
Tropical countries should import breeding stock to evaluate the performance of some of these Asian animals in the local environment. Strict quarantine procedures must, of course, be observed.
Special emphasis should be placed on the domesticated banteng of eastern Indonesia. These animals are already an important source of human food and they may have considerable potential for increasing production elsewhere.
Wild animals contribute extensively to the welfare of people and economies of developing countries. In many areas they supply much of the animal protein consumed. But the contributions they make are largely unrecorded, and local officials and aid agencies seldom regard wildlife as an economic resource. As a result, few developing countries have analyzed how their people use indigenous animals for subsistence, and few nutritional studies recognize "bushmeat," although large numbers of people eat it.
Wildlife's contribution justifies more detailed and precise evaluations. In many tropical regions few people even know what species are present, let alone in what numbers. Ecologists and animal scientists should be employed to identify and collect data on the fauna of the tropical forests and how it is used by local people. Their work will provide baseline information on the species present and on the potential utility of the undisturbed natural ecosystems.
All wildlife utilization must be based on a thorough knowledge of the resource, its numbers, the animals' condition, annual recruitment in the
various populations, and the seasonal movements of the herds. In addition, it is important to understand the interactions of the species with its habitat.
Thus, the immediate need is for action to assure the preservation of populations of these animals until research studies can be conducted.
In this regard, priority actions include the following:
· Establishing adequate preserves
· Providing total protection for remaining animals
· Preventing poaching.
With few exceptions, the wild species described in this report are under the pressures of agricultural and human expansion. Without efforts to preserve their habitats it will be difficult for these species to survive.
Developing Wildlife Resources
Governments cannot stop hungry people from hunting game, but they can use this impetus to help protect some indigenous animals as well as forest and woodland habitats. Fostering the production and supply of wild animals such as those described in this book could open up a new: source of meat and other products, particularly for subsistence farmers in remote areas. In the last analysis, this may be the only way of protecting and maintaining these animals and developing local awareness of their value.
International economic development organizations have traditionally shown little interest in wildlife or wildlife habitats. Yet maintaining these animals and their habitats is crucial to the continuing supply of many indigenous food animals, the most important of which are often the smaller ones that flourish in secondary growth. And the forests that support wildlife also protect some of the huge investments that AID, the World Bank, and other other agencies have made to help developing countries. The forest is the sponge that absorbs the water from tropical rains. Without trees covering the watersheds, heavy rains cause rushing water that erodes the land, despoils highways, silts up dams and reservoirs, knocks out bridges, and inundates towns, villages, and farm fields.
In principle, the farming of tropical wildlife could become a force in preventing clear-felling of the tropical forests. Rational utilization of tropical animals offers productive alternative use of the land. In some cases, the farming of indigenous animals can fit smoothly into tropical habitats and into traditional village life, because the livestock and its needs are usually familiar to local people and are often ingrained in their traditions.( For successful examples see companion reports nos. 44 and 45, Butterfly Farming in Papua New Guinea and Crocodiles as a Resourc