Hunting_Ball Python_Togo

Emma_Hemmerle — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 13:59:28 +0000

Hunting_Ball Python_Togo Emma_Hemmerle Tue, 01/04/2022 - 13:59

Wed, 01/01/2020 - 12:00

Affiliation

IIED

Date Of Record Entry

Tue, 01/04/2022 - 12:00

Type of wild species covered by the record

Wild species used in its natural habitat

Wild species sourced from the wild but reared/cultivated in a managed site (e.g., cultivated wild specimens, eggs/juveniles from the wild)

Stage of the value chain covered by the record

Primary Producer/harvester (e.g., NTFP collectors, egg collectors)

Record Source

Scientific publication (e.g., journal articles and book chapters independently peer-reviewed)

Ball Python hunting by rural communities in southern Togo, Western Africa.

Decreasing

Is the species endemic HIDE

Unknown

Population Status

Common and wildly distributed

Formal international protection in place

International Level

CITES listing

National Level

Formal national protection in place

Article 78 of Law No. 2008-09 of the Carrying Forest Code strictly prohibits the hunting of gravid females, newborns, juveniles, eggs and the associated destruction of ball python burrows. Furthermore, Articles 79 and 80 of the Carrying Forest Code allo

Threats/Pressures impacting the conservation of the species

Agriculture

Illegal/Unregulated Hunting

Additional Details (if available)

11 of 17 interviewees that commented on the cause of a decline referred directly to hunting, or to increasing numbers of hunters and farms (one stated that, "As we are capturing them with their eggs, they don’t have time to reproduce anymore"), four referred to tractors and cows (trampling), two to forest destruction, two to uncontrolled vegetation fires (n = 2), and one to climate change (prolonged dry seasons).

Population Trend

Unknown/not recorded

Sub-national Level

Unknown/not recorded

Name

Emma Hemmerlé

Scientific Name

Python regius

Common Name(s)

Ball python

Type of Use

Extractive (i.e., the entire organism or parts of the organism are removed from its environment)

If extractive, for the target species, is this use

Non-Lethal

Does this use involve take/extraction of

The whole entire organism

Details of parts/products taken

The use is non-lethal in most cases with ranched snakes supplmenting the exotic pet trade.

How is the primary use carried out?

Hunting and/or Trapping of live Terrestrial and Aerial Animals

Are specific characteristics/traits being targeted?

Unknown/not recorded

Purpose of Use

Basic subsistence (meeting day to day essential needs)

Income generation from trade at individual or household or community

What is the main end use for any living organisms, parts or products taken/extracted?

Keeping, display or breeding live animals and plants (e.g., pets, horticulture, zoos, botanic gardens)

Amount

120.00

Units Of Measurement

median number of indivuduals

Time period over which this has been recorded

12 months

What is the trend in the level of offtake within the period covered by this record?

Unknown/Not Recorded

Is there a regulatory or customary regime in place to govern this use?

Yes, formal but regular non compliance

Additional Details (if available)

As of 2006, there were seven farms known to be operating in Togo (Ineich 2006; UNEP-WCMC 2014), with an agreed national annual export quota of 62,500 “ranched” specimens and 1,500 “wild” specimens in place since 2007 (UNEP 2019).

There was an exceeded quota of wild-sourced specimens from Togo, between 1999–2003 that was observed.

Geographic Location

Sub-Saharan Africa

Country

Togo

Is the site legally/formally protected?

Unknown/not recorded

Ownership

Unknown/Not Recorded

Management

Unknown/Not Recorded

Local people (e.g., individuals, communities, co-operatives)

Is the use part of a strategy to generate conservation incentives, to finance conservation, or to improve tolerance/stewardship?

Unknown/not recorded

Is there evidence that the use is affecting the conservation status of the species? HIDE

Yes – use is negatively affecting the status (e.g., population is declining; extraction effort is increasing)

Is there evidence that the use is affecting natural selection?

Unknown/not recorded

Is there evidence that the use is affecting poaching of illegal wildlife trade?

Unknown/not reported

Is there any evidence that this use of the species is having a knock-on effect on the status of non-target species

Unknown/not recorded

No assessment has been recorded

Details of assessment carried out

Based on a widespread suggestion among hunters that wild ball python populations have declined, the authors of the paper raise concern regarding the sustainability of this practice, and find little evidence of effective management. The authors also note that there is no formal population monitoring initiative currently in place and as such it is not possible to assess whether or not this level of exploitation is sustainable.

Has a valuation of financial flows from this use at the site/national/international level been recorded

Contribution to GDP

Unknown/not recorded

Food

Energy

Medicine/healthcare

Education

Training/Skills

Land/Resource Rights

Decision Making

Conflict- people

Conflict- wildlife

Climate Change

Exporters also trained Togolese “producer” villagers and provided them with the necessary equipment for temporarily keeping gravid females and hatching eggs, before selling the resulting juveniles to the farms.

