande  | 
valeur  marchande  par  des  ! 
chasseurs    de    I'exterieur  j 
utilisant     des     methodes 
non  traditionnelles 


BRACONNAGE 
MODERE 

consistant  essentielle- 1 
ment  en  chasse  de  subsi- 
stance  pratiquee  par  les 
residents;  peu  de  complici- 
te  avec  les  braconniers  de  | 
I'exterieur 


BRACONNAGE 
MODERE 

essentiellement  par  i 
des  braconniers  de  I'exte-  ] 
rieur;  risque  de  participa- 
tion active  des  residents! 
payes  en  especes  ou  en  | 
nature  (viande) 


BRACONNAGE 
FAIBLE  k  MODERE 

Les  residents  sontl 
plus  facilement  complices  | 
des  braconniers  de  I'exte- 
rieur s'ils  ne  peuvent  pas  sel 
procurer  de  viande  ou  d'ar- 1 
gent  de  fagon  legale 


IMPORTANT 


R61e  reconnu  par  le  gouvernement  aux  chefs 
traditionnels  dans  I'amenagement  de  la  faune 


Figure  3  Intensity  de  braconnage  en  fonction  du  r61e  reconnu  par  les 
gouvemements  aux  chefs  traditionnels 


La  faune  comme  source 
de  recettes 

Les  recettes  que  peut  rappor- 
ter  la  faune  sont  un  autre  para- 
metre  important  pour  la  lutte 
centre  le  braconnage.  Premiere- 
ment,  I'amenagement  local  doit 
etre  une  source  de  recettes  suffi- 
sante.  Deuxiemement,  il  faut 
qu'une  bonne  partie  de  ces  re- 
cettes soient  r^investies  sur 
place.  Sans  un  budget  annuel, 
tous  les  r6sultats,  qu'il  s'agisse  de 
la  cr6ation  d'emplois,  des  nou- 
velles  sources  de  prot6ines  ou  de 
la  participation  des  autorites  lo- 
cales resteront  precaires.  Com- 
ment mobiliser  les  populations 


locales  pour  un  programme  dont 
la  continuite  n'est  pas  assuree? 

II  suffit  de  Jeter  un  coup 
d'oeil  sur  les  plans  de  developpe- 
ment  des  pays  africains  pour 
constater  que  la  faune  ne  b6nefi- 
cie  pas  d'une  priorite  trds  elevee 
dans  les  budgets  publics.  Les  t6- 
sultats  du  projet  de  developpe- 
ment  du  Lupande  (Lewis,  Ka- 
weche  et  Mwenya,  1989),  ainsi 
que  I'actuel  programme  AD- 
MADE  (ADMADE,  1988),  indi- 
quent  que  deux  conditions  sont 
essentielles  pour  que  les  popula- 
tions locales  se  mobilisent  dura- 
blement  en  faveur  de  I'amenage- 
ment de  la  faune.  Premierement, 
cet  amdnagement  doit  rapporter 
des  recettes  a  r6chelle  locale. 


deuxiemement,  les  populations 
doivent  participer  non  seulement 
k  la  mise  en  oeuvre  mais  aussi  a 
I'elaboration  du  programme. 

La  validite  de  ces  principcs  k 
I'echelle  nationale  est  illustree 
par  I'ADMADE.  Pendant  les 
exercices  1987  et  1988,  260  000 
dollars,  representant  40%  des  re- 
cettes totales  provenant  de  la 
faune  dans  10  unites  de  I'AD- 
MADE (en  plus  de  I'allocation 
de  base  de  230  000  dollars  dont  il 
est  question  plus  haut),  ont  ete 
reserves  pour  fmancer  les  bud- 
gets de  fonctionnement  et  d'e- 
quipement  approuv6s  par  les  co- 
mites  de  la  faune  de  ces  10  uni- 
tes: exploitation  et  entretien  de  7 
vehicules  de  I'ADMADE,  traite- 
ments  et  indemnites  des  gardes 
villageois  et  des  ouvriers,  force 
publique,  jetons  de  presence  des 
membres  des  comites,  construc- 
tion de  10  nouveaux  campements 
et  de  150  cases  pour  les  gardes 
villageois,  renovation  de  3  mai- 
sons  pour  des  cadres,  construc- 
tion d'un  bureau  d'unite  et  mise 
en  chantier  de  3  autres. 


PRINCIPES 
DIRECTEURS 

On  peut  degager  du  pro- 
gramme de  I'ADMADE  en 
Zambie  certains  principes  direc- 
teurs  qui  pourraient  <iider  les 
planificateurs  et  les  responsables 
a  choisir  les  meilleures  options 
pour  I'amenagement  de  la  faune 
en  Afrique. 


57 


Employer  des  n\ethodes 
de  gestion  previsionnelle 
pour  reduire  le  bracon- 
nage 

Comme  les  divers  paramctres 
qui  conditionnent  le  braconnage 
sont  quantifiables,  on  peut  deter- 
miner la  formule  d'amenagement 
appropriee  en  identifiant  les  pa- 
ramctres pertinents  et  les  modifi- 
cations h  y  apporter.  La  figure  4 
peut  servir  de  base  pour  evaluer 


les  variables  examinees  dans  le 
present  article  afin  de  determi- 
ner un  modele  degestion  appro- 
pride. 

Perseverance  et  sou- 
plesse 

II  ne  faut  pas  s'attendre  que 
les  programmes  d'amenagement 
de  la  faune  reposant  sur  la  parti- 
cipation locale  soient  immcdiate- 
ment  accept6s  par  tous.   Au  de- 


Dispoj 
nibilit^s 
d'autres 
sources  dc 
proteines 


Organiser  loca- 
lement  la  surveil- 
lanc«  de  la  faune 
avec  une  subvention 
de  I'Etat 


Sensibiliser  les  po 
pulations  a  Timporlance 
de  la  conservation  er 
utilisant  k  leur  profit  le; 
recettes   legales   de   la 

faune 

• 

Donner  un  certain 
prestige  aux  habitants 
travaillant  k  I'annenage- 
ment  de  la  faune 

• 
Velller   k   assurer 

aux  gardes  des  remu 

nerations  competitives 


Emplois 
locaux 


Investir  dans  des 
formules  lucratives 
d'amenagement  pour 
developper  i'emploi 
local 

Developper  d'au 
tres  sources  de  pro 
leines 

Etablir  des  quo 
tas  viables  et  employe 
des  chasseurs  tradi 
tionnels  pour  e^^provi- 
sionner  les  consom 
mateurs  locaux 


• 
Employer 
maximum  des  gardes 
villageois  remuneres 
grace  aux  recettes  pro- 
venant  de  la  faune 

• 

Prouver  aux   po 
pulations   locales  qu 
I'exploitation  legale  de 
la  faune  rapporte  plus 
que  le  braconnage 


Rentabiiit^  potentielle  de  la  faune 


Figure  4  Mesures  d'amenagement  appropriees  en  fonction  de  trois 
parametres  influant  sur  I'inlensit^  du  braconnage  (voir  fig.!  et  3 


but,  les  moniteurs  locaux  ris- 
quent  d'etre  mis  sur  le  meme 
pied  que  les  administrations  pre- 
c6demment  chargees  d'appliquer 
les  lois  sur  la  faune  et  d'etre  ren- 
dus  responsables  de  leurs  er- 
reurs  (Lewis,  1989).  Ainsi, 
meme  s'il  est  potentiellement 
tres  avantageux  pour  la  commu- 
naute,  le  programme  risque 
d'etre  mal  accueilli.  Pour  le  faire 
accepter,  le  moniteur  doit  faire 
preuve  de  patience  et  de  perse- 
v6rance.  II  doit  etre  sensible  aux 
besoins  et  aux  aspirations  des 
populations  locales  et  doit  bien 
connaitre  les  antecedents  et  les 
coutumes  tribales.  Comment  les 
populations  se  mobiliseraient- 
elles  pour  un  programme  qui 
leur  est  impose  de  but  en  blanc 
et  dont  elles  ne  comprennent  pas 
les  avantages? 

L'utilisation  legale  de  la 
faune  doit  etre  rentable 

La  rentabilte  du  braconnage 
est  un  des  facteurs  les  plus  im- 
portants  qui  determinent,  pour 
chaque  esp5ce,  I'intensite  de  la 
chasse  illegale.  Tous  les  animaux 
n'ont  pas  la  meme  valeur  com- 
merciale;  les  cephalophes  et  les 
grysboks,  par  exemple,  rappor- 
tent  beaucoup  moins  que  les  ele- 
phants ou  les  rhinoceros.  Un 
programme  efficace  de  lutte 
contre  le  braconnage  avec  la  par- 
ticipation des  populations  locales 
peut  r6duire  la  chasse  illegale, 
mais  il  est  important  qu'il  soit 


58 


complete  par  des  mesures  pro- 
pres  a  maximiser  les  profits  qui 
peuvent  etre  retires  legalement 
des  animaux  les  plus  recherches, 
et  a  assurer  qu'une  partie  suffi- 
sante  de  ces  profits  revienne  aux 
coramunautes  locales  pour  inci- 
ter celles-ci  k  appuycr  la  loi  et 
pour  financer  le  cout  de  I'amena- 
gement.  Ce  genre  de  formule  a 
toutes  chances  d'etre  bien  accep- 
tee  puisque  I'utilisation  legale  de 
la  faune  rapportera  plus  que  la 
complicite  avec  les  braconniers 
(voir  tableau  page  18). 

Le  succes  de  I'ADMADE  en 
Zambie  illustre  bien  les  nom- 
breux  avantages  de  cette  me- 
thode  (Lewis,  Kaweche  et  Mwe- 
nya,  1989;  Mwenya,  Kaweche  et 
Lewis,  1988;  ADMADE,  1988). 
Par  exemple,  dans  la  zone  d'a- 
mcnagement  de  la  faune  du  Bas 
Lupande,  les  chefs  de  village  ont 
identifie  plusieurs  moyens  d'a- 
meliorer  Tamenagement  de  la 
faune  pour  accroitre  les  recettes 
et  spontanement  offcrt  d'infor- 
mer  les  gardes  villageois  si  des 
braconniers  penetraient  dans  la 
zone.  Une  autre  fois,  ils  ont  fait 
observe  que  les  safaris  de  chasse, 
qui  sont  la  plus  importante 
source  de  recettes  legales, 
tuaient  trop  de  lions  males  et  ont 
sugger6  qu'on  reduise  le  nombre 
de  lions  chasses,  les  remplagant 
au  besoin  par  des  honnes.  Du 
point  de  vue  de  I'amdnagement, 
c'6tait  une  excellente  suggestion; 
cela  montre  a  quel  point  I'ame- 
nagement  est  faciUte  quand  la 
population  locale  I'accepte  et  se 


rend  compte  qu'il  peut  etre  pour 
elle  une  source  durable  de  re- 
cettes. 

Un  autre  exemple  montre 
que  la  perspective  de  gains  dura- 
bles aide  a  resoudre  tres  rapide- 
ment  les  problemes  d'amenage- 
ment.  Les  feux  de  brousse  allu- 
mes  en  fin  de  saison,  quand  le 
fourrage  est  sec,  reduisent  la  ca- 
pacite  de  charge  en  faune.  II  a 
suffi  d'avertir  les  chefs  que  les 
quotas  de  chasse,  et  done  les  re- 
cettes locales  et  la  production  de 
viande,  risquaient  d'etre  reduits, 
pour  qu'ils  conseillent  aux  villa- 
geois de  ne  pas  allumer  de  feux 
trop  tard  dans  la  saison. 


Les  avantages  que  rap- 
porte  ramenagement  doi- 
vent  atteindre  un  certain 
seuil 

La  relation  entre  I'emploi 
cree  localement  par  I'amenage- 
ment  de  la  faune  et  la  reduction 
du  braconnage  n'est  pas  lineaire 
dans  les  zones  oil  il  y  a  peu  d'em- 
plois  pour  les  ruraux  (voir  figure 
5).  L'exemple  de  la  Zambie 
montre  que,  quand  I'amcnage- 
ment  de  la  faune  profite  a  un 
trop  petit  nombre  d'habitants  de 
la  zone,  les  autres  sont  hostiles 
au  programme  et  en  entravent 
I'application  (Lewis,  1989,  don- 
nees  non  publiees).   Mais  quand 


Intensite 

de 

braconnage 


Reaction  d'envie  quand  les  b6n6fices 
sont  r6serv6s  k  un  petit  nombre 


Seuil  d'efficacit6: 
effet  de  pression 


Pourccntagc  des  habitants  d'unc  zone  tirant      ^^ 
des  benefices  de  I'amcnagement  de  la  faune      ^ 


Figure  5  Modifications  de  I'intensite  de  braconnage  en  fonction  du  pourcentage 
des  habitants  de  la  zome  qui  tirent  des  benefices  d'un  programme  d'am^na- 
gement  encourageant  I'utilisation  legale  de  la  faune 


59 


les  b6n6ficiaires  sont  assez  nom- 
breux,  ils  font  pression  en  faveur 
d'une  utilisation  legale  de  la 
faune  et  Tintensitd  du  bracon- 
nage  diminue  rapidement. 

L'emploi  local  cr66  par  le 
projet  pilote  du  Lupande  dans  le 
cadre  de  I'ADMADE  s'est  limit6 
d'abord  aux  seuls  gardes  villa- 
geois.  Peu  a  peu,  le  braconnage 
diminuant,  on  s'est  efforc6  de 
cr6er  d'autres  emplois  locaux  en 
developpant  I'utilisation  viable  et 
legale  de  la  faune.  Au  bout  de 
trois  ans,  il  y  avait  il  y  avait  trois 
foir  plus  de  personnes  gagnant 
ainsi  leur  vie  que  de  gardes  villa- 
geois  (Lewis,  Kaweche  et  Mwe- 
nya,  1989;  Lewis,  donn6es  non 
publi6es),  et  le  braconnage  6tait 
devenu  ndgligeable.  Les  en- 
quetes  ont  r6v616  que  les  villa- 
geois  6taient  d6sireux  de  dissua- 
der  les  braconniers  d'entrer  dans 
leur  zone  et  prets  h  appuyer  les 
gardes  villageois  (Lewis,  1988). 

Utiliser  les  exemples  de 
succes 

Un  programme  qui  r6ussit  k 
r6duire  les  effets  des  variables 
influant  sur  le  braconnage  pent 
aussi  servir  de  catalyseur  pour 
amorcer  des  am61iorations  dans 
les  zones  voisines.  Ce  qui  s'est 
pass6  en  ZLambie  montre  que 
I'information  circule  vite  entre 
communaut6s  voisines  et  que  le 
succes  est  contagieux.  Cela  per- 
met  d'61argir  le  programme  sans 
ddpenses  suppl6mentaires.  Ainsi, 


en  1989,  deux  ans  seulement 
apr5s  le  lancement  de  I'AD- 
MADE, deux  chefs  qui  n'6taient 
pas  compris  dans  le  programme 
ont  demand^  officiellement  que 
leur  chefferie  soit  classde  comme 
zone  d'am6nagement  de  la  faune 
relevant  de  I'ADMADE.  En  ef- 
fet,  le  Service  des  Pares  Natio- 
naux  et  de  la  Faune  ne  pent  utili- 
ser des  fonds  publics  que  dans 
les  zones  d'am6nagement. 

Pour  maximiser  cet  effet  de 
contagion,  il  faut  choisir,  au  d6- 
but,  des  zones  oil  le  potentiel  de 
la  faune  est  relativement  61ev6  et 
pers6v6rer  jusqu'^  ce  que  les 
avantages  soient  pleinement  re- 
connus  par  la  commaunaut6,  afm 
que  I'exemple  soit  convaincant 
pour  les  communautds  voisines. 

La  zone  amenagee  peut 
avoir  un  effet  tampon 

La  mobilisation  des  popula- 
tions locales  pour  I'am^nage- 
ment  de  la  faune  k  proximit6  des 
zones  prot6g6es  et  des  pares  na- 
tionaux  peut  r6duire  consid6ra- 
blement  le  coiit  de  la  surveillance 
de  ces  derniers.  A  mesure  que  le 
souci  de  conserver  la  faune  se 
generalise,  il  devient  de  plus  en 
plus  difficile  aux  braconniers  de 
trouver  des  complicit6s  sur  place 
(Lewis,  Kaweche  et  Mwenya, 
1989;  ADMADE,  1988). 


