Illegal and unsustainable wild meat use is simplifying vertebrate assemblages across the Neotropics, yet robust information on offtake magnitude and use patterns remains scarce. We used nationwide road-seizure records from Brazil’s Federal Highway Police (Polícia Rodoviária Federal; PRF) from 2017 to 2024, focusing on hunted animals and wild meat intercepted during transport, to quantify the scale and composition of illegal offtake. We then tested whether these enforcement records reproduce expected ecological signals of illegal hunting by examining whether seizure yield and taxonomic composition track state-level defaunation. Across 314 independent events, PRF intercepted ∼9,479 individual animals, totalling ∼9.3 t of biomass, revealing substantial and taxonomically structured pressure on wildlife. The Amazon and Caatinga biomes accounted for the largest shares of events and individuals, respectively. Seized birds dominated numerically in Caatinga, whereas mammals supplied most biomass overall, with reptiles contributing disproportionately in the Amazon and Cerrado–Pantanal biomes. Generalized linear models showed that with increasing defaunation, events involved more individuals but less biomass per seizure, and the mean body mass of seized vertebrates declined. In addition, the proportion of mammals decreased while birds became more prevalent. This convergence with known depletion patterns indicates that road-seizure data can serve as a cost-effective barometer of illegal wild-meat use and its defaunation-linked “downsizing” effect. Targeted responses should pair highway and riverine enforcement, standardize inter-agency reporting (species, counts, biomass, geolocation, product form), and combine access control with community partnerships, livelihood alternatives, and health-risk communication to reduce demand and long-term ecological and public-health impacts.
This work is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
This work is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
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TI - Roadway seizures reveal widespread illegal wild meat use and faunal downsizing in Brazil
AU - Wendt-Oliveira, J.R.
AU - Tagliari, M.M.
AU - El Bizri, H.R.
AU - Rivero-Wendt, C.L.G.
AU - Robaldo Guedes, N.M.
AU - Bogoni, J.A.
AB - Illegal and unsustainable wild meat use is simplifying vertebrate assemblages across the Neotropics, yet robust information on offtake magnitude and use patterns remains scarce. We used nationwide road-seizure records from Brazil’s Federal Highway Police (Polícia Rodoviária Federal; PRF) from 2017 to 2024, focusing on hunted animals and wild meat intercepted during transport, to quantify the scale and composition of illegal offtake. We then tested whether these enforcement records reproduce expected ecological signals of illegal hunting by examining whether seizure yield and taxonomic composition track state-level defaunation. Across 314 independent events, PRF intercepted ∼9,479 individual animals, totalling ∼9.3 t of biomass, revealing substantial and taxonomically structured pressure on wildlife. The Amazon and Caatinga biomes accounted for the largest shares of events and individuals, respectively. Seized birds dominated numerically in Caatinga, whereas mammals supplied most biomass overall, with reptiles contributing disproportionately in the Amazon and Cerrado–Pantanal biomes. Generalized linear models showed that with increasing defaunation, events involved more individuals but less biomass per seizure, and the mean body mass of seized vertebrates declined. In addition, the proportion of mammals decreased while birds became more prevalent. This convergence with known depletion patterns indicates that road-seizure data can serve as a cost-effective barometer of illegal wild-meat use and its defaunation-linked “downsizing” effect. Targeted responses should pair highway and riverine enforcement, standardize inter-agency reporting (species, counts, biomass, geolocation, product form), and combine access control with community partnerships, livelihood alternatives, and health-risk communication to reduce demand and long-term ecological and public-health impacts.
PY - 2026
UR - https://www.cifor-icraf.org/knowledge/publication/46544/
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecon.2026.02.014
KW - biodiversity conservation, bushmeat, community involvement, defaunation, enforcement, game meat, hunting, meat, vertebrate assemblages, wild animals
ER -Endnote (.ciw)
%T Roadway seizures reveal widespread illegal wild meat use and faunal downsizing in Brazil
%A Wendt-Oliveira, J.R.
%A Tagliari, M.M.
%A El Bizri, H.R.
%A Rivero-Wendt, C.L.G.
%A Robaldo Guedes, N.M.
%A Bogoni, J.A.
%D 2026
%U https://www.cifor-icraf.org/knowledge/publication/46544/
%R https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pecon.2026.02.014
%X Illegal and unsustainable wild meat use is simplifying vertebrate assemblages across the Neotropics, yet robust information on offtake magnitude and use patterns remains scarce. We used nationwide road-seizure records from Brazil’s Federal Highway Police (Polícia Rodoviária Federal; PRF) from 2017 to 2024, focusing on hunted animals and wild meat intercepted during transport, to quantify the scale and composition of illegal offtake. We then tested whether these enforcement records reproduce expected ecological signals of illegal hunting by examining whether seizure yield and taxonomic composition track state-level defaunation. Across 314 independent events, PRF intercepted ∼9,479 individual animals, totalling ∼9.3 t of biomass, revealing substantial and taxonomically structured pressure on wildlife. The Amazon and Caatinga biomes accounted for the largest shares of events and individuals, respectively. Seized birds dominated numerically in Caatinga, whereas mammals supplied most biomass overall, with reptiles contributing disproportionately in the Amazon and Cerrado–Pantanal biomes. Generalized linear models showed that with increasing defaunation, events involved more individuals but less biomass per seizure, and the mean body mass of seized vertebrates declined. In addition, the proportion of mammals decreased while birds became more prevalent. This convergence with known depletion patterns indicates that road-seizure data can serve as a cost-effective barometer of illegal wild-meat use and its defaunation-linked “downsizing” effect. Targeted responses should pair highway and riverine enforcement, standardize inter-agency reporting (species, counts, biomass, geolocation, product form), and combine access control with community partnerships, livelihood alternatives, and health-risk communication to reduce demand and long-term ecological and public-health impacts.
%K biodiversity conservation
%K bushmeat
%K community involvement
%K defaunation
%K enforcement
%K game meat
%K hunting
%K meat
%K vertebrate assemblages
%K wild animals
Año de publicación
2026
ISSN
2530-0644
Autores
Wendt-Oliveira, J.R.; Tagliari, M.M.; El Bizri, H.R.; Rivero-Wendt, C.L.G.; Robaldo Guedes, N.M.; Bogoni, J.A.
Idioma
English
Palabras clave
biodiversity conservation, bushmeat, community involvement, defaunation, enforcement, game meat, hunting, meat, vertebrate assemblages, wild animals
Source
Perspectives in Ecology and Conservation. :
Geográfico
Brazil