Has any assessment of socio-economic sustainability been recorded

No assessment recorded

Details of assessment

The authors state that hunting ball pythons to supplement the international exotic pet trade is a valuable source of income for the hunters currently engaged in this commercial trade. However, the long-term viability of this activity as a source of financial income is jeopardised by an apparent increase in the number of captive-bred ball pythons in key importing countries such as the USA (Barker and Barker 2006), and the increasing role of the USA (and some European countries) as a global exporter of captive-bred ball pythons (CITES Trade Database, https://trade.cites.org).

Has the use of the species been recorded as resulting in changes to human health in this record?

Unknown/not recorded

Has the species in use been noted as being of particular disease risk to humans?

Unknown/not recorded

Has the use of the species resulted in changes to animal welfare in this record?

Unknown/not recorded

Are there particular practices which have increased the risk to human or animal health or welfare in the use of this species?

Unknown/not recorded

Does the use of this species increase susceptibility to pathogen spread?

Unknown/not recorded

Strong community governance/institutions/rights for wildlife management

Absent

Supportive policy and legislative framework

Absent

Adequate capacity to implement and enforce governance arrangements

Absent

Good alignment of legal protections with local cultural values and traditional

Absent

Support from NGOs

Absent

Support from Government

Absent

High financial returns from use

Present

Abundant population of target species

Absent

Biological characteristics of target species

Absent

Capacity building of community

Absent

Establishment and implementation of species and/or area management plan

Absent

Effective private sector approach engagement through certification

Absent

Good Market Strategies

Absent

Is this use legal or illegal?

Some use is legal and some is illegal

Please provide details below of how these factors have contributed to the success OR lack of success of the SU initiative

The study suggests that the ball python production methods applied on the ground in Togo do not accurately reflect (1) offtake levels reported in CITES trade data, (2) the methods being reported to national authorities or international regulatory mechanisms
such as CITES, in terms of source country, (3) the extent to which current production methods are dependent on wild-sourced ball pythons, and (4) aspects of management practice (such as re-release of females and a proportion of juveniles). This irregular, if
not illegal trade may also be unsustainable, for example as implied by hunters reporting that there are fewer ball pythons in the wild than there were five years ago.

Source Reference(s)

D’Cruze N, Harrington LA, Assou D, Ronfot D, Macdonald DW, Hoinsoudé Segniagbeto G, Auliya M (2020) Searching for snakes: ball python hunting in southern Togo, West Africa. Nature Conservation 38: 13–36. https:// doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.38.47864

This trade may also be unsustainable, as suggested by hunters reporting that there are fewer ball pythons in the wild than there were five years prior. Overall, most interviewees (75%; n = 45) stated that there were fewer ball pythons than there were five years ago: 67% (n = 40) stated that there were quite a few less, 8% (n = 5) stated that there were a lot less, while 7% (n = 4) that there were more, and 17% (n = 10) that there were the same number; one did not answer the question. Of the 45 interviewees that referred to an apparent decline in ball pythons in the last five years, 17 further commented on the possible cause of a decline.

Threats/pressures impacting the species at the scale of this record

Habitat Loss and Enviromental Degredation

Illegal/Unregulated Hunting

Climate Change

Who is involved in the use?

Men

Additional details of specific groups

Semi-structured interviews with hunters that self-identified as hunting ball pythons were used to gather information focused on ball python capturing and egg collecting practices. All but one of the interviewees (a 45-year-old widowed female) were males, 76% (n = 45) of which were in their 30s or 40s .

How are local community members involved?

All but one interviewee (a “tailor/python reseller”) described themselves as hunters, farmers or both (over half, 62%; n = 37, said that they were hunters and farmers).

Is there any gender/age specificity in the various roles

Unknown/not recorded

How many of these local jobs accure to the following categories?

How many people outside the local area are employed

Is there any evidence of other economic benefits associated with this use beyond direct income and jobs

Unknown/Not recorded

The authors describe a number of animal welfare
issues associated with hunting practices currently being applied in Togo. They claim it is likely that snakes suffered stress during capture (in most cases
physical removal from rodent burrows) and transport (live, in sacks filled with other and possible that they sustained physical injuries – either or both may result in death or increased susceptibility to disease and / or infection. Whilst
also not formally part of the study, post hoc visits to a number of hunters’ “holding facilities” revealed sub-optimal captive conditions, and morbid animals with little to no veterinary, hygiene or disease transmission protocols in place.

Scale of Assessment

National Level

IUCN National Red List Category

Not Evaluated (NE)

IUCN Global Red List Category

Near Threatened (NT)

Yearly Financial Flows

Amount (single figure or range)

Estimated that, on average, a hunter receives 174 USD from python and egg sales combined, representing approx 40% of their annual income.

Yes, considered unsustainable

Sustainability not determined

Country reference

Togo