I used my first Rufford Small Grant (project ID 32411-1) to assess the patterns and identify unauthorized hunting hotspot communities at Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park - a premier tourist destination and biodiversity hotspot. Results from my first project showed that unauthorized hunting remains persistent in some areas of the national park despite ongoing anti-poaching efforts. Gorilla ecotourism at Bwindi raises revenue to support law enforcement that protects wildlife from unauthorized hunting. However, this exploitative activity remains a concern even for mountain gorillas, as evidenced by the 2020 killing of a silverback gorilla. My aim is to reduce the threat unauthorized hunting poses to the African golden cats (and other wildlife).

Ungulates (duikers and bushpigs) are targeted, but like a “wildlife mine”, snares are non- selective, killing or injuring non-target species including Bwindi’s flagship mountain gorilla and the charismatic African golden cats. In 2019, an estimated 80 AGCs perished in snares at Bwindi, Echuya and Kasyoha-Kitomi forests of south-western Uganda. The root causes of poaching at Bwindi are poverty, the need for food, lack of employment, and access to basic health care. There is evidence that incentivizing local communities via livelihood improvement initiatives strengthen interventions against poaching. I am using the findings from the first project as a foundation for a second grant to establish community-based anti-hunting livelihood-improving activities in the identified unauthorised hunting hotspot communities.