Subsistence Hunting on a Pioneer Front of Amazonia: Case of Uruará

Although prohibited, hunting is widely practiced by rural populations settled along the Transamazon Highway. A diagnostic of subsistence hunting was conducted in 1997 in the Uruará district of Brazil. Beat, hide and trap were the three main hunting techniques, and each one targeted a specific type of game. Although these techniques were rudimentary, 62% of the hunts were successful. Hunters kept their movements within five kilometers at most from their homes, thus covering an 80 km² area. The number of species caught was low: pacas (Agouti paca), deer (Mazama sp.) and collared peccaries (Tayassu tajacu) provided more than 70% of game meat. The red mazama (Mazama americana), the favorite species, and the paca underwent the highest hunting pressure. In addition to social and ludic roles, hunting had a real nutritional value. Mean daily game meat consumption ranged from 36 to 45.9 g per person (i.e. 13.1–16.7 kg per person per year), depending on the origin of the hunters (urban or rural, respectively). Game hunting did not seem to be the main factor for loss of biodiversity, which might rather result from the transformation of the forest ecosystem into agricultural zones: the habitats were parceled out, generating a reduction in the biodiversity. Community management of wildlife and development of new activities such as breeding of wild animals could help preserve natural resources