ABOUT THE PROJECT
OFFTAKE aims to investigate the offtake, such as exploitation and hunting, of wild terrestrial species globally.
Exploitation and overexploitation in particular, has been identified as one of the main threats driving terrestrial species closer to extinction. However, compared to the other main threats, such as habitat loss, relatively little quantitative information is available on exploitation globally.
OFFTAKE is a collaborative project collating datasets from across the world that quantify the offtake of terrestrial species. Datasets may include, but are not limited to: bushmeat / subsistence hunting, medicinal use and trophy hunting.
HISTORY
The OFFTAKE Database has evolved during the past few years and combines two earlier preliminary databases. In 2011, Jörn Scharlemann, Lauren Coad and Mike Harfoot developed a first database to capture quantitative data from studies reporting hunting and harvest data of wild terrestrial species globally. With the help of several volunteers, data for many locations were collated.
In 2011/12 Gemma Taylor developed a database to capture data on Central and West African bushmeat hunting while studying for her MSc in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Lauren Coad. The Central and West African database contains information for over 150 species collected at over 260 sites.
From 2013 til present, The OFFTAKE Database was created by Daniel Ingram, Jorn Scharlemann and Lauren Coad, which combines previous database efforts, and has substantially increased the database in size. The database now spans tropical and temperate regions, as well as containing data for more than 550 sites worldwide.
