title: Provide context when reporting on the use of protected and endangered wildlife in ethnopharmacological surveys.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The value of reports on the use of wildlife in ethnopharmacological surveys increases when context is provided on the legality of its use and on the species' conservation status.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate if context is provided when protected and threatened animals are reported as being used in traditional medicine, and to provide recommendations for future reporting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Review of recent papers in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Rarely is information provided on (1) the conservation status of the animals that are used in traditional medicine, (2) whether the parts can be obtained non-invasively or if the animals have to be killed, or (3) whether or not it is legal to use the animals, their parts or derivatives according to national law.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  When presenting the results of ethnopharmalogical surveys include (1) the conservation status of the species affected, (2) whether or not parts could be harvested non-invasively and (3) the legality of harvesting and / or trading these animals, their parts or their derivatives. Our focus here is on animals, given that more so than in plants or fungi, many of their parts used in natural medicine cannot be obtained non-invasively, but a similar set of guidelines could be developed for other taxa.
authors: Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, UK. Electronic address: vnijman@brookes.ac.uk.
authors: Vincent
authors: V
authors: Nijman
authors: Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, UK.
authors: K A I
authors: KA
authors: Nekaris
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D020834:Ethnopharmacology
keywords: Ethnozoology; Indigenous knowledge; Traditional Chinese medicine; Wildlife trade; Zootherapy