Organiser  la  protection 
des  zones  inhabitees 

Un  habitat  qui  convient  k  la 
faune  n'est  pas  n6cessairement 
propice  au  peuplement  humain. 
II  existe  done  beaucoup  de  zones 
riches  en  faune  mais  inhabit6es. 
Pour  assurer  leur  protection,  il 
est  int6ressant  de  mobiliser  les 
communaut6s  les  plus  proches 
en  leur  donnant  le  sentiment  que 
c'est  leiu"  propre  richesse 
qu'elles  protdgeront.  II  sera  ainsi 
facile  de  trouver  le  personnel  n6- 
cessaire  pour  am6nager  la  zone 
et  aussi  d'en  tirer  de  fagon  dura- 
ble un  ma»mum  de  recettes 
pour  financer  les  couts  d'amdna- 
gement  et  rapporter  des  avan- 
tages k  la  communautd. 

Eviter  les  surencheres 

Beaucoup  d'amis  de  la  nature 
s'offrent  k  aider  b6n6volement  k 
am6nager  la  faune  en  Afrique. 
LeiU"  aide  est  souvent  pr6cieuse, 
mais  les  modalit6s  de  la  collabo- 
ration de  ces  volontaires  avec  les 
autorit6s  nati(Hiales  sont  rare- 
ment  ddfinies  de  fa^on  precise. 
Quand  des  organisations  non 
gouvernementales  riches  pren- 
nent  des  initiatives  non  coordon- 
n6es,  il  risque  d'y  avoir  des 
conflits  avec  I'administration  lo- 
cale. D'oii  le  danger  de  rivalit6 
et  d'utilisation  inefficace  des 
fonds  disponibles  pour  la  conser- 
vation de  la  faune.  Ces  conflits 
peuvent  entrainer  une  mauvaise 


60 


allocation  des  ressources  de  la 
part  des  donateurs  exterieurs. 

Bien  plus,  ils  risquent  de  de- 
moraliser  les  6cologistes  profes- 
sioimels  des  service  officiels  d'a- 
menagement  de  la  faune.  Tout 
cela  peut  en  definitive  rendre 
inefficace  la  lutte  contre  le  bra- 
connage  a  cause  notamment  de 
la  lenteur  des  interventions,  de  la 
mauvaise  coordination  avec  les 
autres  organisations  officielles  et 
de  la  difficulte  de  controler  le 
personnel  subalterne.  La  confu- 
sion rcgne  ct  le  braconnagc  re- 
double. Comme  quoi  I'enfer  est 
pav6  de  bonnes  intentions:  c'est 
justement  I'effort  de  conserva- 
tion qui  provoque  tous  ces  pro- 
blcmes. 

II  est  essentiel  que  les  orga- 
nisraes  donateurs  et  les  organisa- 
tions non  gouvernementales  ap- 
puicnt  sans  reticence  les  autori- 
tes  nationales,  afin  que  cclles-ci 
puissent  avoir  toute  Tautorile 
voulue  pour  faire  respecter  la  loi 
et  executer  les  programmes  d'a- 
menagement  de  la  faune. 


CONCLUSION 

Les  parametres  qui  influent 
sur  I'intensite  du  braconnage  et 
sur  I'intensite  du  braconnage  et 
sur  les  autres  problemes  d'ame- 
nagement  de  la  faune  en  Afrique 
sont  identifiables  et  modifiables. 
Leur  modification  coute  moins 
cher  si  les  interventions  sont  gui- 
dees  par  les  valeurs  et  traditions 
africaines  et  par  un  service  des 


pares  nationaux  sensible  aux  be- 
soins  des  populations  locales. 
Cette  approche  de  la  conserva- 
tion, dont  I'efficacite  a  6te  prou- 
vee  en  Zambie  par  un  projet  pi- 
lote,  et  qui  a  ete  ensuite  appli- 
quee  dans  tout  le  pays,  pourrait 
etre  etcndue  a  d'autres  pcirties 
de  I'Afrique.  Le  succes  depend 
avant  tout  de  la  mobilisation  des 
chefs  coutumiers  a  I'appui  des 
utilisations  legales  de  la  faune 
qui  rapportent  des  benefices 
commerciaux,  ainsi  que  de  la 
participation  des  populations  lo- 
cales aux  activites  d'amenage- 
ment. 

Cette  approche  reposant  sur 
la  participation  populaire  et  sur 
le  recyclage  des  recettes  tirees 
de  la  faune  pour  financer  le  d6- 
veloppemcnt  local  et  I'amenage- 
ment  meme  de  cette  faune  est 
pragmatique  et  rentable.  Pour- 
tant,  dans  la  majeure  partie  de 
I'Afrique,  la  conservation  de  la 
faune  est  encore  essentiellement 
tributaire  des  financements  exte- 
rieurs. Ces  financements  bien 
intentionnes,  si  indispensables 
soient-ils,  ont  pree  une  depen- 
dance  qui  a  empeche  d'adopter 
des  formulcs  d'amenagement  ca- 
pables  de  s'autofinancer  et  repo- 
sant sur  une  utilisation  viable  de 
la  faune.  Souvent,  les  proposi- 
tions de  projet  comportent  des 
budgets  considerables  afin  d'in- 
teresser  les  donateurs.  A  cote  de 
ces  apports  massifs  de  fonds,  on 
a  tendance  a  ne  pas  tenir  compte 
de  I'importance  des  ressources 
d'origine  locale  pour  le  finance- 


ment  des  programmes  commu- 
nautaires  d'amenagement  de  la 
faune.  De  plus,  les  projets  finan- 
ces par  des  dons  ext6rieurs  im- 
portants  ne  permettent  pas  en 
general  de  resoudre  definitive- 
ment  les  problemes,  car  les  ap- 
ports ne  sont  pas  maintenus  in- 
definiment.  II  est  essentiel  que 
les  apports  exterieurs  fournis 
pour  I'amenagement  de  la  faune 
soient  etroitement  coordonn6s 
avec  les  efforts  visant  a  mobiliser 
durablement  la  participation 
locale. 

Article  repris  de  Unasylva, 
Vol.41,  n°161,pp  11-20 


61 


NOTES  SUR  LES 
CEPHALOPHES  DE 
SIERRA  LEONE 


par  V  J.  Wilson 
et  B.L.P.  Wilson* 


RESUME 


En  ddcembre  1988,  une  breve 
expedition  effectuee  en  Sierra 
Leone  (Afrique  de  I'Ouest)  dans 
le  cadre  du  programme  de  la  D6- 
cennie  Panafricaine  pour  la  Re- 
cherche sur  les  Cephalophes  a 
donn6  des  rdsultats  tr^s 
concluants.  Jusqu'au  moment  oil 
la  visite  fut  effectu6e,  aucun  sp6- 
cimen  scientifique  de  c6pha- 
lophe  de  Jentink  (Cephalophus 
jentinki)  n'avait  encore  6t6  enre- 
gistr6.  Et  meme  s'il  y  avait  des 
raisons  de  croire  k  I'existence  de 
I'espdce  en  Sierra  Leone,  un  s6- 
rieux  doute  planait  encore  sur 
son  statut  r6el.  L'6tude  men6e 
confirme  la  decouverte  en  sep- 
tembre  1988  par  Davies  et  Bir- 
kenhagen  de  la  presence  d'une 
colonic  viable  de  cette  esp^ce 
sur  la  P6ninsule  de  Freetown, 
dans  la  Reserve  Forestidre  de  la 
Region  Occidentale  de  Sierra 
Leone.  Dans  un  village,  on  a  ob- 
tenu  d'un  chasseur  quelques 
paires  de  cornes  de  c6phalophes 
de  Jentink.  La  decouverte  non 
loin  de  la  capitale  Freetown 
d'une  espece  aussi  rare  et  de  sur- 


croit  menac6e  d'extinction  est 
d'une  port6e  considerable.  Vu 
qu'on  y  trouve  au  moins  trois  si- 
non  quatre  esp6ces  de  cepha- 
lophes de  foret,  la  region  devrait 
pouvoir  bdneficier  du  statut  de 
Pare  National.  Des  observations 
sur  les  neuf  espdces  de  cepha- 
lophes de  Sierra  Leone  ont  ega- 
lement  ete  relevees. 


INTRODUCTION 


L'un  des  objectifs  du  Pro- 
gramme de  la  Decennie  Panafri- 
caine pour  la  recherche  sur  les 
cephalophes  initie  par  la  Fonda- 
tion  Chipangali  pour  la  Faune 
(Zimbabwe)  vise  k  etablir,  h  par- 
tir  de  recherches  systematiques, 
le  statut  et  la  carte  de  repartition 
des  espdces  de  cephalophes  les 
plus  rares  vivant  dans  les  zones 
forestieres  du  continent  africain. 

Selon  Wilson  (1987),  toute 
politique  serieuse  en  matidre  de 
conservation  et  d'utilisation  des 
ressources  forestieres  et  de  leur 
faune  et  fltffe  doit  etre  precedee 
d'enquetes  minutieuses. 

C'est  k  ce  genre  de  re- 
cherches que  se  hvre,  k  I'heure 
actuelle,  la  Fondation  Chipangali 
pour  la  Faune  au  Zimbabwe  qui 
s'impUque  aussi  activement  dans 
des  projets  de  recherche  simi- 
laires  dans  d'autres  pays  afri- 
cains. 

L'avenir  des  forets  tropicales 
humides  et  autres  ecosyst^mes 
des  zones  tropicales  ne  sera  as- 


sure que  lorsque  les  populations 
qui  vivent  des  ressources  des  fo- 
rets seront  en  mesure  de  pro- 
duire,  plus  qu'elles  n'en  ont  be- 
soin  pour  leur  survie,  de  la  nour- 
riture  et  autres  biens  de  consom- 
mation.  Nous  avons  un  grand 
besoin  d'informations  precises 
dans  des  domaines  et  zones  criti- 
ques, pendant  que  nous  dispo- 
sons  encore  de  forets  tropicales 
humides  (Wilson  1987).  Ayjmt 
cet  objectif  k  I'esprit,  le  chef  d'e- 
quipe  de  recherche  a  eiabore  en 
decembre  1987,  de  concert  avec 
I'UICN  k  Gland  (Suisse),  un  plan 
d'action  pour  la  Protection  des 
cephalophes.  II  s'agissait  d'ob- 
tenir  des  informations  plus  pre- 
cises sur  un  certain  nombre  de 
pays,  dont  la  Sierra  Leone.  Wil- 
son (1987)  a  indique  que  les  ce- 
phalophes de  Jentink  et  de  Ogil- 
by  etaient  probablement  les  es- 
pdces  d'antilope  les  plus  rares  et 
les  moins  coimues  vivant  dans  les 
forets  denses  de  I'Afrique 
Occidentale.  Selon  I'auteur,  ces 
espdces  vivent  cachees  dans  des 
endroits  k  habitat  dense,  ce  qui 
rend  difficile  toute  etude  k  ca- 
ractere  scientifique.  Or  elles 
pourraient  disparailre  avant 
meme  de  Uvrer  quelques  infor- 
mations sur  leurs  habitudes,  leur 
comportement  et  leur  ecologie 
(WUson  1987). 

L'ebauche  n*3  du  Red  Data 
Book  (novembre  1984)  consa- 
cree  aux  donnees  relatives  au  ce- 
phalophe  de  Jentink  stipulait 
"qu'une  enquete  s'av^re  neces- 
saire  pour  determiner  avec  plus 


62 


de  pr6cision  la  repartition  et  le 
statut  de  I'esp^ce  dans  la  pers- 
pective de  recommandations  de 
strai6gies  en  matidre  de  conser- 
vation". 

Plusieurs  especes  de  cepha- 
lophes,  dont  celle  de  Jentink, 
pourraient  etre  menac6es  de  dis- 
parition.  II  a  6t6  prevu  que  le 
Programme  pour  la  D6cennie 
Panafricaine  pour  la  Recherche 
sur  les  cephzilophes  fournisse  de 
nouvelles  donn6es  pour  I'eta- 
bUssment  de  Ustes  correctes  dans 
les  documents  de  references  du 
CITES  et  le  "Red  Data  Book". 
L'objectif  premier  du  projet  de- 
meure  toutefois  de  proraouvoir 
la  conservation  des  diverses  es- 
peces d'antilopes  d'Afrique,  sur- 
tout  que  la  chasse  commerciale 
pour  la  "viande  de  brousse"  s'in- 
tensifie  et  que  la  destruction 
massive  de  I'habitat  se  r6pand. 

Tant  Wilson  (1987)  que  d'au- 
tres  auteurs  tels  que  Jones 
(1966),  Davies  (1987),  etc.,  ont 
6voque  la  possibility  que  le  c6- 
phalophe  de  Jentink  existe  en 
Sierra  Leone,  mais  aucune 
preuve  n'a  et6  avancee  qui  per- 
mettrait  d'affirmer  qu'on  peut 
rencontrer  I'espdce  dans  le  pays. 

L'6quipe  de  recherche  a  tou- 
jours  manifest6  le  desir  de  se 
rendre  en  Sierra  Leone  pour 
confirmer  ou  infirmer  I'existence 
de  I'espdce  de  Jentink  (Wilson 
1987).  L'occasion  lui  6tait  of- 
ferte  en  avril  1988,  lorsque  Mr 
John  Waugh  de  la  Soci6t6  de 
Conservation  de  la  Nature  de 
Sierra  Leone  6crivit  au  chef  de 


r6quipe  en  ces  termes:  "Au  cours 
de  mes  recherches  sur  les  res- 
sources  de  la  R6serve  Foresti^re 
de  la  Region  Occidentale,  j'ai 
d6couvert  des  indices  soUdes 
tendant  k  prouver  I'existence  de 
nos  jours  du  c6phalophe  de  Jen- 
tink sur  les  montagnes  de  la  r6- 
serve".  Et  I'auteur  de  la  lettre 
d'aj  outer  que  "le  rehef  accident6 
rend  inaccessible  cette  vaste 
zone  montagneuse  ou  I'espdce  a 
et6  reper6e". 

En  d6cembre  1988,  une  mis- 
sion de  recherche  se  rendit  en 
Sierra  Leone,  grace  aux  disposi- 
tions prises  par  Mr  Samuel  Mu- 
sa-Jcunbawai  (un  autre  responsa- 
ble  de  la  soci6t6  Sierra  Leonaise 
pour  la  Conservation  de  la  Na- 
ture. La  mission  avait  pour  but 
d'etabUr  la  preuve  que  I'espece 
de  Jentink  existe  dans  la  Reserve 
Forestiere  de  la  R6gion  Occi- 
dentale sur  la  Peninsule  de  Free- 
town. 

Dans  sa  lettre  d'invation,  Mr 
Samuel  Musa-Jambawai  affirme 
avoir  tu6  par  balle  un  c6pha- 
lophe  male  de  I'espdce  de  Jen- 
tink en  1960  dans  la  foret  de  Go- 
la.  C'etait  I'un  des  deux  cepha- 
lophes  qu'il  vit  personnellement 
et  le  premier  signe  positif  de  la 
pr6sence  de  cette  espece  en  Sier- 
ra Leone.  Mais  la  premiere 
preuve  concluante  de  I'existence 
de  cephalophe  de  Jentink  en 
Sierra  Leone  fut  6tabUe  en  sep- 
tembre  1988  par  Davies  et  Bir- 
kenhager  (sous  presse).  Selon 
les  auteurs,  cette  espece  existe 


dans  la  partie  mdridionale  de  la 
P6ninsule  de  Freetown. 

