Untamed and rare

Wild meat in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is currently undergoing a remarkable transformation—from subsistence protein among poorer rural populations to luxury food among privileged urbanites. ¹ With demand growing in DRC’s rapidly expanding cities, game consumption has reached unsustainable levels, threatening rural food security and ultimately leading to “the empty forest syndrome” (Redford 1992; Yumoto et al. 1995; Nasi et al. 2011). Although technically legal, there are many aspects of illegality to the trade. ² Despite nearly fifty years of research and intervention measures, the pace of hunting and international trafficking are both on the rise, and many consider it an intractable problem, rife with military conflict and entangled with the small arms trade (Chaber et al. 2010; Taylor et al. 2015).