Subsistence harvest for food and pets associated with declining global mammal populations

Subsistence harvest can have substantial impacts on mammalian biodiversity, yet its effects on the conservation status of mammal species are poorly understood. We analyzed trade and use data in species accounts from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List to examine the effects of subsistence harvest on the conservation status of 1723 terrestrial mammal species worldwide. Species harvested for subsistence were more likely to have decreasing population trends. Among five types of subsistence use examined, only two types of use—for food and pets—were associated with declining population trends. Food was the most common subsistence use, affecting more than two‐thirds of all mammal species examined. We suggest that current harvesting levels of wild mammals for subsistence, especially as food, may contribute to extinction risk because decreasing populations are a precursor to being listed in a threatened IUCN Red List category. However, other factors, such as habitat loss, likely also play a role. Improved harvest management is therefore needed to maintain mammal populations as ecological and food resources.