Hunting and consumption of wild animals, colloquially known as “bushmeat,” is associated with health trade-offs. Contact with wildlife increases exposure to wildlife-origin zoonotic diseases yet bushmeat is an important nutritional resource in many rural communities. In this study, we test the hypothesis that bushmeat improves food security in communities that hunt and trade bushmeat regularly. We conducted 478 interviews with men and women in six communities near Cross River National Park in Nigeria. We used interview responses to relate prevalence and diversity of bushmeat consumption to household food security status. Animal-based foods were the most commonly obtained items from the forest, and 48 types of wild vertebrate animals were consumed within the past 30 days. Seventy-five percent of households experienced some degree of food insecurity related to food access. Bushmeat consumption was significantly associated with relatively higher household food security status. Rodents were more important predictors of food security than other animal taxa. Despite increased bushmeat consumption in food-secure households, food-insecure households consumed a higher diversity of bushmeat species. Results show that consumption of bushmeat, especially rodents, is uniquely related to improved food security. Reliance on a wider diversity of species in food-insecure households may in turn affect their nutrition, exposures to reservoirs of zoonotic infections, and impact on wildlife conservation. Our results indicate that food security should be addressed in conservation and public health strategies aimed at reducing human–wildlife contact, and that improved wildlife protection, when combined with alternative animal-based foods, would positively affect food security in the long term.

中文翻译：

---

食用丛林肉可改善生物多样性和传染病“热点”的粮食安全。

狩猎和食用俗称“丛林肉”的野生动物与健康权衡有关。与野生动物接触会增加患野生动物源性人畜共患疾病的机会，但丛林肉是许多农村社区的重要营养资源。在这项研究中，我们检验了这样一个假设，即丛林肉可以改善定期狩猎和交易丛林肉的社区的粮食安全。我们在尼日利亚克罗斯河国家公园附近的六个社区对男性和女性进行了 478 次采访。我们使用访谈回复将丛林肉消费的普遍性和多样性与家庭粮食安全状况联系起来。动物性食物是最常从森林中获取的物品，在过去 30 天内食用了 48 种野生脊椎动物。75% 的家庭经历过与食物获取相关的某种程度的食物不安全。食用丛林肉与相对较高的家庭粮食安全状况显着相关。与其他动物类群相比，啮齿动物是更重要的粮食安全预测因子。尽管粮食安全家庭的丛林肉消费有所增加，但粮食不安全家庭消费的丛林肉品种更为多样化。结果表明，食用丛林肉，尤其是啮齿动物，与改善粮食安全有着独特的关系。粮食不安全家庭对更广泛物种的依赖可能反过来影响他们的营养、接触人畜共患传染病以及对野生动物保护的影响。