Voodoo economics: how wildlife trade for ritual use is wiping out Africa’s vultures

9 December, 2025

By Nico Arcilla and Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra

This article was originally published by Science X Dialog at Phys.org

West African voodoo markets offer a vast array of wildlife for use in rituals. Photo by Nico Arcilla.

For some people, the mention of voodoo evokes something like a scene from the James Bond novel Live and Let Die, featuring occult ceremonies with snakes and animal sacrifice. Animal sacrifice was widespread among human societies thousands of years ago, but declined with the rise of Christianity. However, the ritual sacrifice and slaughter of animals persists in many religious practices today, including in Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism, as well as West African voodoo, which spread with the slave trade from West Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean. While some who have witnessed animal sacrifice in voodoo rituals firsthand, such as the Togolese author of An African in Greenland, have fled to escape it, others defend such practices in the name of religious freedom.

A still from the 1973 film adaptation of Live and Let Die featuring Baron Samedi, a prominent figure in Haitian voodoo described as “master of the dead.” 

While voodoo may mean different things to different people, it means only one thing – death – to the animals used in voodoo rituals. Across Africa, at least 354 bird species are persecuted for rapidly growing international markets to supply wildlife for belief-based treatments in voodoo and related practices. In Bénin, West Africa, although ~50% of the population identities as Christian, voodoo is recognized by the government as a national religion. Voodoo markets include both live animals offered for use in ritual sacrifice as well as animal carcasses and body parts.

Primate and other mammal skulls, crested porcupine quills, and other wildlife products offered for ritual use in the main voodoo market in Togo, West Africa. Photo by Nico Arcilla.

Vultures and other raptors are among the most traded and valuable products sold in voodoo markets. Bénin’s laws ban the hunting, capture, possession, and trade of vultures, but there has never been a prosecution relating to this legislation. Despite the fact that much of this trade is illegal, markets in Bénin feature at least 268 bird species, 96 mammal species, and 59 reptile species, and vultures feature prominently. Voodoo practitioners believe the regular consumption of vulture meat makes them invulnerable to witchcraft, and prescriptions including vultures promise benefits such as winning the lottery and business or political success.

A Hooded Vulture, a critically endangered species, offered for use in ritual sacrifice in a voodoo market in Bénin. Photo by Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra.

Hooded Vultures are the most commercially exploited vulture species in West Africa, despite the fact that they are critically endangered. We interviewed 115 traders selling Hooded Vultures and/or their body parts at nine different voodoo markets in Bénin to understand the extent and drivers of this illegal trade. Our findings, which are published in Bird Conservation International, provide evidence of extensive international trade in vultures that is taking place across a wide region of Africa.

Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra counts and photographs raptor carcasses for sale in a Bénin voodoo market. Photo courtesy of Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra.

Over four months, we counted a total of 522 Hooded Vultures in market stalls. The majority (~73%) of these consisted of whole dried vulture carcasses, while ~17% were heads, and ~9% live birds. High demand for vultures has driven prices paid for a single Hooded Vulture to exceed the average monthly income in Bénin, and live vultures can fetch prices up to seven times higher than the average monthly income in Bénin. All traders we interviewed were Fon, the largest of Bénin’s approximately 42 ethnic groups, and almost all (99%) were male. The vast majority (95%) self-identified as voodoo practitioners, and most identified themselves as witchdoctors (59%) and had no formal education (58%).

Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra conducts an interview in a Bénin voodoo market. Photo courtesy of Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra.

Vultures offered for sale in Bénin originated from at least 10 foreign countries, especially Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Niger, suggesting there are far-reaching impacts of illegal trade on vulture populations in West Africa. In Ghana, for example, Hooded Vultures are persecuted, trapped, and killed at landfills and outdoor slaughterhouses for illegal trade to meet demand in Nigeria. Over a 20-year period, prices paid for Hooded Vultures increased by over 100 times in Nigeria, and prices paid in Ghana and Bénin appear to be even higher.

A juvenile Hooded Vulture offered for use in ritual sacrifice in a voodoo market in Bénin. Photo by Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra.

Current legislation protecting vultures appears to be ineffective, despite serious legal, conservation, and animal welfare concerns. The vast majority (92%) of vendors we interviewed reported that they were aware of legislation protecting vultures, but did not consider that such legislation applied to them. Bénin’s wildlife markets also featured at least 12 other raptor species, including rare and endangered species, for sale, together with a vast array of other wildlife. Endangered and critically endangered vulture species offered for sale included the White-backed Vulture, Rüppell’s Vulture, White-headed Vulture, and Lappet-faced Vulture.

Wildlife, including multiple raptor species, offered for sale in a voodoo market in Bénin. Photo by Abiola Sylvestre Chaffra.

Low education levels, weak law enforcement, and disregard for legislation contribute to trade that threatens vultures and other wildlife across West Africa. Previous research in Africa has found that many people relying on belief-based approaches to their problems tend to be poor and that payments associated with visiting witchdoctors tended to total >10% per cent of their household budgets, driving ongoing poverty. On the other hand, recent increases in wildlife trade for belief-based use are partly attributed to wealthy buyers relying on animal sacrifice to solicit success. For example, a recent study found that nearly half of buyers at Togo’s main voodoo market comprised businessmen and politicians seeking to increase their power and wealth.

Wildlife including a West African Pied Hornbill, Barn Owls, and Black Kite, offered for sale in a voodoo market in Togo. Photo by Nico Arcilla.

Previous research published nearly 10 years ago estimated an annual take of 975–1,462 Hooded Vultures across West Africa. Our counts of vultures for sale suggests that trade in vultures has grown significantly since then. While voodoo has roots in African traditions, introduced technologies have enabled novel means of hunting and trapping wildlife, which together with modern communications have enabled a massive international trade that is far from traditional. On the contrary, current levels of wildlife trade threaten to drive extirpations and extinctions of the unique wildlife that is integral to Africa’s cultural and natural heritage.

West African crocodile heads and other wildlife offered for sale in a voodoo market in Togo. Photo by Nico Arcilla.

Public awareness campaigns to educate residents about the benefits of protecting wildlife, conservation laws, and improved law enforcement are urgently needed to mitigate ongoing threats to this and other critically endangered species. Fortunately, a newly accepted CITES proposal will effectively ban international trade in two other critically endangered African vulture species, the White-backed and Rüppell’s Vulture. We highly recommend similar legislation focused on the Hooded Vulture, the most heavily traded species in the region, to prevent its ongoing declines. We also recommend regional collaboration to implement training and awareness sessions in slaughterhouses across West Africa, such as those that have already taken place in Ghana, Togo, and Bénin. Where there is a will, there is a way that together, we can save Africa’s iconic vultures!

A pair of Hooded Vultures. Photo by Nico Arcilla.