Dans  son  "Guide  de  la  Sierra 
Leone"  (1925),  Goddard  affir- 
mait:  "En  ce  qui  concerne  les 
antilopes,  il  n'existe  pas  moins  de 
quatorze  espdces  differentes  r6- 
pertoriees  en  Sierra  Leone.  Par- 
mi  elles,  la  famille  des  c6pha- 
lophes  est  fortement  representee 
comme  le  montre  la  Uste  sui- 
vante: 

c6ph.  k  dos  jaune  (C.  sylvicultor) 
ceph.  a  flancs  roux  (C.  rufilatus) 
ceph.  zebre  (C.  doriae) 
ceph.  de  Maxwell  (C.  maxwelli) 
c6ph.  de  Jentink  (C  jentinki) 
c6ph.      noir  (C.        niger) 

c6ph.     bai  (C.       dorsalis) 

c^ph.  d'Ogilby  (C.  Ogilbyi) 
antilope  royale  {Meet,  pygmaeus) 
cobe  defassa  (Cobus  defassa  onc- 
tuosus) 

cobe  de  Buffon  {Cobus  Kob) 
bongo  (Tragelaphus  euryceros) 
guib  harnach6  (Tragelaphus 
scriptus  typicus) 

chevrotain  aquatique  (Dorcathe- 
rium  aquaticum) 

Des  huit  especes  de  cepha- 
lophes  ci-dessus  mentionnees, 
les  plus  courantes  sont  le  cepha- 
lophe noir  et  le  c6phalophe  de 
Maxwell  (commun6ment  appel6s 
"chevre  de  brousse"  et  "fritam- 
bou"  par  les  Cr6oles)  qu'on  ren- 
contre partout  en  Sierra  Leone 
dans  des  endroits  oil  pousse  un 
couvert  vegetal  abondant,  de 
preference  dans  les  sous-bois  des 
forets.  Le  magnifique  cepha- 
lophe h.  flancs  roux,  de  petite 


63 


taille,  se  rencontre  dans  la  plu- 
part  des  r6gions  du  nord  du  pays. 
Les  cinq  autres  espdces  sont 
rares  et  si  de  temps  k  autre  les 
Europ6ens  peuvent  entrer  en 
possession  de  leurs  peaux  (celle 
du  c6phalophus  z6br6  est  parti- 
culidrement  pris6e),  il  ne  leur  ar- 
rive pas  souvent  d'en  rencontrer 
de  vivant. 

Stanley  (1928)  reprit  mot  k 
mot  les  donn^es  foumies  par 
Goddard  (1925);  plus  encore,  il 
donna  la  meme  liste  d6]k  6tablie 
par  Goddard.  Toutefois,  il  existe 
une  difference  de  taille  dans  les 
afHrmations  de  I'un  et  I'autre. 
Selon  Goddard  (1925),  "les  es- 
p^ces  les  plus  courantes  sont  le 
c^phalophe  noir  et  le  c6pha- 
lophe  de  Maxwell",  alors  que 
Stanley  (1928)  6crit:  "Des  huit  es- 
pdces  de  c6phalopliin6s,  le  c6- 
phalophe  de  Maxwell  et  le  c6- 
phalophe  de  Jentink  sont  les  es- 
pdces  les  plus  r6pandues." 

Et  Stanley  (op.  cit)  d'ajouter: 
"la  pratique  du  syst6me  de  cul- 
ture par  rotation,  consistant  en 
une  mise  en  jach^re  des  terrains 
de  culture  pour  une  p6riode  de 
cinq  k  six  ans  afin  de  favoriser  la 
formation  d'un  convert  v6g6tal 
dense  et  imp6n6trable,  assure 
une  admirable  protection  natu- 
relle  de  ces  deux  espdces  de  c6- 
phalophes  de  foret.  Pour  les 
chasses,  les  chasseurs  indigenes 
utilisent  une  tedmique  qui 
consiste  k  les  attirer  hors  de  leur 
refuge  en  imitant  leur  cri.  La 
meme  m6tliode  est  utilis6e  pour 


chasser  les  autres  espdces  rares 
sus-mentionn6es. 

Sur  la  base  de  ce  qui  pr6c6de, 
il  apparait  done  clairement 
qu'une  erreur  a  bien  pu  se  glisser 
dans  Particle  de  Stanley  (1928)  et 
que,  au  lieu  de  "Jentink",  Ton  de- 
vrait  lire  "Noir". 

Quelques  ann6es  plus  tard, 
Montague  (1959)  dcrit  au  chapi- 
tre  III  (Mammif^res)  d'une  6di- 
tion  revue  et  corrig6e  du  "Guide 
de  la  Sierra  Leone"  ce  qui  suit: 
"Dans  les  forets  et  les  buissons 
des  zones  cultiv6es,  I'espdce  la 
plus  couramment  rencontr6e  est 
le  cdphalophe  gris  de  Maxwell 
(Cephalophus  maxwelli)  alors 
que  le  cdphalophe  k  flancs  roux 
(Cephalophus  rufllatus)  marqu6 
d'une  large  bande  grise  sur  le 
dos  vit  dans  la  savanne  et  les 
zones  de  culture  en  bordure  de 
foret.  La  seule  esp6ce  rencon- 
tr6e  partout  dans  la  r6gion  est  le 
c^phalophe  noir  (Cephalophus 
niger),  appel6  localement  "ch6- 
vre  de  brousse",  qui  vit  en  zone 
de  foret  et  a  un  pelage  marron 
sombre.  Parmi  les  quelques  es- 
pdces  rares,  on  citera  le  c6pha- 
lophe  z6br6  (Cephalophus  zebra). 
Cette  esp^ce,  qu'on  ne  trouve 
que  dans  la  zone  foresti^re  de 
Gola  et  au  Liberia  voisin,  est  trds 
remarquable  par  sa  robe  roux 
pale  z6br6e  d'une  douzaine  de 
large  bandes  noires  traversant 
son  dos  de  haut  en  bas.  Aucune 
mention  n'a  €t6  faite  de  I'espdce 
de  c6phalophe  de  Jentink  par 
I'auteur  de  la  communication. 


Dans  ses  "Notes  sur  les  Mam- 
mif^res  les  plus  courants  en  Sier- 
ra Leone",  Jones  (1966)  foumit 
mot  pour  mot  les  memes  infor- 
mations que  celles  d6}k  donn6es 
par  Montague.  Mais  il  ajouta  ce 
qui  suit:  "cependant  I'auteur  n'a 
pu  ni  ddcouvrir  des  indices  pr6- 
ds  pas  plus  qu'il  n'est  tomb6  sur 
des  sp6cimens  de  c6phalophe  de 
Jentink  (Cephalophus  jentinfd) 
ou  de  c6phalophe  d'Ogilby  (Ce- 
phalophus offlbyi).  En  outre,  au- 
cun  sp6cimen  d'origine  sierra 
leonaise  n'existe  au  Mus6e 
d'Histoire  Naturelle  de  Londres. 

Jones  (conununication  per- 
sonnelle),  qui  passa  de  longues 
ann6es  en  Sierra  Leone,  afHrmait 
n'avoir  jamais  entendu  parler  de 
I'existence  du  cephalophe  de 
Jentink,  ni  en  avoir  rencontrd 
dans  le  pays.  Dans  ime  lettre  aux 
auteurs,  il  dcrivit:  "Si  I'espdce  de 
Jentink  avait  6t6  aussi  r6pandue 
qu'on  le  dit,  les  officiers  de  I'ar- 
m6e  k  Daru,  qui  chassaient  beau- 
coup  dans  la  region  de  I'Ouest  k 
r6poque  de  Stanley  et  en- 
voyaient  les  specimens  trouves 
au  Mus6e  d'Histoire  Naturelle 
de  Londres,  en  auraient  certai- 
nement  rencontr6  un. 

Toboku-Metzger  (1979)  fit 
une  mention  brdve  de  I'existence 
du  c6phalophe  de  Jentink  en 
Sierra  Leone,  mais  sans  fournir 
de  donn6e  positive  ou  originale. 
Robinson  (1971)  declara:  "Le  ce- 
phalophe de  Jentink  (Cephalo- 
phus jentinki),  dont  la  distribu- 
tion est  la  plus  restrainte  parmi 
toutes  les  espdces  de  c6phalophi- 


64 


n6s,  ne  se  trouve  qu'zl  I'Est  du  Li- 
beria et  k  rOuest  de  la  Cote  d'l- 
voire,  oii  sa  distribution  est  cen- 
tr6e  sur  la  riviere  Cavally".  Une 
fois  de  plus,  Robinson  (1971)  ci- 
tait  Kuhn  (1%5).  De  meme, 
Wilkinson  (1974)  inclut  dans  sa 
liste  le  c6phalophe  d'Abott  (Ce- 
phalophus  spadix)  parmi  les 
mammifdres  de  Sierra  Leone. 
Nous  estimons  que  c'est  \k  une 
erreur  de  sa  pait  et  que  Ton  de- 
vrait  lire  c6phalophe  k  dos  jaune 
{Cephalophus  sylvicultor)  d^s 
lors  que,  selon  toute  vraisem- 
blance,  Wilkinson  n'aurait  eu  au- 
cune  raison  de  supposer  que  le 
c^phalophe  de  Jentink  existait. 


LA  ZONE  ETUDIEE 

Sierra  Leone :  Generali- 
tes      (voir  carte  page27) 

La  R6publique  de  Sierra 
Leone,  un  des  plus  petits  pays 
d'Afrique,  s'6tire  entre  la  Guin6e 
et  le  Liberia  et  est  limit^e  au  Sud 
par  rOc6an  Atlantique.  Avec 
une  population  de  plus  de  quatre 
millions  d'habitants,  la  Sierra 
Leone  est  le  cinqui6me  pays  le 
plus  dens6ment  peupl6  parmi  les 
pays  africains  subsahariens.  EUe 
couvre  une  superficie  d'environ 
726  000  km^  (soit  28  000  mille^). 
C'est  un  pays  de  plaines  et  de 
collines,  dont  plus  de  la  moiti6 
de  la  superficie  jouit  d'un  climat 
favorable  aux  forets  denses  et 


humides.  Et  pourtant,  k  I'heure 
actuelle,  moins  de  5%  du  terri- 
toire  est  toujours  couvert  de  fo- 
rets primaires,  alors  que  les  fo- 
rets constitu6es  d'arbres  de 
moins  de  10  metres  de  haut  re- 
couvrent  environ  55%  du  pays. 
Les  forets  secondaires  couvrent 
4%  du  pays  (Davies  1987). 
Quoiqu'une  portion  consid6rable 
de  la  terre  ne  soit  pas  arable, 
surtout  dans  les  r6gions  du  Nord 
et  du  Centre,  I'agriculture  6tait 
et  demeure  I'activit^  pr6pond6- 
rante  de  la  population  dont  80% 
est  engagee  dans  la  pratique  de 
Tagriculture  de  subsistence.  Les 
methodes  de  culture  utilis6es 
sont  de  type  itindrante,  a  savoir 
abattage  d'arbres,  brulis,  change- 
ment  de  terrain.  De  vastes  man- 
groves existent  le  Jong  de  la  cote 
et  dans  les  estuaires  des  fleuves 
et  les  criques  tandis  que  de 
vastes  plaines  couvrent  presque 
la  moitid  dukpays.  A  I'Est  et  au 
Nord-Est  s'616vent  des  plateaux 
d'environ  1220  mdtres  d'altitude 
avec  les  montagnes  Loma  et  Tin- 
gi  dont  I'altitude  d6passe  1830 
m6tres.Il  y  a  200  ans  les  3/4  de  la 
Sierra  Leone  dtaient  converts  de 
forets  primaires  et  secondaires 
mais  dts  1826  de  larges  zones  fu- 
rent  abattues  pour  rdpondre  aux 
besoins  de  bois  tropicaux  de  la 
Grande  Bretange  et  aussi  pour  la 
culture  par  les  fermiers  locaux. 

De  nos  jours  il  y  a  trds  peu  de 
grandes  6tendues  de  forets  pri- 
maires et  la  seule  foret  k  hauts 
arbres  est  celle  de  Gola  qui  se 
prolonge  au  Liberia.    De  vastes 


dtendues  de  forets  hautes  exis- 
tent encore  dans  les  regions 
montagneuses  61oign6es  de  Lo- 
ma et  Tingi  qui  sont  heureuse- 
ment  des  R6serves  Foresti6res 
prot6g6es.  L'hippopotame  nain 
(Choeropis  liberiensis),  une  des 
esp^ces  enddmiques  d'Afrique 
de  rOuest,  existe  encore  en  plu- 
sieurs  endroits  de  Sierra  Leone. 

Le  splendide  c6phalophe  z6- 
br6  est  pr6sent  dans  les  forets  de 
Gola  -  et  sans  doute  dans  d'au- 
tres  r6gions  aussi  -  mais  est  mal- 
heureusement  souvent  traque 
pour  sa  peau  et  sa  chair.  Le 
Bongo  (Boocecus  eurycerus)  ne 
vit  que  dans  un  petit  nombre  de 
rdserves  foresti6res,  et  il  existe 
encore  un  grand  nombre  d'es- 
p6ces  de  singes. 

Les  chimpanz6s  se  rencon- 
trent  dans  beaucoup  de  r6gions, 
mais  leur  nombre  a  consid6ra- 
blement  baiss6.  L'on  est  en  droit 
de  croire  que  les  singes  et  les  c6- 
phalophes  forment  le  gros  du  gi- 
bier  tu6  pour  le  commerce  de 
"viande  de  brousse"  dont  une 
grande  quantitd  est  sech6e  et  ex- 
port6e  vers  le  Liberia  voisin. 
Des  milliers  de  singes  et  de  c6- 
phalophes  sont  tu6s  chaque  an- 
n6e.  Bien  que  l'on  sache  que  V6- 
I6phant  et  d'autres  mammif6res 
se  rencontrent  encore  dans  le 
pays,  il  n'existe  ni  liste  officielle 
de  controle,  ni  atlas  des  mammi- 
f^res  de  Sierra  Leone.  Toute- 
fois,  des  informations  compl6- 
mentaires  peuvent  etre  trouv6es 
dans  les  ouvrages  de  Davies 
(1987),  Grubb  (1988),  Happold 


65 


(1973  et  1987),  Jones  (1966), 
Lowes  (1970),  Teleki  et  Baldwin 
(1981)  et  Merz  (1986). 

Reserve  Forestiere  de  la 
Region  Occidentale  (Pe- 
ninsule  de  Freetown) 

Cette  r6serve  se  trouve  sur  la 
Peninsule  au  Sud  de  Freetown  et 
comprend  une  crete  majestueuse 
au  relief  accident6  fait  de  mon- 
tagnes  couvertes  de  forets.  Cer- 
taines  de  ces  montagnes  peuvent 
atteindre  une  altitude  de  915  me- 
tres. Selon  Toboku-Metzger 
(1079),  ce  sont  des  montagnes 
uniques  en  leur  genre  en  Afrique 
de  rOuest,  et  ne  sont  compara- 
bles  qu'a  la  chaine  des  mon- 
tagnes que  Ton  trouve  au  Came- 
roun. 

Sexploitation  des  forets  de  la 
P6ninsule  a  commenc6  depuis  de 
nombreuses  anndes  et  continue* 
sans  r6pit.  Or  ces  forets  sont  im- 
portantes  pour  la  protection  de 
I'approvisionnement  en  eau  de  la 
ville  de  Freetown. 

L'importance  de  cette  belle 
r6gion  montagneuse  au  relief  ac- 
cessible est  consid6rable;  et 
pourtant  tr6s  peu  a  et6  6crit 
concernant  sa  faune.  Outre  plu- 
sieurs  esp^ces  de  c6phalophes  et 
le  guib  harnach6  {Tragelaphus 
scriptus),  il  est  prouv6  que  les 
cercopithdques  Diane  (Cercopi- 
thecus  diana)  et  le  rare  Pica- 
thartes  k  la  tete  jaune 
(Picathartes  gymnocephalus) 
existent  aussi.(voir  carte  page  28) 


METHODE 


Cette  6tude  pr61iniinaire  sur 
les  cephalophes  de  Sierra  Leone 
a  ete  menee  en  decembre  1988. 
Dans  le  cadre  de  Tdtude,  deux 
sorties  ont  6t6  organisees  sur  la 
P6ninsule  de  Freetown  oii  un 
certain  nombre  de  chasseurs  lo- 
caux  et  de  guides  ont  et6  interro- 
ges  sur  les  cephalophes  de  la  r6- 
gion. 

Les  chasseurs  trouves  en  pos- 
session de  viande  de  cephalophe 
fraiche  ou  scchee,  ou  de  peaux 
ont  6galcment  ete  interrog6s.  II 
y  eut  aussi  une  discussion  avec  le 
propietaire  d'un  hotel  de  la  place 
oil  fut  reper6  un  jeune  cepha- 
lophe bai.  Deux  voyages  de  ter- 
rain furent  organises  en  foret  sur 
le  P6ninsule  pour  enregistrer  les 
details  relatifs  aux  pistes  suivies 
par  les  cephalophes  et  leurs  ex- 
cr6ments. 

