Understanding the Drivers of Illegal Saiga Consumption on the Uzbek Ustyurt
The Ustyurt saiga population continues to face a range of threats from infrastructural development and poaching activity. With the border fence erected between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan severely impacting migratory movements, there is a strong need to address hunting pressures in order to protect the remaining Uzbek saiga population.
In this study, we used the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), a social psychological framework for the study of human decision-making (see Mabbutt et al. Saiga News Issue 19). We aimed to understand people's attitudes towards eating saiga meat and towards conservation and poaching.