Dietetic use of wild animals and traditional cultural beliefs in theMrocommunity of Bangladesh: an insight into biodiversity conservation

Food taboos and animal conservation: a systematic review on how cultural expressions influence interaction with wildlife species

BACKGROUND

Human societies have food taboos as social rules that restrict access to a particular animal. Taboos are pointed out as tools for the conservation of animals, considering that the presence of this social rule prevents the consumption of animals. This work consists of a systematic review that aimed to verify how food taboos vary between different animal species, and how this relationship has influenced their conservation.

METHODS

For this systematic review, the search for articles by keywords took place in the databases "Science Direct," Scopus," "SciELo" and "Web of Science," associating the term "taboo" with the taxa "amphibians," "birds," "mammals," "fish" and "reptiles." From this search, 3959 titles were found related to the key terms of the research. After the entire screening process carried out by paired reviewers, only 25 articles were included in the search.

RESULTS

It was identified that 100 species of animals are related to some type of taboo, and segmental taboos and specific taboos were predominant, with 93 and 31 citations, respectively. In addition, the taxon with the most taboos recorded was fish, followed by mammals. Our findings indicate that the taboo protects 99% of the animal species mentioned, being a crucial tool for the conservation of these species.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study covered the status of current knowledge about food taboos associated with wildlife in the world. It is noticeable that taboos have a considerable effect on animal conservation, as the social restrictions imposed by taboos effectively contribute to the local conservation of species.

Recognizing Zooeyia to Promote Companion Animal Welfare in Urban Bangladesh

The One Health concept of zooeyia refers to the benefits of companion animals in human health and is gaining global research attention. This exploratory study aimed to understand contemporary experiences and perceptions of the social benefits and challenges of living with a companion animal in urban Bangladesh. Thirty-five qualitative interviews were conducted with companion animal owners (20), animal sellers (10), and livestock service department officers (5) from two major cities in Bangladesh, Dhaka and Khulna. Thematic analysis found that historically, animals had a utilitarian purpose, such as livestock for food and dogs for security. The role and perceptions of companion animals began to change for some around the turn of the century. Today, companion animal caretakers report social, psychological and physical health benefits from integrating companion animals into their lives. They also report that companion animal ownership can contribute to social problems due to the prevailing stigma against companion animals. This is rooted in the continued utilitarian role attached to companion animals by the majority of the Bangladesh population as well as religious-based non-acceptance. As a result, the Animal Welfare Act (2019) is not well implemented, posing a key concern for companion animal welfare. To tackle this, we propose various ways in which the emerging concept of zooeyia can help promote the welfare of companion animals by challenging the stigma associated with them in Bangladesh.

Wildlife hunting practices of the Santal and Oraon communities in Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Humans have been depending on wild animals from ancient times for food, medicine, economy, tools, and others. Santal and Oraon are two of the indigenous communities present in the Rajshahi district of Bangladesh. They practice wildlife hunting as part of their traditions. We investigated the wildlife hunting practice of these indigenous communities using a closed-ended questionnaire survey.  We interviewed 100 households of both communities from four villages. The study indicated that 76% of respondents hunted (88% Santal and 67% Oraon); and they usually hunt mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians, of which the bird is the most preferred (73%) and snake the least (1%). The response of hunting among the two communities significantly differed for tortoise, bird, rabbit, mongoose, jackal, and the Jungle Cat. Eighteen sets of animal taxa were significantly correlated indicating that households exercised preferences in terms of prey. The result also showed that only 14% of Santal and 7% of Oraon were familiar with the Bangladesh Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012.  Although the impact of wildlife hunting of these indigenous groups is still ambiguous, the present study provides a preliminary database of hunting practices of these communities for future conservation management.