De  plus,  un  voyage  prolongd 
emmena  r6quipe  ^  travers  plu- 
sieurs  zones  forestieres  de  Sierra 
Leone,  voyage  durant  lequel  des 
donndes  sur  les  pistes  de  c6pha- 
lophes  et  leurs  dejections  furent 
notdes. 

Note  a  dgalement  6t6  prise  de 
toutes  les  cephalophes  mortes  en 
vente  le  long  des  routes  ou  en 
possession  des  chasseurs.  L'e- 
quipe  eut  aussi  une  discussion 
d6taill6e  avec  le  Docteur  Sitter, 
un  trappeur  qui  vit  en  Sierra 
Leone  depuis  longtemps. 

Enfm,  Mr  Samuel  Musa-Jam- 
bawai,  notre  compagnon  et 
guide,  nous  a  fourni  une  impor- 


tante  documentation  siu"  la  r6- 
partition  et  le  statut  des  diverses 
espdces  de  cephalophes  de  Sier- 
ra Leone.  II  fut  nagudre  un  ca- 
dre superieur  du  departement 
des  Forets  et  avait  une  parfaite 
connaissance  des  forets  et  de  la 
faune  de  Sierra  Leone. 

RESULTATS 

Le  Cephalophe  de  Max- 
well (Cephalophus  maxwel- 
li) 

C'est  I'espece  d'antilope  la 
plus  repandue  en  Sierra  Leone, 
et  presente  dans  toutes  les  re- 
gions visitees,  a  savoir  la  Foret 
de  Gola,  I'lle  de  Twai,  la  Reserve 
Forestiere  de  la  Zone  Ouest,  les 
Regions  de  Makali/Masingbi,  de 
Bo  et  celle  entre  Yonibana  et 
Waterloo. 

Un  jour,  dans  la  R6serve  Fo- 
restiere de  la  R6gion  Occiden- 
tale, nous  avons  relev6  des  traces 
fraiches  de  cephalophe  de  Max- 
well en  plusieurs  endroits.  Nous 
avons  aussi  examine  quatre  car- 
casses fraichement  depouiliees 
appartenant  ^  un  chasseur  qui 
s'en  allait  les  vendre  ^  un  centre 
de  viliegiature,  II  nous  a  exhibe 
les  tetes  des  betes  tuees  le  matin 
meme  et  dit  avoir  tue  2  autres  ce- 
phalophes de  Maxwell  la  veille. 
Un  autre  chasseur  nous  a  montre 
cinq  peaux  sechees  et  aplaties 
provenant  de  cephalophes  de 
Maxwell. 


66 


Sur  le  chemin  qui  passe  pres 
de  Bo,  nous  avons  rencontr6  un 
chasseur  portant  sur  la  tete  un 
grand  panier  de  viande  sechee. 
Selon  lui,  ce  panier  contenait  la 
viande  de  huit  c^phalophes  de 
Maxwell  et  d'environ  vingt  singes 
d'especes  diverses. 

Entre  Waterloo  et  Yonibana, 
nous  avons  rencontr6  deux  v6hi- 
cules  portant  attachees  aux 
grilles  de  leur  radiateur  deux  ce- 
phalophes  de  Maxwell  non  de- 
pouillees.  Selon  Davies  (1987), 
le  cephalophe  de  Maxwell  est 
I'espece  la  plus  repandue  dans 
les  zones  forestieres  de  Sierra 
Leone.  EUe  est  en  abondance 
sur  rile  de  Tiwai  et  aux  abords 
du  Fleuve  Moa.  Sur  la  Peninsule 
de  Freetown  le  prbc  des  car- 
casses fraiches  de  cephalophes 
varie  entre  200  Leones  (soil  2,5 
dollars  US)  et  500  Leones  (soit 
6,25  dollars  US)  piece.  Les 
Mcnd6  I'appellent  tuwiiolo,  les 
Creoles  fritambu.  La  peau  sert 
aussi  21  faire  des  tambours. 

Le  Cephalophe  Bai  {Ce- 
phalophus  dorsalis) 

Nous  n'avons  obtenu  qu'une 
seule  et  unique  preuve  de  I'exis- 
tence  de  cette  espece  au  cours 
de  notre  visite.  Un  male  sub- 
adulte  a  et6  photographic  en 
captivite  dans  le  village  Africana 
Tokey  sur  la  P6ninsule  de  Free- 
town. 11  6tait  en  tres  bonne 
condition  physique  et  son  pelage 
roux  6tait  soyeux  et  luisant.  Une 


large  bande  noire  traverse  son 
dos  de  la  queue  au  cou.  Le  pro- 
pri6taire  de  I'hotel  a  prob- 
ablement  du  I'acquerir  tout  petit 
pour  I'elever.  II  avait  tit  trouve 
dans  la  Reserve  Forestiere  de  la 
R6gion  Occidentale. 

Nous  n'avons  pu  identifier 
avec  certitude  des  traces  d'un  c6- 
phalophe  apergues  sur  I'lle  de 
Tiwai,  mais  tout  portait  a  croire 
qu'il  s'agissait  de  celles  d'un 
jeune  cephalophe  bai.  En  effet, 
il  est  extremement  difficile,  sinon 
impossible,  de  faire  la  difference 
entre  les  traces  d'un  jeune  ce- 
phalophe et  celles  d'un  sub- 
adulte  des  diffcrentes  especes. 
Selon  les  chercheurs  qui  travail- 
Icnt  sur  I'ile,  le  c6phalophe  a 
flancs  roux  {Cephalophus  rufila- 
his)  serait  aussi  pr6sent;  mais  il 
faudraient  un  examen  detaille 
d'un  specimen  avant  toute 
conclusion.  Cependant  le  cepha- 
lophe bai  a  et6  formellement 
identifie  dans  la  Foret  de  Gola 
(Davies,  1987). 


Le     Cephalophe 

(Cephalophus  niger) 


noir 


Deux  pattes  sechees  ont  ete 
apergues  au  march6  de  Free- 
town. Un  chasseur  de  la  Reserve 
Forestiere  de  la  Region  Occi- 
dentale fut  trouve  en  possession 
d'une  grandc  peau  s6chee  de  ce- 
phalophe noir  femelle.  II  allait  a 
Waterloo  pour  vendre  la  peau,  et 
pretend  avoir  tu6  I'animal  sur  la 
peninsule,  k  edit  du  village  de 


Kent.  Bien  que  les  chasseurs  de 
la  region  soutiennent  que  I'es- 
pece existe  dans  la  Foret  du  Go- 
la,  aucun  cephalophe  noir  n'y  a 
ttt  aper^u  (Davies  1987).  On 
pense  done  que  I'affirmation  de 
Jones  (1966)  de  I'existence  de 
cette  esp5ce  un  peu  partout  en 
Sierra  Leone  n'est  pas  fondee 
sur  des  donn6es  originales,  mais 
basee  sur  des  citations  de  I'arti- 
cle  de  Montague  (1959). 

Le  Cephalophe  a  dos 
jaune  (Cephalophus  sylvi- 
cultor) 

Des  traces  fraiches  d'un  ce- 
phalophe a  dos  jaune  (Cephalo- 
phus sylicultor)  ont  ete  apergues 
dans  la  foret  situee  pres  de  Ma- 
ka-Masingbi  et  le  crane  d'une 
tres  vieille  femelle  nous  a  ete 
montr6  sur  I'lle  de  Tiwai  ou  I'es- 
pece semble  etre  commune.  Se- 
lon le  Docteur  Sitter,  un  mar- 
chand  d'animaux  r6sidant  prbs 
de  Waterloo,  le  cephalophe  a 
dos  jaune  serait  tres  repandu 
dans  la  Reserve  Forestiere  de  la 
Region  Occidentale.  Cependant 
nous  n'avons  pas  enregistr6  cette 
esp5ce  dans  la  zone  pendant  no- 
tre visite,  meme  si  par  trois  fois 
nous  avons  aper^u  de  grandes 
traces  qui  auraient  pu  etre  celles 
d'un  cephalophe  a  dos  jaune  ou 
celles  d'un  cephalophe  de  Jen- 
tink.  L'espece  6tait  aussi  signa- 
16e  dans  le  district  de  Tonkoliki 
et  dans  plusieurs  autres  rdgions. 
Les  Mend6  I'appellent  ngulei. 


67 


Le  Cephalophe  de  Jen- 
tink  (Cephalophus  jentiJd) 

La  raison  principale  de  notre 
mission  en  Sierra  Leone  6tait 
d'apporter  la  preuve  de  la  pr6- 
sence  de  cette  espdce  de  c6pha- 
lophe  dans  le  pays  (ce  qui,  en 
fait,  avait  6t6  dtabli  peu  avant  no- 
tre visite  par  Davies  et  Birkenha- 
ger,  sous  pfcsse).  Nous  fumes 
conduits  d6s  notre  arrivde  dans 
un  village  du  Sud  de  la  P6ninsule 
de  Freetown  oil  un  chasseur  af- 
firmait  avoir  tu6  par  balle  trois 
c6phalophes  de  Jentink  au  cours 
de  rann6e  1988.  R6pondant  k 
nos  questions  sur  I'esp^ce,  cet 
homme  se  mit  k  decrire  exacte- 
ment  I'animal  sans  que  r6quipe 
posat  des  questions  de  prdcision. 
Ensuite,  il  nous  exhiba  une  paire 
de  cornes  d'un  jeune  cdphalophe 
de  Jentink  et  une  autre  spendide 
corne  d'un  grand  animal  (proba- 
blement  un  male),  dont  la  des- 
cription est  donn6e  au  Tableau  1 
(voir  page  31)  y  compris  les 
cornes  donn6es  par  Dr  Davies. 

Quelques  jours  plus  tard,  le 
meme  chasseur  nous  montra  un 
amas  d'excrements  de  cepha- 
lophe de  jentink  rapport6s  de  la 
foret  ce  jour-la.  Ayant  eu  I'occa- 
sion  d'etudier  en  detail  les  excr6- 
ments  d'un  cephalophe  de  la 
meme  espece,  en  captivit6  au 
pare  zoologique  de  Brownsville 
au  Texas  (USA),  il  nous  a  6t6  fa- 
cile d'identifier  ceux  que  le  chas- 
seur avait  exhib6s.  Le  chasseur 
affirma  que  Tesp^ce  se  rencontre 


dans  plusieurs  endroits  de  la  re- 
gion mais  qu'elle  n'6tait  pas  com- 
mune. En  outre,  ni  lui  ni  aucun 
autre  chasseur  de  Sierra  Leone 
ne  connassait  cet  animal  sous  le 
nom  de  c6phalophe  de  Jentink. 
Selon  Mr  Samuel  Musa-Jamba- 
wai,  le  nom  Mend6  de  Tanimal 
est  le  kmkulowulei  (ou  Antilope 
aux  couleurs  de  I'dcureuil);  les 
Creoles  I'appellent  dikidiki,  nom 
utifis6  sur  la  p6ninsule.  Des 
sources  non  confirm6es  font  6tat 
de  I'existence  de  cette  espdce 
dans  les  environs  de  Songo,  situ6 
k  une  cinquantaine  de  km  seule- 
ment  de  la  ville  de  Freetown.  Le 
chasseur  qui  nous  donna  les 
cornes  de  c6phalophe  de  Jentink 
nous  a  expliqu6  que  cet  animal 
descend  la  nuit  des  collines  vers 
les  buissons  dans  les  fermes  ou  il 
est  abattu.  Quelquefois,  a-t-il 
dit,  le  c6phalophe  de  Jentink  va 
la  nuit  sur  la  plage,  meme  au 
bord  de  la  mer,  pour  16cher  le  sel 
contenu  dans  le  sable.  Des 
traces  ont  souvent  6t6  vues  sur  la 
plage  par  des  chasseurs.  On 
pense  que  I'espdce  est  tr6s  noc- 
turne; dans  la  Reserve  Foresti^re 
de  la  Region  Occidentale  tous 
les  specimens  ont  6t6  abattus  la 
nuit.  Toutefois,  Samuel  Musa- 
Jambawai  indique  qu'il  a  tue  son 
cephalophe  dans  la  Foret  de  Go- 
la  en  1960  k  10  heures  du  matin, 
c'est-^-dire  en  plein  jour.  Quant 
au  Docteur  Sitter,  il  dit  avoir  61e- 
ve,  il  y  a  environ  15  ans,  un  bebe 
cephalophe  de  Jentink  qu'il  ven- 
dit  plus  tard  a  un  autre  mar- 
chand   d'animaux  qui   I'exporta 


aux  Etats-Unis.  II  indique  que 
lorsqu'il  obtint  Tanimal  il  crut 
que  c'6tait  un  jeune  cephalophe 
k  dos  jaune,  ce  n'est  que  lorsque 
Tanimal  arriva  k  maturite  qu'il 
realisa  qu'il  s'agissait  d'un  ce- 
phalophe de  Jentink. 

Deux  autres  paires  de  comes 
de  la  meme  esp6ce  (vivant  dans 
la  Reserve  Forestiere  de  la  Re- 
gion Occidentale)  nous  ont  ete 
offertes  par  Dr  Glyn  Davies  de 
Kenema,  auquel  revient  tout  le 
merite  d'avoir  ete  le  premier  k 
enregistrer  la  presence  de  cette 
espece  dans  la  region  de  la  Pe- 
ninsule  de  Freetown.  Un 
compte  rendu  plus  detaiUe  de  la 
repartition  des  espdces  k  travers 
la  Sierra  Leone  a  ete  ecrit  par 
Davies  (dans  Davies  &  Burken- 
hager,  sous  presse).  L'une  des 
paires  offertes  par  Davies  est 
d'une  longueur  exceptionnelle  : 
elle  mesure  212  mm.  (voir 
Planche  1,  page  32) 

Le    Cephalophe    zebre 

(Cephalophus  zebra) 

Aucun  indice  sur  I'existence 
de  cette  espece  de  cephalophe 
n'a  ete  enregistre  lors  de  notre 
visite  en  Sierrra  Leone,  mais  il  a 
ete  etabli  (Davies  1987)  qu'elle 
existe  dans  la  region  de  la  foret 
de  Gola.  Mr  Samuel  Musa-Jam- 
bawai  indique  qu'il  y  a  dix  ans  on 
trouvait  facilement  des  peaux  de 
cephalophes  zebres  dans  les  vil- 
lages situes  k  I'Est  du  pays.  II 
pense  que  I'espece  est  beaucoup 


68 


moins  timide  que  le  c6phalophe 
de  Jentink,  et  qu'il  est  toujours 
possible  de  la  rencontrer  dans  la 
Reserve  Forestidre  de  la  R6gion 
Occidentale  (Sitter,  communica- 
tion personnelle). 

Le  cephalophe  a  flancs 
roux  iCephalophus  rufila- 
tus) 

Durant  notre  visite,  nous  n'a- 
vons  pas  pu  obtenir  de  preuve 
concluante  de  la  pr6sence  du  ce- 
phalophe k  flancs  roux  (Cepha- 
lophus     rufilatus)     en     Sierra 
Leone,  mais  il  n'y  a  aucun  doute 
qu'il  existe  encore  dans  la  zone 
de  savane  au  Nord  du  pays.    II 
est  fort  probable  qu'on  le  trouve 
sur  I'lle  de  Tiwai  (voir  notes  sur 
Cephalophus  dorsalis). 


Le  cephalophe  commun 
ou  gris  (Sylvicapra  grim- 
mid) 

Phillipson  (1978),  rapporte  la 
presence  de  cette  espdce  dans  la 
region  d'Outamba-Ducata,  sur  la 
P6ninsule  de  Freetown  et  les  re- 
gions montagneuses  de  Loma. 
Bien    qu'il    existe    trds    prob- 
ablement  dans  les  savanes  boi- 
sees  du  Nord  du  pays  et  meme 
dans  les  prairies  des  montagnes 
de  Loma,  il  est  peu  probable 
qu'on  le  trouve  sur  la  peninsule 
de  Freetown. 


marquable  pour  une  si  petite  re- 
gion; par  consequent,  il  faudrait 
lui  assurer  une  protection  appro- 
priee.     La  valeur  d'un  cepha- 
lophe de  Jentink  est  extreme- 
ment  eievee  et  le  fait  qu'ils  se 
trouvent  encore  dans  une  zone 
aussi  peupiee  suggdre  qu'ils  ont 
une  bonne  capacite  de  survie  en 
milieu  perturbe  ou  qu'ils  ont  mi- 
gre  vers  la  plus  inaccessible  zone 
des  montagnes.      Quoiqu'il   en 
soit,  le  service  des  Eaux  et  Forets 
et  le  Gouvernement  de  Sierra 
Leone   devraient  tr^s  serieuse- 
ment  envisager  d'eiever  le  statut 
de  la  Reserve  k  celui  d'un  Pare 
National. 


