Convinced by the data, community leaders limited the take of primates and tapirs and encouraged their people to shift to killing more small animals. The results are encouraging. Woolly monkey and saki monkey populations, for instance, have rebounded. Bodmer has also found that it's important for the local tribes to shut out outsiders. And some animals, like tapirs, won't survive unless areas of forest are set aside and completely protected.
Animals migrating from the preserves can thus restock the hunting zones.
Getting all this done is tough. It requires negotiating a minefield of competing local and government interests, winning the trust of the leaders and providing them with extensive data on wildlife numbers and the impact of hunting. But they can be overcome through persistence and patience. That is not always the case in tropical Africa, where the situation is grim. There, few governments or communities have the power to take action.