FEATURE: In southern Nigeria, volunteers confront hunters, poachers to protect wildlife, build climate resilience

As wildlife declines, community volunteers are standing up to rescue endangered species and curb illegal hunting in Southern Nigeria.

Ifoma Inyang never intended to take over her late mother’s bushmeat stall. But five years after her mother’s sudden death, the modest wooden shed by the edge of the Ediene Ikot community  in Uyo Local Government,  Akwa Ibom State,Southern Nigeria, became her mainstay. Drawn by the business’ steady income, she now runs the shop with ease.

Hunched beside a rusted barrel oven, Ifoma spread strips of bushmeat that have been slow-smoked to a deep, dark hue. Wisps of white smoke curl upward as she tosses in dried corn cobs to stoke the fire, squinting through the blaze. Her stall is a local favorite — not just for its spicy aroma, but for its exotic offerings: meat from crocodile, bat, elephant, antelope, porcupine, tortoise, and even leopard — all seasoned, grilled, and served hot.

“I started this business when I was 17 years old with my mother, and I’ve been here ever since,” she said, seated at the front of her stand. There, she also serves palm wine and bushmeat pepper soup to locals.

 

The hunted wild animals locally known as ‘bushmeat’  has long been part of Nigerian culinary tradition, but it’s no longer just out in the bush. One of the largest pressures on wildlife is the bushmeat trade. In cities like Akwa Ibom, Abuja and Lagos, demand is rising, even among middle-class professionals who seek it out for its flavor, perceived nutritional value, or cultural nostalgia. Besides bushmeat consumption, Nigeria is a key transit hub in Africa for ivory and pangolin scales exported to Asia.

WildAid Organization’s study in 2021 found that 70% of urban residents in big cities reported eating bushmeat in the past year, up from 45% in 2019. In Lagos’s Ajah Market or Calabar’s Watt Market, you can find antelope, giraffe, leopard, lion,  zebra, gorillas, turtles and snake meat openly displayed alongside conventional livestock.

The World Bank estimates the illegal wildlife trade is worth $7.8 billion to $10 billion a year, making it the fourth most profitable criminal enterprise after drugs, human trafficking, and arms. In West and Central Africa, the bushmeat trade alone is estimated to involve several million tons of wildlife harvested each year.

Deforestation remains one of the biggest drivers of wildlife decline in Nigeria. The loss of forests threatens species such as pangolins, chimpanzees, forest elephants and drills, which depend on these habitats for food and shelter. Global Forest Watch reports that Nigeria lost about 1.6 million hectares of tree cover between 2001 and 2025, a 15% decline from 2000. Agriculture, hunting and habitat destruction continue to put further pressure on wildlife and their habitats.

Beyond the threat to wildlife, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that close contact with wild animals, including through hunting, handling and consumption, can increase the risk of zoonotic diseases—illnesses that can spread from animals to humans. WHO also notes that deforestation and the destruction of natural habitats can bring people and wildlife into closer contact, creating more opportunities for diseases to spill over into human populations.

 

The people protecting what remains

But while the pressure on Nigeria’s forests and wildlife continues to grow, some local residents are choosing to take a different path. In communities across southern Nigeria, volunteers working with the Biodiversity Preservation Center (BPC) are helping to rescue animals, report illegal hunting and raise awareness about the need to protect wildlife.

Established in 1996, the BPC works in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states, two areas that contain some of Nigeria’s remaining rainforest ecosystems. The organisation combines conservation in the wild with the rescue and rehabilitation of animals that have been removed from their natural habitats.

 

Over the years, the centre has developed a network of 20 community volunteers who alert conservationists when wild animals are captured or when illegal hunting activities are reported. The volunteers also assist in rescuing animals that would otherwise end up in bushmeat markets or in the hands of wildlife traders. The organisation says it has rescued more than 4,000 animals, including mammals, reptiles and birds.

For the volunteers, the work often begins with a phone call or a tip from someone in the community. Once a report comes in, conservation workers assess the situation and determine how the animal can be rescued. Some of the animals arrive injured or weak after being kept in captivity, while others have been taken from the wild at a very young age.

The rescued animals are taken to the organisation’s wildlife garden, where they receive care and, where possible, rehabilitation. The facility is also used for conservation education, giving students, researchers and residents an opportunity to see native wildlife and learn about the threats facing them.

But rescuing animals is only one part of the volunteers’ work. The organisation also relies on them to speak with people in their communities, visit schools and encourage residents to report illegal hunting. Their local knowledge can make it easier to identify where wildlife is being hunted and where animals may be held or traded.

 

Professor Edem Eniang, the BPC’s Executive Director, said the organization relies on community volunteers who alert them when animals are trapped or captured. But delays can sometimes be fatal. He recalled four manatees that were brought to Akwa Ibom and left under the sun before the BPC was notified. “Before we could rush them it was too late, before we could get to the scene, the animals had already been exposed to the heat of the sun, they couldn’t make it at the end of the day, they became bush meat,” he said.

Eniang said rescuing animals can also put volunteers at risk, especially when they confront hunters or traders. He recalled a volunteer who had to flee his community after being seen as a threat to local hunters. “They see us as government that come and spy on their illegal activities. That’s why today we don’t want to expose anybody to danger,” he said.

The BPC director also stressed that poverty remains one of the biggest obstacles to conservation, as many communities depend on hunting and fishing when other sources of income fail. “It is difficult to preach conservation to a hungry man,” Eniang said. He believes conservation efforts must also provide communities with alternative livelihoods if they are to reduce dependence on wildlife.

