The Wild Harvest Initiative®, in partnership with Wyoming Game and Fish Department, is pleased to present the results of the Wyoming Wild Meat Sharing and Consumption Survey, the second in a series of statewide surveys designed to quantify the benefits of hunters’ food sharing traditions.
(St. John’s) November 28, 2022— In 2021-22, the Wild Harvest Initiative, a program of Conservation Visions, in partnership with Wyoming Game and Fish Department, conducted the Wyoming Wild Meat Sharing and Consumption Survey. The survey was designed to gather information about the amount of food annually harvested in Wyoming by recreational hunters and to explore how this food is shared with other community members, including non-hunters and community food-sharing organizations.
Survey results show that 93.5% of successful hunters in Wyoming share a significant portion of the food they harvest with others. More than half of beneficiaries are community members living outside the hunter’s household, illustrating that the societal benefits of recreational hunting extend beyond the hunter and the hunter’s household to positively impact the larger community.
“Recreational hunters in Wyoming have a unique tradition of food sharing that should be quantified and celebrated,” says Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director, Brian Nesvik. “The results of our recent survey underscore this truth.”
Conservation Visions, through its Wild Harvest Initiative® program, aims to quantify the benefits of wild meat sharing in the United States and Canada, thus creating a social sharing index. Future survey implementation is planned in partnership with other state and provincial wildlife agencies.
“The average nonhunter has, in the past, been unaware of the massive community-wide benefits – including in terms of food security and health – of sustainable wild meat harvests,” says Conservation Visions’ President, Shane Mahoney. “The Wild Harvest Initiative®, with committed partners like Wyoming Game and Fish Department, is working to change this; to prove the value of hunting in ways that matter to everyone, whether or not they choose to hunt.”
Complete results of the Wyoming Wild Meat Sharing Survey are available here: https://thewildharvestinitiative.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Wyoming-Wild-Meat-Sharing-Survey-FINAL-_-Conservation-Visions-_.pdf
Summary results are available here: https://thewildharvestinitiative.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Wyoming-Wild-Meat-Sharing-and-Consumption-Index-Survey-Summary.pdf
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About Conservation Visions Inc.
Conservation Visions Inc. is a wildlife initiative founded by internationally recognized biologist, conservation advocate, Shane Mahoney. It is dedicated to a world where conservation matters; where biodiversity is safeguarded, including the diversity of human cultural experience; where conservation and citizenship are viewed as inseparable; where a global responsibility to nature is recognized; where the sustainable use of natural resources is safeguarded through knowledge; and where governments make sound decisions concerning conservation and biodiversity, based on scientific and traditional wisdom. To learn more about Conservation Visions and the Wild Harvest Initiative®, please visit www.conservationvisions.com.
Media Contact
Amanda Hull, Conservation Visions Inc.; amanda@conservationvisions.com; 709.754.4780