A growing appetite for bushmeat among urban residents increases the risk of zoonotic disease transmission, and threatens wildlife populations in Nigeria and its surrounding countries. This consumption also overlaps with the illegal trade networks, fueling the trade in protected species like elephants and pangolins. While studies have shown that bushmeat consumption in Nigeria is influenced by a number of factors such as taste, health, and culture, there is little information on the attitudes, awareness, preferences, and reservations of the general public in major cities such as Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Calabar.
The survey is designed to guide future conservation initiatives by establishing baseline data on attitudes, values, motivations, and behaviors of urban buyers, users, and intended users of bushmeat. WildAid also sought to identify the hotspots of bushmeat purchases while investigating the groups that are most likely to purchase or advocate for the conservation of wildlife in Nigeria. With a better understanding of these influencing factors, multistakeholder interventions can ultimately lead to more effective and integrated policies along with permanent behavior change...