From hunting to protecting

Mr Mike Ali, a trader and community volunteer with the Biodiversity Preservation Center in Uyo, became interested in conservation after seeing students and visitors come to the centre to learn about wildlife. He also began learning from Professor Edem Eniang and sharing what he learnt with his children.

“The moment I started coming to his compound here because I saw a lot of people come from different states, different schools to come and acquire more knowledge concerning wild animals here, Monkey, crocodile, snake, others,” he said. “I started to grow more close to him to know much about those animals, and my children too they benefit.”

 

Ali has since helped rescue animals that escaped from the centre, including a monkey and a crocodile. He also once stopped a friend from killing a rabbit he had caught while hunting and instead took it to the BPC. Since then, he has encouraged people in his community to consider other ways of making a living.

“I always advise them instead of hunting them, it’s better you look for any alternative,” he said. “They should look for other businesses. Either they should go for farming, and if you don’t have farming, they should look for another business to fetch your income than to go to the bush to look for animals and kill.”

Mrs Ema-Abasi Itoro Inyang, a farmer and community volunteer who has worked with the BPC for about four years, was drawn to conservation by her passion for wildlife. Living in an interior village in Itam, she became concerned about hunters targeting monkeys that often moved around her community.

“I enjoyed the way they climbed our trees, eating, sharing our bananas with us, and specifically eating it with us, playing around with my children,” she said. “So I wasn’t always happy seeing this young man hunting the monkeys and scaring them away from coming around to keep us company.”

 

Inyang eventually confronted one of the hunters and persuaded him to stop. She has also helped rescue other wildlife, including a fish caught by a couple in a local river. She paid them to release it and accompanied them back to the river, where they returned it to the water.

“I was so fulfilled that day that at least I was able to rescue one particular wildlife species,” she said. “I won’t forget that day in a hurry.”

Pst. Peter Archibong, a resident living near forest communities, has watched the relationship between residents and wildlife change over the years. He said community leaders now warn residents against hunting animals and cutting down trees, while people who find animals sometimes call the BPC instead of killing them.

“They are changing very positively because in this area that the forest is there, even the community leader has been taking, giving a notice to announce to everybody that lives around that place that they should not be killing or destroying the animals, or neither destroying the forests, or cutting trees from the forest,” he said.

Archibong also believes conservation efforts must take into account the livelihoods of people who depend on the forest. He said hunters and others who make money from wildlife need alternative sources of income if they are expected to stop.

 

 

“Before one asks someone to stop eating the animals you have to engage them,” he said. “Some of them are hunters, some of them are people that look for dead animals for their daily income, so to stop them, you have to give them what to do, you have to empower them.”

Aniefon Akpabio, an environmental researcher and conservation expert who retired from the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), attributed the continued loss of wildlife to weak enforcement of existing forest and wildlife protection laws. He said poor implementation, bureaucratic bottlenecks and selective sanctions have made it difficult to effectively protect endangered species.

“Enforcement of existing wildlife and forest protection laws has remained weak for several reasons including non- implementation of the laws, bureaucratic procedures/bottlenecks, the Nigerian factor of selective sanctions, etc,” he said.

Akpabio also added that inadequate funding remains a major obstacle to conservation efforts. He called for stronger government funding and private-sector support. “Nobody should think of any reasonable progress in wildlife management unless the present level of funding improves drastically,” he said.

 

Living alongside the forest

 

Queen Esara, a resident of Afah Idoho community, close to the Biodiversity Preservation Center, has seen conservation efforts change how people view wildlife, particularly through the awareness created by the centre and its volunteers.

“It’s not everything that you eat, and it’s not everything that you should sell, not all animals are what you should sell,” she explained. “The center makes us see that there are other means of survival rather than hunting this very animal.”

Idara-Abasi Edem, a citizen of Obon Itam community, noted that wildlife hunting and logging still persist although the center had sensitized and informed the community on the issue on several occasions. He feels, however, that the conservation campaigns have started to shift people’s attitudes on endangered species.

 

 

 

“Some people in our community have  stopped killing endangered species, and some also stopped logging because it’s bigger than what we assumed,” he said. “The center has impacted a lot of our minds, the way they used to see the animals before. We  don’t see the animals as mere bush meat anymore.”

Mfon Uko Nkanang, the Akwa Ibom State Coordinator of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), described biodiversity loss in southern Nigeria as one of the most severe in West Africa, driven by deforestation, urbanisation, illegal logging, wildlife trafficking and other pressures on natural habitats. “The region contains globally important tropical rainforests and mangrove ecosystems that support high levels of biodiversity and many endemic species,” he said.

Nkanang stressed that community-based conservation can be a means of strengthening efforts to conserve endangered species in the presence of proper support and alternative livelihoods. He added there is a need for more intensive measures to stop degradation and exploitation of the wildlife if it is not to be continued. “Economic incentives, secure land rights, conservation education, and alternative livelihoods can help communities to deter poaching and habitat degradation,” he said.

 

 

 

For Edem, the continued dependence on wildlife is also linked to poverty in the communities. He believes residents who depend on hunting can be encouraged to adopt other sources of income rather than being condemned for their actions.

“They should adopt alternative livelihood, they should venture into livestock farming, it’s more lucrative than hunting wildlife,” he said. “That same energy can be put into fish farming, pig farming, poultry farming and any other source of livelihood”, he stated.

By: Abdulwaheed Sofiullahi

The story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network