Legislation and media involving hunting of wild animals in Brazil: an historical and socio-environmental perspective

Abstract

Currently, hunting is an illegal activity in Brazil and causes high environmental impact on populations of wild game animals in all biomes. We realized an historical survey and listed the changes of legislation and perceptions of the national mass media involving hunting activities in order to establish if there is a correlation between these factors and what the possible consequences of these changes for wildlife conservation. We demonstrated that national and international pressures of policy and media were factors that influenced the advent of stricter laws on this subject. In parallel, the establishment of such laws may have caused a new standard of media dissemination and perception of the image of hunters and their impact by the society. These changes can be considered as positive in a conservation perspective.