Data from: The role of the introduced rusa deer Cervus timorensis for wildlife hunting in West Papua, Indonesia

The rusa deer has been introduced to Merauke region and later to Vogelkop
Peninsula in Indonesian New Guinea (West Papua) in 1928. It has widely
dispersed across much of the West Papuan lowlands, but little is known on
population size and its role for the livelihoods of rural communities.
Here, our aim was to assess the population status of rusa deer, and to
investigate the extent of hunting practices on this mammal in West Papua.
We conducted camera trapping and line transect surveys simultaneously to
estimate rusa deer population abundance in the Kwoor basin of the Tambrauw
regency, Papua Barat province, Indonesia. We also interviewed hunters (n =
134), informants (n = 9) and households (n = 91) to assess hunting
patterns and socioeconomic importance of rusa deer across fifteen
districts of the Tambrauw regency. We estimated rusa deer density within a
48 km² forested area at 10.34 (5.36–19.98) and 21.04 individuals/km² using
line transect and N-mixture modeling approach using camera trapping data,
respectively. Both density estimates are considerably higher than those
from its native range in Java and Bali (0.08 individual/km²). Almost 92%
of hunters reported that they hunted rusa deer in their traditional
forests, being the most frequent amongst the 18 hunted species,
particularly for commercial (62%) and subsistence (38%) purposes.
  Our results suggest that traditional hunting has become a
significant livelihood activity and important income source in the study
area. It is therefore imperative to identify potential management
strategies on wildlife hunting while also considering that the high
densities of introduced rusa deer may potentially exert adverse effects on
native flora and fauna. This study further suggests that traditional
knowledge (locally called ‘sasi’ system) and wildlife taboos still govern
wildlife hunting and utilization of forest resources in West Papua, and
these need to play a role in integrated community-based wildlife
management.