A wild fallacy

For decades, conservationists have shown that the wildlife trade can lead to extinctions, but there are still groups arguing that trade can be sustainable if protection measures control harvesting. Not so, according to a meta-analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Sheffield. The researchers assembled 31 studies that compared wildlife populations in areas where hunting and trapping occur with areas free from such activities. Overall, 133 species were included: 99 mammals, 24 birds and ten reptiles. The studied species were markedly less abundant if they lived in areas without protection, but even in protected areas, populations declined by 39 per cent, and where animals were traded for food, there was a 60 per cent decline in populations.