Hunting practices in the semiarid region of Brazil

The present study, undertaken in a traditional community in the semiarid region of Paraiba State, registered the principal animal species hunted for nutritional purposes or because they are considered dangerous to people and/or their domestic animals or cause other economic damage (in what can be called control-hunting), and evaluated the implications of these practices in terms of the conservation of the local fauna. The interviewees cited a total of 38 species of wild animals that were hunted in the region for food or that represented (in the opinion of the interviewees) some risk to humans and/or domestic stocks. The species cited could be grouped into 6 faunal groups (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and arthropods). Subsistence hunting in the study region is principally directed towards birds and mammals, which represent alternative sources of protein for local human populations. Hunting for pest control is principally directed towards reptiles (which are considered dangerous or loathsome) and these animals are indiscriminately killed whether they are poisonous or not.