DISCUSSION  ET 
CONCLUSION 


Le  cephalophe  d'Ogilby 

(Cephalophus  ogilbyi) 

Trds  peu  d'indices  permet- 
tent  d'affirmer  que  cette  espdce 
existe  en  Sierra  Leone.     Dej^ 
Jones  (1966)  ne  fut  pas  en  me- 
sure  d'avoir  le  moindre  releve 
defmitif  sur  son  existence  dans  le 
pays.  II  y  a  quelques  suggestions 
que  le  cephalophe  d'Ogilby  (Ce- 
phalophus ogilbyi)  peut  encore  se 
rencontrer     en     Sierra     Leone 
(Phillipson  1978,  et  Honacki  et 
al.  1982).  La  preuve  concrete  de 
son  existence  en  Sierra  Leone  est 
fournie  par  la  presence  d'un  spe- 
cimen au  musee  (Groves,  cite 
par  Grubb,  1988). 


La  presence  possible  de  neuf 
espdces  de  cephalophes  en  Sier- 
ra Leone  souligne  I'importance 
de  cette  famiUe  d'animaux  dans 
le  pays.   La  presence  de  cepha- 
lophe de  Jentink  dans  la  Reserve 
Forestiere  de  la  Region  Occi- 
dentale avec  les  espdces  comme 
le  cephalophe  bai,  le  cephalophe 
noir,  le  cephalophe  de  Maxwell 
et  le  cephalophe  k  dos  jaune,  re- 
vet une  signification  et  une  im- 
portance    particuliere.         Cela 
confere  k  la  region  une  valeur  in- 
croyable.    Alors  qu'il  est  etabU 
que    quatre    (et    probablement 
cinq)   espdces   de   cephalophes 
existent  sur  la  Peninsule,  il  y  a 
aussi  la  possibilite  que  d'autres 
espdces  dont  le  cephalophe  zd- 
bre  s'y  trouvent.   C'est  assez  re- 


La  presence  non  loin  de  la 
capitale  d'une  colonic  de  cepha- 
lophes   de    Jentink    et,    prob- 
ablement, celle  d'autres  espdces 
rares  pourrait  profiter  considdra- 
blement  au  pays.  De  plus,  outre 
les    espdces    rares    de    cdpha- 
lophes,  on  trouve  dans  la  reserve 
le  cercopithdque  Diana  et  peut- 
etre  le  Picathartes  k  tete  jaune 
{Picathartes  gymnocephalus). 

Lorsque   I'on   considdre   les 
splendides   plages   blanches,   la 
mer    chaude,    la   proximite    de 
Freetown,  la  fraicheur  des  forets 
humides  ainsi  que  I'amitie  qui 
caracterise  les  populations  de  la 
region,  la  Reserve  Forestidre  de 
la  Region  Occidentale  a  tons  les 
atouts  pour  devenir  un  "Pare  Na- 
tional de  la  jungle"  oh  les  pistes 
amenagees  pour  la  promenade 
seraient  trds  populaires  et  consti- 


69 


turaient  un  grand  atout  6conomi- 
que  poUf  la  Sierra  Leone. 

Pour  d6gager  un  bon  plan  de 
gestion,  il  est  essentiel  d'etudier 
en  detail  la  flore  et  de  la  faune 
de  la  zone.  La  region  pourrait 
devenir  le  premier  Pare  National 
du  pays,  un  statut  qu'il  ne  d6m6- 
rite  pas.  Les  auteurs  projettent 
d'effectuer  une  seconde  visite  en 
Sierra  Leone  en  1991  pour  entre- 
prendre  cette  6tude  detaill6e. 
Compte  tenu  de  I'existence  de 
plusieurs  espdces  rares  dans 
cette  r6serve  forestiere  et  en  rai- 
son  de  la  pratique  importante  de 
la  chasse  dans  cette  zone  oil  la 
chasse  est  interdite,  une  action 
rapide  est  essentielle  si  Ton  veut 
pr6server  ces  especes  rares  et  les 
forets  qui  les  abritent. 


REMERCIEMENTS 

Nos  remerciements  vont  en 
premier  lieu  a  Mr  Samuel  Musa- 
Jambawai  pour  son  amiti6  et  le 
support  qu'il  nous  a  fourni  du- 
rant  tout  notre  s6jour  en  Sierra 
Leone.  II  s'dtait  occupe  de  tous 
nos  probl^mes  de  transport,  lo- 
gement  et  nourriture  et  nous  ai- 
da  aussi  continuellement  en 
questionnant  les  autochtones  au 
sujet  des  c^phalophes.  Nous 
n'aurions  pas  atteint  le  resultat 
obtenu  sans  son  aide,  et  par  des- 
sus  tout,  il  localisa  pour  nous  les 
comes  de  cephalophe  de  Jen- 
tink.  Nous  remercions  egale- 
ment  le  Dr  Glyn  Davies  du  don 
des  deux  paires  de  cornes  de  c6- 


phalophes  de  Jentink  et  du 
moyen  de  transport  qu'il  nous  a 
fourni  pour  nous  rendre  k  la  fo- 
ret  de  Gola.  Nous  lui  sommes 
egalement  reconnaissants  de 
nous  avoir  permis  d'utiliser  cer- 
taines  de  ses  donn6es  dans  notre 
travail.  Que  le  Dr  S.S.  Banya, 
President  de  la  societ6  Sierra 
Leonaise  de  Protection  de  la  Na- 
ture, qui  nous  a  beaucoup  aid6, 
ainsi  que  I'Honorable  Edward 
Gbla  resolvent  I'expression  de 
notre  plus  profonde  gratitude. 
Hon.  Edward  Gbla  nous  a  assis- 
tes  dans  I'organisation  de  ce 
voyage  d'etude  en  Sierra  Leone 
et  a  facilite  nos  contacts  avec  les 
autorites  dans  le  pays:  il  nous  a 
introduits  auprds  de  plusieurs 
cabinets  minist6riels  et  de  Son 
Excellence  Dr.  J.S.  Momoh,  Pr6- 
sident  de  Sierra  Leone,  avec  le- 
quel  nous  avons  pu  discuter  des 
probldmes  de  conservation.  Nos 
remerciements  vont  6galement  a 
Mr  A.P.  Koroma,  Conservateur 
Principal  des  Forets  de  Sierra 
Leone,  pour  son  aide  et  ses  en- 
couragements. 

Enfin,  que  Mme  Paddy  Wil- 
son, 6pouse  du  chef  de  I'^quipe, 
trouve  ici  I'expression  de  nos  re- 
merciements speciaux  pour  la 
realisation  des  cartes.  De  meme, 
nous  remercions  MM  Kevin  Wil- 
son et  Vaughan  Southey,  qui  ont 
bien  voulu  produire  ce  document 
sur  ordinateur.  Kevin  Wilson  a 
protographi6  les  cornes  des  ce- 
phalophes. 

Nous  remercions  le  conseil 
d'administration  de  la  Fondation 


Chipangali  pour  avoir  financ6  le 
programme  et  les  frais  de  cette 
publication. 


*  Article  repris  de  Amoldia 
Zimbabwe 

9  (33):  451-462,  July  90. 

Chipangali  Wildlife  Trust 
P.O.B0X  1057  Bulawayo  (Zw) 


NDLR:  Mr  Barry  Wilson  est 
d6c6d6  des  suites  d'un  accident 
de  la  route  en  Janvier  1991. 


La  photo  de  couverture 
est  un  cephalophe  de  Jentink 
photographi6  par  Mr  VJ. 
Wilson  au  Gladys  Porter 
Zoo,  Brownsville,  Texas 


70 


Amenagement  de  la 
faune  pour  le 
developpement 
rural  en  Afrique 

E.O A.  Asibey  et  G.S.  Child* 


En  Afrique  subsaharienne,  il 
y  a  plus  de  130  millions  d'ha  de 
r6serves  de  faune.  II  existe  aussi 
de  vastes  zones  dans  lesquelles 
I'utiiisation  de  la  faune  est 
contr616e.  En  outre,  presque 
tons  les  pays  de  la  r6gion  ont  des 
lois  qui  rdglementent  la  chasse 
sportive  et  permettent  de  faire 
rentrer  de  I'argent  dans  les 
caisses  de  I'Etat  sous  forme  de 
droits  et  redevances  per9us  sur 
les  permis  de  chasse.  Les  gou- 
vernements  reconnaissent  done 
que  Tamenagement  de  la  faune 
est  une  option  viable  dans  les 
plans  d'utilisation  des  terres. 

Mais  il  est  rare  que  les  contri- 
butions que  la  faune,  en  tant  que 
source  d'aliments  ou  de  biens 
marchands,  apporte  ou  peut  ap- 
porter  k  I'dconomie  et  a  la  nutri- 
tion en  milieu  rural,  soient  offi- 
ciellement  reconnues.  Bien  plus, 
dans  beaucoup  de  pays,  ces  utili- 
sations sont  dans  une  grande  me- 
sure  ill6gales. 

n  est  maintenant  urgent  de 
s'efforcer  par  tous  les  moyens 
d'int6grer  revaluation,  la  raise  en 
valeur,  I'amfnagement  et  I'utiii- 
sation des  animaux  sauvages 
dans  les  plans  nationaux  de  deve- 


loppement socio-6conomique.  II 
est  essentiel  que  organismes  na- 
tionaux responsables  de  la  plani- 
fication  et  des  finances  partici- 
pent  k  cet  effort  k  tous  les  ni- 
veaux;  I'assistance  d'organisa- 
tions  Internationales  compe- 
tentes  pourra  aussi  etre  neces- 
saire.  D'un  autre  c6t6,  ime  utili- 
sation viable  k  long  terme  de  la 
faune  ne  sera  possible,  que  si  les 
populations  locales  participent  k 
Tam^nagement  et  regoivent  leur 
juste  part  des  b6n6fices. 


Populations 
et  animates 


humaines 


Avant  d'examiner  la  faune 
subsaharienne,  il  convient  de 
dire  quelques  mots  de  revolution 
d6mographique  et  des  pro- 
blames  d'environnement 
connexes,  qui  influent  profond6- 
ment  sur  les  ressources  en  faune. 

Les  taux  de  croissance  d6mo- 
graphique  sont  61ev6s  dans  pres- 
que tous  les  pays  d' Afrique  sub- 
saharienne, d'oil  la  n6cessit6 
d'accroitre  d'urgence  la  produc- 
tion vivridre,  qui  pousse  les  agri- 
culteurs  africains  k  raccourcir  les 
jacheres,  k  essayer  de  produire 
davantage  sur  des  sols  peu  fer- 
tiles  et  k  cultiver  des  terres  mar- 
ginales.  Tout  cela  entraine  inexo- 
rablement  une  degradation  des 
terres  arables.  Quand  le  cheptel 
augmente  aussi  vite  ou  meme 
plus  vite  que  les  populations  hu- 
maines, les  vastes  terres  pasto- 
rales de  I'Afrique  se  d6gradent 


de  la  meme  fagon,  surtout  1^  oii 
des  parcours  traditionnels  ont 
6t6  mis  en  culture,  ce  qui  fait 
croitre  la  pression  sur  le  reste 
des  zones  pastorales. 

Dans  les  zones  seches,  de^ 
milUons  d'hectares  de  paturages 
et  de  parcours  sont  menaces  par 
le  surpaturage.      Beaucoup  de 
gramin6es  p6rennes  sont  rempla- 
c6es  par  des  gramin6es  annuelles 
de  moins  grande  valeur  nutri- 
tionnelle;  cette  deterioration  ris- 
que d'etre  irreversible  et  de  re- 
duire  la  capacite  de  charge  des 
parcours.    L^  ou  la  vegetation  a 
disparu  ou  s'est  eclaircie,  le  vent 
emporte  le  peu  de  sediment  que 
contient  le  sol,  ce  qui  r6duit  sa 
capacitd  de  retention  d'eau.  Les 
forets  denses  et  claires  d' Afrique 
subsahariennes  sont  elle  aussi  en 
danger;  chaque  annee,  pres  de  4 
milUons  d'ha  de  forets  disparais- 
sent  ou  se  degradent,  principale- 
ment  en  Afrique  occidentale  hu- 
mide  et  subhumide.    La  princi- 
pale  cause  du  d6boisement  est  le 
defrichement  pour  I'agriculture; 
mais  I'exploitation  anarchique  de 
la  foret,  la  collecte  de  bois  de 
chauffe,  les  feux  et  le  surpatu- 
rage prelevent  aussi  de  lourds 
tributs.     On  a  estime  qu'entre 
1975  et  1980,  pour  chaque  ha 
plantd,  29  ha  ont  et6  deboises 
(Lanly,  1982). 

Les  animaux  sauvages  ont 
leurs  habitats  dans  ces  parcours 
et  ces  forets.  Lorsque  ces  habi- 
tats sont  transform^s,  comme 
c'est  actuellement  le  cas  en  Afri- 
que, il  est  inevitable  que  la  com- 


71 


position  et  diversitd  de  la  faune 
soient  modifi6es,  et  des  popula- 
tions entidres  peuvent  etre  mena- 
c6es.  Pendant  cette  derni6re  d6- 
cennie  du  20e  sidcle,  il  sera  done 
essentiel  d'intdgrer  I'amdnage- 
ment  de  la  faune  et  de  son  habi- 
tat dans  les  efforts  de  developpe- 
ment  socio-6conomique  g6n6ral. 

La  faune  comme  source 
d'aliments 

L'homme  prdhistorique  n'a- 
vait  d'autre  source  de  proteines 
que  les  animaux  sauvages.  L'a- 
v^nement  de  I'dlevage  et  de  I'a- 
griculture  s^dentaire  Ta  en  partie 
affranchi  de  cette  d6pendance. 
Cependant,  dans  toutes  les  soci6- 
t6s  modernes  non  v6g6tariennes, 
il  reste  une  demande  assez  im- 
portante  de  viande  d'animaux 
sauvages.  Dans  toutes  les  r6- 
gions  du  monde,  des  animaux 
sauvages  de  tous  types  et  de 
toutes  tallies,  tant  vert6br6s 
qu'invert6br6s,  constituent  une 
part  de  I'alimentation  des 
honunes. 

En  Afrique  subsaharienne,les 
animaux  sauvages  fournissent 
ime  proportion  exceptionnelle- 
ment  61ev6e  des  prot6ines  ali- 
mentaires.  Au  Nigdria,  des  com- 
munautds  vivant  k  proximitd  de 
la  foret  tirent  de  la  chasse  84% 
de  leurs  prot6ines  d'origine  ani- 
male.  Au  Ghana,  environ  75% 
de  la  population  consomment  t6- 
gulidrement  des  animaux  sau- 
vages; au  Liberia,  cette  propor- 


tion est  de  70%,  et  au  Botswana 
de  60%  (FAO,  1989). 

Si  61ev6s  qu'ils  soient,  ces 
chiffres  sont  peut-etre  inf6rieurs 
a  la  r6alit6,  car  une  bonne  partie 
des  animaux  sauvages  consom- 
m6s  ne  sont  pas  commercialisms 
et  6chappent  aux  statistiques. 

La  meilleure  fa^on  de  mesu- 
rer  la  valeur  locale  de  la  viande 
de  chasse  est  peut-etre  de  de- 
mander  aux  gens  pourquoi  la  fo- 
ret est  importante  pour  eux.  En 
6valuant  le  projet  de  forestriede 
Subri  au  Ghana,  Korang  (1986)  a 
constat6  que,  pour  94%  des  per- 
sonnes  interrog6es,  la  conse- 
quence la  plus  grave  de  la 
conversion  de  la  foret  6tait  la  dis- 
parition  de  la  viande  de  chasse. 

