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The study aimed to evaluate the environmental perception of dweelers around the Mata de Cazuzinha Forest Reserve, in the town of Cruz das Almas, Bahia, Brazil, in relation to the hunting process in the protected area. The focus of this research was centralized on 32 community members living around the area, which allowed to evaluate their perception about hunting, through field observation and semi structured interviews and questionnaire. The results point out to the non-promotion of hunt or capture activities. About half the community believes that adults and young people are among the responsible for this activity. Pleasure is pointed out as the main cause for killing animals in the forest, but even though they are not in favor of hunting, a considerable parcel of the interviewed are in favor of hunting for family survival. Considering the legal aspects of this activity, most of the people considered hunting as an illegal act. It is concluded that the lack of supervision and control that represses the destruction of habitats and the insufficiency of the approaches of environmental education, evidences the need for greater investments by the public power for the preservation of fauna and other natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]