About the Program
In Benin, some markets, known as “fetish” or “Vodun” markets, specialise in wildlife products. These goods are used in belief-based practices, where animal parts or talismans are thought to cure illnesses or bring good fortune. Birds, and specifically raptors, are amongst the most frequently traded animals in the fetish markets of West Africa. Like much of the world, raptors are protected from hunting by law in Benin. However, these laws are poorly understood and not effectively enforced, leading to the open trade of Critically Endangered species, such as the Hooded Vulture.
Abiola Chaffra, a 2023 awardee of our Global Raptor Research and Conservation Grant, has begun to uncover the extent and drivers of this illegal trade by conducting interviews across nine different Fetish markets in just four months. In these interviews, he recorded the demography of the people trading vultures, their views on vulture conservation, and the trade value of vultures. Of the 522 Hooded Vultures he discovered at the markets, over 70% of them were whole carcasses, 17% were vulture heads, and nearly 10% were live vultures.