Si  Ton  veut  se  faire  une  id6e 
du  role  que  jouent  les  animaux 
sauvages  dans  I'alimentation,  il 
ne  faut  pas  se  contenter  de  pren- 
dre en  consideration  le  gros  gi- 
bier.  En  g6n6ral,  dans  les  r6- 
gimes  de  subsistance,  la  majeure 
partie  de  la  viande  provient  des 
petits  animaux.  On  consomme 
divers  types  d'escargots,  de  ser- 
pents et  d'autres  reptiles  et 
d'amphibiens.  Dans  plusieurs 
rdgions  d' Afrique  occiden- 
tale,notamment  au  Ghana,  les 
habitants  des  zones  riches  en  es- 
cargots  sont  envi6s  par  leurs  voi- 
sins.  Les  insectes  constituent 
aussi  souvent  une  part  impor- 
tante des  ressources  totales  en 
protdines. 


Valeur  nutritionnelle  de 
la  viande  de  chasse 

Les  donndes  disponibles  indi- 
quent  que  la  viande  de  chasse 
fraiche  soutient  favorablement  la 
comparaison  avec  la  viande  d'a- 
nimaux domestiques  pour  ce  qui 
est  du  rendement  en  viande  mai- 
gre  par  kilogramme  de  poids  vif 
et  de  la  teneur  616ments  min6- 
raux  et  en  protdines  (Asibey  et 
Eyeson,  1975;  Ledger  et  Smith, 
1964).  Des  6tudes  ont  montr6 
par  ailleurs  que  la  viande  des 
animaux  sauvages  contient  da- 
vantage  de  Upides  (Hoogesteijn 
Reul,  1979). 

Selon  Hladik  et  al.  (1987),  la 
valeur  calorique  de  la  viande  de 
chasse  est  aussi  importante  que 
les  proteines  qu'elle  fournit. 
Beaucoup  d'animaux  sauvages 
sont  particuli6rement  appr6ci6s 
parce  que  leur  viande  est  bien 
grasse. 

Malheureusement,  la  valeur 
nutritionnelle  de  la  viande  de 
chasse  conserv6e  (fum6e,  sal6e 
ou  sech6e)  est  mal  connue.  Les 
m6thodes  de  conservation  va- 
rient  selon  les  endroits  et  les  res- 
sources.  Le  fumage  traditioimel, 
malgr6  ses  inconv6nients,  est  en- 
core trbs  r6pandu.  La  salaison 
est  Umit6e  par  le  manque  de  sel. 
La  viande  s6ch6e  (biltong)  peut 
etre  prepar6e  1^  o^  le  sel  et  le  so- 
leil  ne  manquent  pas.  II  faudrait 
6tudier  plus  systdmatiquement 
toute  la  gamme  des  animaux  sau- 
vages consonmi6s,  ainsi  que  les 


72 


aspects  nutritionnels  des  diff6- 
rentes  m6thodes  courantes  de 
pr6paration  et  de  conservation. 

Facteurs  influant  sur  la 
consommation  de  viande 
d'animaux  sauvages 

La  consommation  d'animaux 
sauvages  semble  conditionn6e 
principalement  par  les  disponibi- 
lit6s.  Partout  ou  la  question  a 
6t6  6tudi6e  dans  les  pays  d'Afri- 
que,  il  est  apparu  que  la  majorit6 
des  non-v6g6tariens  sont  prets  h 
consommer  de  la  viande  de 
chasse  s'ils  peuvent  s'en  procu- 
rer. Selon  des  6tudes  effectu6es 
au  Ghana  et  au  Nigeria,  cela  est 
vrai  quels  que  soient  la  classe  so- 
ciale,  le  niveau  de  revenu,  I'in- 
struction,  la  religion  ou  le  sexe 
(Blaxter,  1975;  Martin,  1983; 
Ntiamoa-Baidu,  1986). 

La  demande  de  viande  de 
chasse  n'est  nullement  limit6e 
aux  campagnes.  L'urbanisation 
rapide  a  entramd  une  croissance 
exponentielle  de  la  demande 
dans  les  villes  zifricaines.  Dans 
toute  I'Afrique  subsaharienne  et 
en  particulier  en  Afrique  occi- 
dentale,  la  viande  de  chasse  est 
depuis  longtemps  vendue  sur  les 
march6s  urbains.  II  existe  des  fi- 
lidres  bien  6tablies  allant  du 
chasseur  au  d6taillant.  C'est  1^ 
une  importante  source  d'emplois 
et  de  revenus. 

Dans  beaucoup  de  pays,  la 
viande  de  chasse  est  de  loin  la 
viande  la  plus  chdre.     Ainsi,  k 


Ibadan  (Nig6ria),  en  1975,  quand 
la  viande  de  mouton  et  de  boeuf 
se  vendaient  respectivement  2,80 
dollars  et  4,20  dollars  le  kilo- 
gramme, la  viande  d'aulacode 
valait  9,60  dollars  et  le  U6vre  sau- 
vage  7,20  dollars  (Asibey,  1987). 

Dans  bien  des  cas,  la  de- 
mande et  le  prix  de  la  viande  de 
chasse  augmentent  beaucoup 
plus  vite  que  ceux  de  la  viande 
d'animaux  domestiques.  Ainsi,  k 
Accra  (Ghana),  le  prix  de  la 
viande  de  chasse  a  6t6  multipli6 
par  huit  entre  1980  et  1986,  tan- 
dis  que  la  viande  de  boeuf  a  seu- 
lement  sextuple  (Asibey,  1987). 

Dans  beaucoup  de  r6gions 
d' Afrique,  il  y  a  une  telle  de- 
mande pour  la  viande  de  chasse 
qu'il  est  plus  avantageux  pour  les 
chasseur  de  la  vendre  que  de  la 
manger. 

La  faune  en  tant  que 
source  de  revenus 

Dans  la  plupart  des  pays  d'A- 
frique  subsaharienne,  la  majoritd 
de  la  population  vit  de  Tagricul- 
ture  de  subsistance.  Les  activites 
capables  de  cr6er  des  revenus  ou 
de  reduire  les  d6penses  sont 
done  extremement  importantes, 
surtout  si  en  meme  temps  elles 
ameliorent  la  qualitd  de  la  vie 
des  ruraux.  La  foret,  ses  pro- 
duits  et  les  animaux  qui  I'habi- 
tent  offrent  une  base  pour  de 
telles  activites.  La  chasse  est  une 
trds  importante  source  de  revenu 


dans  beaucoup  de  parties  de  I'A- 
frique (Asibey,1978a,b,1987). 

Dans  r6tat  de  Bendel,  au  Ni- 
g6ria,  uu  aulacode  se  vendait 
7,61  dollars,  alors  que  25%  de  la 
population  gagnaient  loins  de 
130  dollars  par  an  et  38%  entre 
130  et  600  doUars.  II  suffisait 
done  de  tuer  quatre  aulacodes 
par  mois  pour  se  trouver  au  mi- 
lieu de  cette  deuxi^me  classe  de 
revenu  (Martin,  1983). 

Au  Ghana,  en  Janvier  1987,  le 
salaire  minimal  journalier  6tait 
de  90  cedis.(NDLR:  en  raison 
des  fluctuations  des  taux  de 
change,  la  conversion  en  dollars 
U.S.  n'aurait  gudre  de  sens.)  A 
la  meme  6poque,  un  aulacode 
rapportait  au  moins  200  c6dis  en 
milieu  rural  et  de  700  k  3400  c6- 
dis  k  Accra  (Asibey,  1987).  Dans 
une  6tude  pr6c6dente,  Asibey 
(1978b)  a  observe  qu'un  paysan 
pouvait  plus  que  doubler  son  re- 
venu en  vendant  de  la  viande  de 
chasse  aux  petits  restaurants  tra- 
ditionnels  de  la  capitale  r6gio- 
nale,  Sunyani. 

Ce  ne  sont  pas  1^  des  exeples 
isol6s.  La  chasse  et  la  collecte 
d'animaux  sauvages  comestibles 
fournissent  directement  ou  indi- 
rectement  d'importants  revenus 
k  un  grand  nombre  de  ruraux  un 
peupartout  en  Afrique  (Asibey, 
1978a).  Dans  bien  des  cas,  la 
chasse  apporte  k  I'^conomie  de 
subsistance  im  complement  es- 
sentiel. 

L'argent  que  rapporte  la 
chasse  sert  souvent  k  acheter  des 
prot6ines   moins   couteuses   (le 


73 


plus  souvent  du  pcisson  mal 
coiisorv6),  la  difference  6tant 
utilis6e  pour  financer  d'autres 
d6peiises  (Asibey,  1974b, 
1978a,b).  D'une  certaine  fa^on, 
cette  tendance  compromet  la  s6- 
curit6  aUmentaire  des  ruraux  en 
r6duisant  la  qualit6  et  la  valeur 
nutritionnelle  de  leur  r6gime.  A 
moins  que  les  disponibilitds  de 
viande  de  chasse  n'augmentent, 
la  consommation  des  ruraux 
pourrait  diminuer  k  mesure  que 
la  demande  croissante  des  villes 
incite  k  exploiter  plus  intensive- 
ment  les  ressources  cyn6g6ti- 
ques.  La  situation  est  encore 
plus  grave  quand  il  est  impossi- 
ble d'elever  des  animaux  domes- 
tiques  pour  produire  les  pro- 
t6ines  n6cessaires,  par  exemple 
dans  les  zones  infest6es  par  la 
mouche  ts6-tse.  II  faut  6tudier 
avec  soin  le  cout  socio-6conomi- 
que  d'un  tel  sc6nario  pour  les 
communaut6s  rurales. 

Commerce 
international 

Un  peu  partout  dans  le 
monde,  la  viande  de  chasse  est 
devenue  un  important  zirticle 
d'exportation.  Pourtant,  en  Afri- 
que,  malgr6  la  production  consi- 
derable, aucun  pays  ne  figure  sur 
la  liste  des  exportateurs.  Cela 
tient  en  partie  aux  normes  rigou- 
reuses  exig6es  par  les  principaux 
importateurs,  notamment  la  R6- 
publique  F6d6rale  d'Allemagne 
et  la  France,  mms  surtout  au 


manque  de  statistiques  sur  le 
commerce  de  la  viande  de  chasse 
k  rint6rieur  de  I'Afrique.  Dans 
presque  aucun  pays  de  la  region 
(sauf  au  Ghana),  la  consomma- 
tion et  le  commerce  de  viande  ne 
sont  syst6matiquement  pris  en 
compte  dans  la  planification,  les 
comptes  et  les  programmes  de 
d6veloppement.  Les  informa- 
tions limit6es  qui  sont  rassem- 
bl6es  ne  sont  pas  publi6es.  C'est 
l^  une  omission  grave  qui  risque 
de  nuire  k  ceux  qui  tirent  de  la 
faune  sauvage  des  aliments  etb 
des  revenus  indispensables  k  Iqui 
survie  et  de  compromettre  la 
conservation  et  I'amdnagement 
de  la  faune. 

Conservation  et  amena- 
gement  de  la  faune  sau- 
vage 

Dans  la  plupart  des  pays  d'A- 
frique  subsaharienne,  les  efforts 
de  conservation  de  la  faune  ont 
6t6  motiv6s  par  la  pr6occupation 
que  suscitait  la  rar6faction  ou  la 
quasi-extinction  de  certains  ani- 
maux -lions,  616phants,  rhinoce- 
ros, etc-  qui  pourraient  fournir 
un  gros  apport  au  revenu  natio- 
nal. Etant  donnecete  motivation, 
la  politique  le  plus  couramment 
adoptee  a  consiste  k  promulguer 
des  lois  sev^res  interdisant  toute 
exploitation  de  la  faune  dans  les 
zones  protegees  et  limitant  ri- 
goureusement  son  utilisation  ail- 
leurs. 


Quand  I'existence  meme  des 
animaux  et  de  leur  habitat  est 
menacee,  cette  approche  est  sou- 
vent  la  seule  possibledans  I'im- 
mediat  pour  sauvegarder  k  long 
terme  la  possibilit6  de  conserver 
et  d'amenager  la  faune.  Mais  il 
faut  etre  bien  conscient  qu'elle 
n'est  valable  que  pour  une  phase 
transitoire. 

Plusieurs  options  sont  possi- 
bles. La  plus  simple  et  souvent 
la  plus  efficace  consiste  k  prote- 
ger  les  populations  existantes. 
Lorsqu'il  ne  reste  plus  de  popu- 
lations viables,  on  pent  reintro- 
duire  des  animaux  sauvages  dans 
certaines  zones  choisies  de  leur 
ancien  habitat.  L'experience 
prouve  que  des  populations  in- 
troduites  peuvent  se  multiplier 
suffisamment  pour  que  leur  ex- 
ploitation devienne  rentable 
(Teer,  1971).  Cela  ne  pose  pas 
de  probiemes  techniques,  mais 
on  doit  trouver  des  finance- 
ments.  II  faut  confirmer  les  re- 
sultats  indiquant  que  I'operation 
est  rentable  et  les  commimiquer 
k  des  investisseurs  potentiels. 

L'experience  prouve  que  les 
efforts  pour  proteger  ou  recons- 
tituer  la  faune  sans  tenir  compte 
des  besoins  socio-economiques 
des  populations  locales  sont 
voues  k  rechec.  Les  lois  de  pro- 
tection de  la  faune  sont  souvent 
vioiees  en  toute  impunite.  Com- 
ment pourrait-il  en  etre  autre- 
ment  quand  c'est  une  question 
de  vie  ou  de  mort?  Les  pauvres 
survivent  comme  ils  peuvent;  la 
tentation    de    violer    laloi    est 


74 


grande  car  les  animaux  sauvages 
peuvent  etre  une  source  de  nour- 
riture  et  d'argent.  De  plus  les  re- 
pr6sentants  de  la  loi  sont  souvent 
tr^s  mal  pay6s,  et  done  assez  en- 
clins  k  fermer  les  yeux,  ou  meme 
k  etre  complices  des  infractions 
des  riches,  par  exemple  de's 
chasseurs  de  troph6es. 

Un  programme  d'am6nage- 
ment  de  la  faune  sauvage  ne  peut 
etre  efficace  k  long  terme  que  s'il 
est  bas6  sur  la  participation 
qctive  des  populations  locales  et 
s'il  leur  assure  des  avantages  im- 
portzmts  et  durables  sous  forme 
d'aliments  et  de  revenus  (voir 
Particle  sur  la  Zambie  k  la  page 
52). 

Amenagement  de  la 
faune  sauvage  pour  accroi- 
tre  les  ressources  alimen- 
taires 

La  domestication  de  beau- 
coup  d'especes  d'animaux  sau- 
vages est  th^oriquement  possi- 
ble, mais  il  y  a  relativement  peu 
de  r6alisations  dans  ce  domaine. 
Par  exemple  au  Ghana,  il  a  6t6 
prouv6  qu'on  peut  61ever  des  au- 
lacodes  en  cages  dans  les  mai- 
sons  pour  produire  de  la  viande 
de  bonne  quality  (Asibey, 
1974b,c). 

Mais,  meme  sans  domestica- 
tion; certaines  experiences  indi- 
quent  qu'il  est  possible  d'am6na- 
ger  efficacement  les  populations 
d'animaux  sauvages  poiu-  la  pro- 
duction   d'aliments,    soit    isol6- 


ment,  soit  en  les  intdgrant  dans 
les  systdmes  agricoles  (dlevage, 
foresterie,  cultures). 

Production  commer- 
ciale  de  gibier 

Dans  certains  pays,  en  plus 
des  animaux  61ev6s  en  captivit6 
pour  I'autoconsommation,  il  y  a 
eu  des  tentatives  d'elevage  inten- 
sif  ou  extensif  d'animaux  sau- 
vages pour  la  production  de 
viande  et  de  produits  secon- 
daires.  Le  gibier  n'est  pas  un 
produit  nouveau  k  lancer  a  coup 
de  publicit6.  Dans  aucun  pays 
oil  des  evaluations  ont  6t6  faites, 
la  population  d'animaux  sau- 
vages n'est  suffisante  pour  r6- 
pondre  a  la  demande.  Toute  in- 
novation capable  d'accroitre  la 
productivit6  est  done  souhaita- 
ble.L'61evage  en  captivit6  et  I'ele- 
vage  extensif  sont  done  des  op- 
tions trds  prometteuses  (Jintanu- 
gool,  1978). 

La  cr6ation  de  ranches  ou 
d'61evages  intensifs  a  proximit6 
des  centres  de  consommation 
pr6sente  plusieurs  avantages:  de- 
bouches assures,  transports  r6- 
duits  au  minimum,  possibilite 
d'accueillir  des  visiteurs  qui  sont 
une  source  de  revenus  suppie- 
mentaires. 

