When these groups depleted the game around their temporary villages or camps, they simply moved to other sectors of their land. Those traditional patterns have now been broken. Based on her studies of the Siriono and Yuqi peoples of the Bolivian Amazon, anthropologist Allyn MacLean Stearman of the University of Central Florida sees a few sweeping trends that are condemning wildlife. First, missionaries or govemment agencies have convinced or forced many nomadic tribes to settle into permanent communities. The effects of the change are far-reaching.
Native hunters empty the forests of game for miles around.
Villagers turn to agriculture for food and to earn money to pay for teachers and buy consumer goods such as guns, radios and clothes. And to have enough willing hands to till the fields, family size soars. That alone puts more pressure on the forest. At the same time, the guns, flashlights and motorized transportation people acquire make them deadlier hunters and provide a strong incentive to buy more shells, batteries and gasoline. That means yet more hunting.