Eating wild animals: Rewards, risks and recommendations

Grace, D., Bett, B., Cook, E., Lam, S., MacMillan, S., Masudi, P., Mispiratceguy, M., Ha Thi Thanh Nguyen, Hung Nguyen-Viet, Patel, E., Slater, A., Staal, S. and Thomas, L. 2024. Eating wild animals: Rewards, risks and recommendations. Nairobi, Kenya: ILRI.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, prominent calls were made in the Global North to end the hunting, selling and eating of meat from wild animals. This report is a partial response to such calls, arguing that such a ban would be both impossible and arguably immoral to enforce due to the benefits wild meat provides for many millions of mostly poor communities. It also acknowledges the risks inherent in eating wild meat and recommends reshaping the wild meat trade in ways that 1) ensure it is sustainable and fair to poor and under-nourished populations of the Global South; 2) do not harm biodiversity or put endangered species at increased risk; 3) are safer for human, animal and environment health; and 4) are more humane.

The importance of meat from wild animals to human diets has long been studied as has the human health risks from consuming it. Based on literature reviews, this report seeks to understand wild meat consumption by people and the value chains that supply it—including hunting, harvesting, marketing and consumption—and the implications of consuming wild meat for both human nutrition and zoonotic risks in Africa and East and Southeast Asia regions where wildlife is an abundant especially abundant renewable resource and widely consumed and where ILRI has been researching use of wild meat for many decades. The report synthesizes the available evidence on wild meat and recommends practices and research priorities to mitigate the biodiversity conservation and zoonotic risks related to its consumption, particularly for use by organizations working in the health, veterinary, environment and wildlife sectors.