L'eievage,  en  captivite  ou  ex- 
tensif, permet  non  seulement  de 
reduire  les  pressions  qui  s'exer- 
cent  sur  les  populations  sau- 
vages, mais  aussi  de  rendre 
moins  aigue  la  concurrence  entre 


les  consommateurs  lu-bains  et  les 
consommateurs  ruraux.  L'obser- 
vation  de  la  faune  et  la  chasse 
sportive  dans  les  eievages  exten- 
sifs  d'animaux  sauvages  peuvent 
etre  des  sources  suppiementaires 
d'emplois  et  de  revenus  pour  les 
populations  et  de  recettes  pour 
I'Etat. 

Integration  de  la  faune 
sauvage  et  de  Televage 

Les  animaux  sauvages,  tout 
comme  les  animaux  domesti- 
ques,  transforment  des  vegetaux 
en  viande.  or,  jusqu'^  tout  r6- 
cemment,  on  a  deiiberement  ex- 
termine  des  animaux  indigenes 
pour  Uberer  les  parcours  k  I'u- 
sage  exclusif  des  troupeaux  do- 
mestiques,  en  partie  par  igno- 
rance et  en  partie  parce  que  Ton 
craignait  que  la  faune  reduise  la 
productivite  du  cheptel  en  lui  fai- 
sant  concurrence  et  ne  lui  trans- 
mette  des  maladies. 

Or,  il  a  ete  prouve  que  le  po- 
tentiel  de  production  de  viande 
des  animaux  sauvages  soutient 
souvent  favorablement  la  compa- 
raison  avec  celui  des  animaux 
domestiques  (Asibey,  1966;  Blax- 
ter,  1975;  King  et  Heath,  1975; 
Hoogesteijn  Reul,  1975;  Thres- 
her, 1980). 

En  outre,  I'eiimination  des 
animaux  sauvages  ne  permet  pas 
necessairement  de  maximiser  I'u- 
tilisationde  la  vegetation  des  par- 
cours. Les  animaux  domestiques 
ne   consomment   que   certaines 


75 


plantes.    La  coexistence  de  di- 
vers types  d'animaux  compati- 
bles, qui  ne  sont  pas  en  concur- 
rence pour  la  nourriture,  peut 
done  etre  avantageuse  (Asibey  et 
Asare,  1978).   Elle  peut  prendre 
la  forme  d'un  assortiment  appro- 
pri6   d'espdces   domestiques   et 
d'esp^ces  sauvages.     Ainsi,  en 
Afrique  du  Sud,  des  bovins  sont 
61ev6s  avec  des  koudous,  des  im- 
palas  et  des  bubales,  ce  qui  per- 
met    d'accroitre    le    rendement 
global  du  parcours  (Hoogesteijn 
Reul,  1979).  Au  Zimbabwe  aus- 
si,  il  y  a  une  int6gration  syst6ma- 
tique  de  la  faune  sauvage  et  de 
l'61evage  (Woodford,  1983;  Wo- 
rou,  1983).     Cette  formule  est 
d'autant    plus    rentable    qu'elle 
permet  de  maximiser  I'utilisation 
de  la  v6g6tation  et  de  se  passer 
de  desherbage  manuel  ou  chimi- 
que,  puisque  les  animaux  sau- 
vages mangent  les  plantes  delais- 
s6es  par  le  cheptel  domestique. 

Etant  donn6  ce  potentiel,  il 
importe  de  travailler  a  mettre  au 
point  des  systdmes  et  des  techni- 
ques propres  k  ameliorer  I'intd- 
gration  et  k  accroitre  la  produc- 
tion de  viande.  II  faut  reunir  des 
information  sur  I'integration  des 
animaux  sauvages  et  du  betail 
domestique  et  evaluer  sa  rentabi- 
lit6  socio-6conomique  afm  d'o- 
rienter  le  d6veloppement  futur  et 
de  permettre  une  utilisation  plus 
rationnelle  des  parcours.  Ce  fai- 
sant,  on  tiendra  compte  aussi  du 
surcroit  de  revenu  que  peuvent 
rapporter  les  animaux  sauvages 


par  le  biais  de  la  chasse  sportive 
et  du  tourisme. 


Les   animaux  sauvages 
et  la  foresterie 

Les  animaux  sauvages  sont 
parmi  les  produits  de  la  foret  qui 
contribuent  le  plus  au  bien-etre 
des  populations  locales.  Or,  les 
forestiers  les  consid6raient  au- 
trefois comme  des  produits  "se- 
condaires"  ou  meme  comme  des 
nuisances.  Combien  de  plans 
d'amenagement  forestier  pr6- 
voient  I'application  syst6matique 
de  techniques  propres  k  accroi- 
tre durablement  la  production  de 
viande  d'animaux  sauvages?  Et 
pourtant,  cela  pourrait  etre  un 
puissant  auxiliaire  des  efforts  de 
deyeloppement  forestier,  qu'ils 
aient  pour  objectif  la  production 
commerciale  ou  la  conservation 
des  ressources. 

L'exploitation  selective  du 
bois  stimule  la  croissance  de  la 
vegetation,  favorisant  ainsi  I'aug- 
mentation  de  la  population  de 
beaucoup  d'animaux.  Ainsi, 
dans  une  6tude  recente,  Prins  et 
Reitsma  (1989)  ont  constat6  que, 
dans  le  Sud-Ouest  du  Gabon,  le 
buffle  (Syncerus  caffer  nanus 
Sparrman),  absent  dans  la  foret 
primaire,  est  pr6sent  dans  la  fo- 
ret secondaire.  L'etude  n'a  pas 
donn6  de  r6sultats  probants  pour 
les  petits  animaux,  mais  il  est 
probable  que  revolution  est 
comparable.     Pourquoi  ne  pas 


autoriser  ou  meme  encourager 
les  habitants  k  chasser  les  petits 
animaux  dans  les  forets  de  pro- 
duction? Cela  ameliorerait  leur 
securit6  alimentaire  et  leur  don- 
nerait  en  meme  temps  de  bonnes 
raisons  de  penser  qu'il  est  avan- 
tageux  pour  eux  de  conserver  la 
foret  plutot  que  de  convertir  les 
terres  k  d'autres  utilisations. 

Dans  le  meme  esprit,  dans  les 
zones  de  protection,  on  pourrait 
autoriser  les  habitants  a  chasser 
en  dchange  de  leur  aide  pour  le 
reboisement.  On  aurait  ainsi  une 
main-d'oeuvre  locale  motivee, 
dont  I'absence  entrave  serieuse- 
ment  beaucoup  de  projets  fores- 
tiers. 

D'un  autre  cot6,  les  planta- 
tions monosp6cifiques,  surtout 
d'essences  exotiques,  ont  en  g6- 
n6ral  pour  effet  de  r€duire  la 
quantity  et  la  variety  des  popula- 
tions d'animaux  sauvages.  L'al- 
t^ration  du  convert  naturel  peut 
cr6er  un  environnement  peu  pro- 
pice  aux  animaux.  D'ou  in  nou- 
veau  danger:  le  sous-6tage  n'est 
plus  brout6,  ce  qui  accroit  les  ris- 
ques  d'incendie. 

On  pourrait  laisser  dans  les 
plantations  ou  en  bordure,  des 
arbres  d'essences  indigenes  pro- 
duisant  du  fourrage.  La  formule 
permettant  d'optimiser  les  avan- 
tages  socio-6cononiiques  reste  k 
determiner. 

II  est  aussi  possible  de  perfec- 
tionner  les  techniques  de  mani- 
pulation de  I'habitat  pour  accroi- 
tre la  production  d'smimaux  sau- 
vages dans  la  savane.  Par  exem- 


76 


pie,  la  plantation  d'essences  indi- 
genes ayant  lAie  valeur  nutrition- 
nelle  permettrait  d'augmenter  le 
potentiel  de  production  de 
viande  de  chasse  \k  oh  d'autres 
interventions  ne  seraient  pas  op- 
portunes. 

Les  animaux  sauvages 
et  les  systemes  de  produc- 
tion vegetale 

On  consid^re  en  g6n6ral  qu'il 
y  a  concurrence  entre  les  cul- 
tures et  la  faune  sauvage;  c'est 
pourquoi  beaucoup  d'efforts  ont 
6te  faits  pour  exterminer  cette 
dernidre.  Ainsi,  en  Afrique  aus- 
trale,  les  services  de  la  faune  ont 
bien  souvent  6t6  cre6s  h.  Torigine 
pour  detriure  les  animaux  sau- 
vages, considerds  comme  des 
nuisances  pour  les  plantations  du 
secteur  public. 

II  est  vrai  que  les  animaux 
sauvages  peuvent  ravager  les  cul- 
tures. Certaines  antilopes  brou- 
tent  les  jeunes  arbres  et  s'atta- 
quent  aux  plantes  cultivdes.  Les 
oiseaux,  en  particulier  le  qu616a, 
sont  notoirement  une  grave  me- 
nace pour  les  c6r6ales  et  font 
beaucoup  baisser  les  rende- 
ments.  Les  pertes  provoqu6es 
par  les  rongeurs,  tant  dans  les 
champs  qu'apr6s  la  recolte,  se 
chlffrent  par  millions  de  dollars. 

Mais  le  syst6me  des  planta- 
tions cr6e  par  ailleurs  un  envi- 
ronnement  particulidrement  fa- 
vorable k  I'exploitation  et  k  I'uti- 
lisation   des   animaux   sauvages 


pour  I'alimentation.  Malheureu- 
sement,  la  crainte  des  d6gats 
qu'ils  peuvent  causer  fait  trop 
souvent  oublier  la  possibilit6  d'u- 
tiliser  ces  "ravageurs"  k  des  fins 
nutritionnelles.  DAns  bien  des 
cas,  on  pourrait  a  la  fois  limiter 
les  d6gats  et  cr6er  une  source  de 
revenus  et  d'aliments  d*appoint 
en  mettant  au  point  des  techni- 
ques viables  d'exploitation  de  la 
faune. 

Pciradoxalement,  il  existe  d6- 
j^,  dans  bien  des  endroits,  des  te- 
chniques traditionnelles  efficaces 
qui  ne  sont  pas  appliquees  parce 
qu'on  ne  tire  aucun  paiti  de  la 
connaissance  du  milieu  local 
qu'ont  les  habitants,  considdres 
simplement  comme  de  la  main- 
d'oeuvre  pour  les  plantations. 
Par  exemple  en  Afrique  occiden- 
tale,  diverses  m6thodes  tradition- 
nelles permettent  de  pi6ger  au 
voisinage  des  cultures  et  d'utili- 
ser  les  rongeurs  qui  seraient  des 
ravageurs,  notamment  I'aulacode 
(Thryonmys  swinderianus  Tem- 
minck)  au  Ghana,  au  B6nin  et  en 
Cote  d'lvoire,  et  le  rat  de  Gam- 
ble {Cricetomys  gambianus)  au 
Nigeria.  C'est  un  moyen  a  la  fois 
de  se  procurer  de  la  nourriture 
et  d'6viter  que  ces  animaux  ne 
prolif6rent.  Si  on  mobilise  les 
populations  locales  pour  I'effort 
de  plantation,  ces  mdthodes 
pourraient  etre  appliqu6es  sur 
une  grande  echelle  avec  un  bon 
rapport  cout-efficacite.  D'ail- 
leurs,  dans  beaucoup  de  planta- 
tions de  cacaoyers  et  de  palmiers 
a  huile,  les  ouvriers  attrapent. 


pendant  leur  temps  libre,  des 
animaux  consid6r6s  conmie  des 
ravageurs  pour  les  manger. 

Dans  le  Nord  du  Ghana,  les 
rizi^res  irrigudes  dtaient  d6vast6s 
par  les  oiseaux  granivores.  On  a 
appris  aux  paysans  k  utiliser  des 
filets  de  nylon  presque  invisibles 
pour  les  capturer,  ce  qui  a  per- 
mis  de  rdduire  beaucoup  les  d6- 
gats  et  d'assurer  un  approvision- 
nement  rdgulier  en  viande  de 
bonne  qualitd  dans  une  zone  oil 
les  protdines  manquaient  (Ntia- 
moa-Baidu,  1986). 

Une  autre  fagon  d'intdgrer 
les  animaux  sauvages  et  les  cul- 
tures consiste  k  laisser  ou  k  cr6er 
a  cdt6  des  plantations  des  zones 
de  v6g6tation  naturelle  h6t6ro- 
gene  ou  la  faune  sauvage  puisse 
survivre.  Dans  beaucoup  de 
pays,  les  haies  et  les  rideaux- 
abris  constituent  des  habitats 
propices  dans  des  zones  ou  il  n'y 
aurait  autrement  pas  d'animaux 
sauvages.  Meme  si  cette  formule 
n'a  pas  6t6  con^ue  sp6cifique- 
ment  pour  la  production  de 
viande,  son  application  syst6ma- 
tique  pourrait  etre  int6ressante 
dans  beaucoup  de  pays  d' Afri- 
que subsaharienne  ou  les  cul- 
tures occupent  de  vastes  zones. 

On  n'a  pas  essay6  en  Afrique 
subsaharienne  d'int^grer  syst6- 
matiquement  et  de  fagon  massive 
les  animaux  sauvages  dans  les 
systemes  agricoles.  II  faut  espe- 
rer  qu'^  long  terme  I'int^gration 
des  arbres  dans  les  systdmes 
agricoles  (agroforesterie),  qui  est 
considerde  comme   une  option 


77 


valable  depuis  quelques  temps, 
sera  suivie  de  rint6gration  des 
animaux  sauvages  capables  de  ti- 
rer  parti  du  couvert  forestier. 

Legislation  sur  la  faune 

les  lois  ont  beaucoup  limit6 
Tutilisation  des  animaux  sau- 
vages pour  I'alimentation  dans 
les  6conomies  de  subsistance, 
parce  qu'elles  visent  k  protdger 
les  especes  menacees  et  k 
controler  la  chasse  au  troph6e. 
Dans  beaucoup  de  pays  tropi- 
caux,  elles  sont  congues  dans 
I'optique  de  la  chasse  sportive  de 
type  europeen,  d'ou  la  generali- 
sation de  concepts,  tels  que  ceux 
de  gibier,  de  saisons  de  chasse, 
de  troph6es,  de  reserves  ou  d'a- 
nimaux  prot6g6s,  transferes  en 
Afrique  sans  que  Ton  se  soit  ap- 
paremment  demand6  s'ils  6taient 
biologiquement  valables  en  mi- 
lieu tropical.  Un  grave  defaut  de 
ce  type  de  lois  est  qu'elles  igno- 
rent  les  techniques  tradition- 
nelles  d'utilisation,  assimilees  au 
braconnage.  La  possession,  I'uti- 
lisation  et  la  commercialisation 
de  la  viande  et  des  autres  pro- 
duits  des  animaux  sauvages  sont 
illegales.  A  cause  de  conflits 
avec  I'elevage  et  les  cultures,  ces 
animaux  sont  consider6s  comme 
des  nuisances. 

Ainsi,  dans  beaucoup  de  pays 
en  developpement,  les  mesures 
legislatives  sont  axees  unique- 
ment  sur  les  especes  menacees 
ou  les  especes  produisant  des 
trophees,  ce  qui  a  nui  a  I'amena- 


gement  des  autres  animaux.  Le 
principe  que  la  faune  appartient 
k  I'Etat,  I'obligation  d'obtenir 
des  permis  de  chasse  d61ivr6s 
centralement  et  les  restrictions 
frappant  la  vente  des  produits 
empechent  les  propri6taires 
d'envisager  I'amdnagement  de  la 
faune  comme  une  option  renta- 
ble d'utilisation  des  terres.  Tout 
cela  n'encourage  gudre  la 
conservation. 


CONCLUSION 

Jusqu'^  present,  il  n'y  a  gudre 
eu  d'efforts  serieux  pour  plani- 
fier  la  mise  en  valeur  du  poten- 
tiel  que  represente  la  faune  sau- 
vage  au  profit  de  I'economie  ru- 
rale.  Dans  la  majeure  partie  de 
4'Afrique  subsaharienne,  on  s'oc- 
cupe  beaucoup  depuis  plus  de  20 
ans  de  I'interet  touristique  de  la 
faune.  Mais  son  role  comme 
source  d'aliments  est  g6nerale- 
ment  ignore  ou  consid6r6 
comme  n6gligeable. 

L'amenagement  de  la  faune 
pour  la  production  de  viande  est 
reste  essentiellement  un  exercice 
thdorique,  sauf  au  Zimbabwe  oil 
les  particuliers  et  les  communau- 
t6s  possedant  des  terres  s'effor- 
cent  maintenant  de  valoriser  les 
populations  d'animaux  sauvages 
pour  en  tirer  de  I'argent  et  des 
aliments. 

Mais  dans  beaucoup  de  pays, 
on  ne  dispose  pas  des  informa- 
tions de  base  necessaires  pour 
reglementer  de  fagon  viable  I'uti- 


lisation  de  la  faune  pour  Pali- 
mentation.  Une  6tude  d6taill6e 
des  ressources  en  faune  est  indis- 
pensable. II  faut  recenser  les  po- 
pulations, determiner  la  place 
que  les  animaux  et  les  revenus 
qu'ils  produisent  occupent  dans 
I'dconomie  de  subsistance  et 
mettre  au  point  des  formules  d'a- 
m6nagement. 

Dans  la  plupart  des  cas,  le 
progr6s  est  freind  par  le  manque 
de  personnel  qualifie  et  de  res- 
sources.  Jusqu'a  present,  tout 
I'effort  de  conservation  et  d'ame- 
nagement  de  la  faune  reposait 
sur  la  bonne  volonte  de  quelques 
passionn6s,  les  m6canismes  offi- 
ciels  6tant  purement  formels. 
Faute  d'appui  national  et  inter- 
national, ces  efforts  locaux  et  in- 
dividuels  n'ont  pas  debouche  sur 
des  programmes  de  grande 
6chelle.  II  est  vrai  que,  dans  la 
plupart  des  pays  d' Afrique,  des 
fmancements  accrus  seraient  ne- 
cessaires pour  mobiliser  les  res- 
sources  humaines  et  materielles 
et  les  technologies  indispensa- 
bles  pour  mettre  fin  a  la  surex- 
ploitation  et  6tablir  un  systdme 
d'utilisation  viable;  mais  dans 
bien  des  cas,  on  pourrait  obtenir 
des  resultats  notables  avec  des 
ressources  relativement  mo- 
destes,  a  condition  qu'elles 
soient  utilis6es  de  fagon  efficace. 
Ce  qui  manque  le  plus,  c'est  la 
volont6  de  tous  d'assurer  une  uti- 
Usation  viable  de  la  faune  pour  le 
developpement  rural. 

Dans  les  pays  d6veloppes,  on 
continue  a  amenager  et  a  utiliser 


78 


les  animaux  sauvages  en  tant  que 
ressource  alimentaire  et  pas  seu- 
lement  pour  le  sport  et  les  loisirs. 
II  faudrait  encourager  vivement 
une  approche  polyvalente  de  ce 
genre  en  Afrique  subsaharienne. 

Le  moment  est  venu  de  re- 
garder  d'un  oeil  nouveau  le  role 
que  pourraient  jouer  les  animaux 
sauvages  dans  la  securite  alimen- 
taire et  en  particulier  les  possibi- 
lit6s  d'integrer  leur  utilisation 
dans  les  projets  de  developpe- 
ment  en  cours.  II  y  aurait  6gale- 
ment  lieu  d'etablir  des  liaisons 
entre  les  activit6s  d'amenage- 
ment  de  la  faune  et  les  projets  de 
nutrition  dans  les  pays  en  deve- 
loppement. 

Les  rdserves  forestieres  et  les 
zones  boisees  devront  jouer  un 
role  cl6  pour  permettre  de 
conserver  et  d'utiliser  de  fagon 
viable  les  populations  d'animaux 
sauvages.  Mais  pour  qu'elles 
puissent  jouer  ce  role,  il  faudra 
reexaminer  les  plans  d'amenage- 
ment  afln  qu'ils  prennent  en 
compte  toutes  les  ressources  fo- 
restieres, y  compris  la  faune,  et 
les  avantages  qu'elles  peuvent 
apporter  sur  le  plan  local  ainsi 
qu'a  r^chelle  nationale. 


*E.O.A.  Asibey,  ancien  admi- 
nistrateur  en  chef  de  la  Commis- 
sion des  forets  du  Ghana,  est  ac- 
tuellement  consultant  en  ecolo- 
gie  a  la  Banque  Mondiale  (Was- 
hington). 

*G.S.  Child  est  fonctionnaire 
principal  (am6nagement  de  la 
faune  et  des  zones  proteg6es)  au 
Departement  des  forets  de  la 
FAO,  Rome. 


Article  repris  de  Unasylva 
Vol.  41,  n°161,pp3-10 


79 


CONSERVATION 


New  Parks  for  Kenya 


During  1989,  Kenya  continued  to  improve 
its  networks  of  protected  areas  by  designa- 
ting two  new  national  parks.  Kora  National 
Park,  previously  a  nature  reserve,  is  a  semi- 
arid  area  of  Acacia/Commiphora  Bushland, 
on  the  south  bank  of  the  Tana  river  in  Central 
Kenya.  The  Malka  Mari  National  Park  is  in  the 
Mandera  District,  in  the  far  north-eastern  cor- 
ner of  the  country. 


convention  confie  la  gestion  du  pare  k  la  Fon- 
dation  pour  une  dur^e  de  25  ans.  Ce  pare  est 
situ6  au  centre  du  Togo  et  s'6tend  sur  200 
000  ha. 

An  ageement  was  signed  in  May  1990  be- 
tween the  Weber  Foundation  and  the  Togo- 
lese  Ministry  of  Environment  and  Tourism,  un- 
der which  the  management  of  the  Park  will  be 
entrusted  to  the  Foundation  for  a  period  of  25 
years.  The  Park  is  situated  in  the  central  part 
of  Togo  and  covers  an  area  of  200  000  ha. 


Nouveaux  Pares  au  Kenya 

En  1989,  le  Kenya  a  encore  amelior6  son 
reseau  d'aires  protegees  en  d^signant  2  nou- 
veaux pares  nationaux.  Le  Pare  National  de 
Kora,  auparavant  reserve  naturelie,  est  une 
zone  sem\-ar\6ek  Acacia/Commiphora,  situee 
sur  la  rive  Sud  de  la  riviere  Tana  au  centre  du 
Kenya.  Le  Pare  National  de  Molka  Mari  est 
dans  le  District  Mandera  ei  I'extreme  pointe 
Nord-Est  du  pays. 

(source  :  Parks  vol  1,  n°1, 1990) 
******************************* 

La  fondation  Franz  Weber  au  Pare 
National  Malfakossa-Fazao  (Togo) 


Une  convention  a  et6  sign6e  en  mai  90  en- 
tre  la  Fondation  Weber  et  le  ministere  togolais 
de  I'environnement   et  du  Tourisme;   cette 


(source:  Ministere  Togolais  de  I'environne- 
ment et  du  Tourisme) 

******************************* 

Bringing  back  the  QUAGGA 

{Hippotiaris  quaqqa  quaaaa) 

South  African  scientists  are  engaged  In  a 
project  to  rebreed  the  extinct  quagga  within  3 
generations  or  10  years.  The  last  quagga 
died  in  Amsterdam  Zoo  on  August  12,  1883. 
Scientists  hope  to  recreate  the  quagga  by  in- 
terbreeding selected  plain  zebras,  without  stri- 
ping on  their  hind  legs.  Such  specimens  are 
occasionally  seen  in  the  Etosha  Pan  in  Nami- 
bia and  in  Zululand  (Natal).  According  to  tis- 
sue shavings  examination  from  preserved 
quagga  in  Cape  Town  Museum,  there  is  evi- 
dence that  quagga  was  a  subspecies  of  the 
plain  zebra.  This  means  that  the  main  gene 
pool  is  still  available  for  recreation  of  the 


80 


quagga  without  the  intrcxjuction  of  any  extra 
specific  genes.  8  zebras  with  greatly  reduced 
striping  were  selected  from  about  2500  and 


are  now  in  a  breeding  station.  To  speed  up 
the  process,  artificial  insemination  could  be 
used,  if  necessary. 

Recr6er  le  couaaaa  {Hippotiaris 


posterieurs  ont  disparu.  De  tels  specimens 
sont  parfois  apergus  k  Etosha  Pan  ou  dans  le 
Zululand  (Natal).  D'apr^s  des  examens  de 
prelevements  de  tissus  provenant  de  z^bres 
conserves  au  Musee  du  Cap,  il  est  clair  que  le 
couagga  ^tait  une  sous-espdce  du  z§bre  de 
plaine.  Cela  signifie  que  le  stock  principal  de 
g^nes  est  encore  disponible  pour  reorder  le 
couagga  sans  apport  du  moindre  g^ne  extra 
specifique.  8  zebres  dont  les  rayures  etaient 
fortement  reduites  ont  6t6  selectionnes  parmi 
2500.  lis  sont  maintenant  dans  une  station 
d'elevage.  Pour  accelerer  le  processus,  I'in- 
semination  artificielle  pourrait  etre  utilis^e,  si 
cela  s'av6re  necessaire. 

(source:  lUCN  Veterinary  group  newsletter 
n°5, 1990) 

******************************* 


Des  scientifiques  sud  africains  ont  entam6 
un  projet  pour  recreer  le  couagga  disparu,  d'i- 
ci  3  generations  ou  10  ans.  Le  dernier  couag- 
ga mourut  au  zoo  d'Amsterdam  le  12  aoOt 


1 883.  Les  scientifiques  esp^rent  recreer  cette 
espdce  en  croisant  entre  eux  des  z6bres  se- 
lectionnes, dont  les  rayures  des  membres 


La  fondation  Cote  d'Or  aide  le 
Pare  National  de  Ruaha  (Tanzanie) 


La  societe  chocolatiere  Cote  d'Or  (Belgl- 
que)  a  cree  debut  1990  une  fondation  pour  la 
protection  de  reiephant  qui  consacrera  an- 
nuellement  et  pendant  3  ans  un  montant  de 
10  millions  de  francs  ($300,000)  k  la  protec- 
tion des  elephants  dans  le  Pare  de  Ruaha 
(Tanzanie)  ou  leur  nombre  est  pass6  de 
44000  en  1977  k  moins  de  15000  dix  ans  plus 
tard.  De  son  cote.le  gouvernement  tanzanien 
s'est  engage  k  renforcer  les  effectifs  de 
gardes  du  pare  de  50  %. 

Cote  d'Or,  the  chocolate  manufacturing 
company  In  Belgium,  set  up  a  foundation  ear- 
ly 1990  for  elephant  protection.  It  will  vote  an- 
nually 10  million  francs  ($300,000)  for.  three 


81 


years,  toward  elephant  protection  at  the  Rua- 
ha  National  Park  in  Tanzania,  where  their 
number  has  reduced  from  44,000  in  1977  to 
less  than  15,000  10  years  later.  On  its  part, 
the  Tanzanian  government  has  pledged  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  wardens  by  50  %. 

(source:  WWF-Belgium  Panda  Press 
n- 34, 1990) 


<^ 


POUR  LA  PROTECTION 
DE    L  ELEPHANT 


f. 


******************************* 


Upcoming  Events     Reunions  a  venir 


*  Breeding  and  Conservation  of 
Endangered  Species 

Jersey  Wildlife  Preservation  Trust 
Summer  School 
27th  July  to  1 7th  August  1991 7 
The  fee  per  person  is  £700  (including 
accomodation  and  meals) 
J.W.P.T.,  Trinity,  Jersey  JE3  5BF, 
Channel  Islands,  UK 


*  International  Symposium  on 
human  influences  on  Endangered 
Wildlife  Species  in  Africa 


2-5  December  1991    Kampala 
info:  Dr  Edroma  Uganda  Institute 
of  Zoology 
P.O.  BOX  3530  KAMPALA  Uganda 

******************************* 


******************************** 

*  Symposium  sur  la  sant6  et  la 
gestion  des  mammiferes  en  liberte 

Symposium  on  health  and 
management  of  free-ranging 
mammals 


15-17  Octobre  1 991    Nancy,  France 
info:  BP  9    F-54220  MALZEVILLE  France 


*10th  World  Forestry  Congress 
lOemc?  Congr^s  Forestier  Mondiale 


Paris  17-26  Sept.  1991 

Info:  CTFT   45b,  avenue  de  la 

Belle-Gabrielle 

F- 94736  Nogent-sur-Marne  CEDEX 

France 


82 


This  congress  is  followed  by  optional  stu- 
dy tours 

Netlierlands:  forestry  in  a  country  with  a 
high  population  density  (6  days) 

Niger:  the  tree  in  the  fight  against  desertifi- 
cation (9  days) 

Cote  d'lvoire:  Deforestation  and  Reforesta- 
tion (7  days) 

Gabon:  Conservation  and  development  of 
the  equatorial  forest  (9  days) 


Ce  congrds  est  suivi  de  voyages  d'^tudes 
en  option 

Pays-Bas:  foresterie  dans  un  pays  ci  forte 
densite  humaine  (6  jours) 

Niger:  I'arbre  dans  la  lutte  centre  la  deser- 
tification 

Cote  d'lvoire:  Deforestation  et  reboise- 
ment  (7  jours) 

Gabon:  Conservation  et  mise  en  valeur  de 
la  foret  6quatoriale  (9  jours) 


BOOKS  -  LIVRES 


"WWF  Atlas  of  the  Environment" 

by  Geoffrey  Lean,  Don  Hinrichsen  and 
Adam  Markham,  arrow  Books  Ltd.  London. 
192  pp.  £10.99 

Unlike  a  conventional  atlas,  almost  all  the 
maps  in  this  book  are  of  the  entire  globe.  This 
book  is  divided  into  42  sections.  All  the  major 
issues  are  there:  the  ozone  hole,  population 
growth,  destruction  of  mangroves,  damaged 
watersheds...  with  maps,  diagrams  and  charts. 

(culled  from  WWF  News) 

******************************* 


"Tropical  Rain  Forest  Ecosystems" 

Biogeographical  and  Ecological  Studies 
by  H.  Leith  and  M.J.A.  Werger.  714  pp. 
US$  243 

This  volume  presents  a  comprehensive  re- 
view of  the  rain  forest  ecosystem  structure 
and  the  ecological  processes  operating  that 
system.  General  chapters  on  abiotic  and  bio- 
tic  factors  are  followed  by  specific  chapters  on 
all  major  groups  of  organisms.  The  human 
exploitation  of  the  system,  its  effects  and  its  li- 
mits are  discussed.  The  book  is  extensively  il- 
lustrated by  pictures,  graphs  and  tables. 


"Elsevier's  Dictionary  of  the 
World's  Game  and  Wildlife" 

(in  English,  Latin,  French,  German,  Dutch 

and  Spanish  with  equivalents  in  Afrikaans  and 
Kiswahili) 

by  G.R.  Ferlin  426  pp.  US$  153 
This  multilingual  dictionary,  the  first  of  its 
kind,  provides  information  on  animal  species 
and  terminology  concerning  hunting  and  wil- 
dlife management.  The  first  part  includes  list 
of  animal  species  and  subspecies  which  can 
be  considered  "game"  in  a  wide  sense  (1 800 
entries)  including  sea  mammals  and  sea 
birds.  The  second  part  of  the  dictionary  pre- 
sents equivalent  game  and  hunting  terms  in 
five  languages. 

Ce  dictionnaire  "polyglotte"  (Frangais,  An- 
glais, Allemand,  Latin,  Neerlandais  et  Espa- 
gnol  avec  equivalents  en  Swahili  et  Afrikaans) 
est  le  premier  du  genre.  II  est  divis6  en  deux 
parties  :  la  premiere  comprend  une  liste  (1 800 
entries)  d'esp^ces  et  de  sous-esp6ces  anl- 
males  pouvant  etre  considerees  comme  gl- 
bier  au  sens  large,  y  compris  les  mammifdres 
marins  et  les  oiseaux  de  mer;  la  seconde 
partie  pr6sente  les  termes  de  chasse  et  de  gl- 
bier  en  5  langues. 


Cover  /  couverture:  c6phalophe  de  Jentink  ( Cephalophus  jentinki )  Jentink's  duiker 

(photo  Vivian  J.  Wilson) 
Back  cover  /  couverture  arridre:  serval  ( Felis  serval )  (photo  J.J.  Leroy)