Misbahu Bashir
22 October 2009
analysis
Abuja — The shrinking nature of water bodies across the country, as well as uncontrolled hunting is having a negative impact on wildlife. The donkey and the grasscutter, for instance,may become extinct given the current attitude to wildlife.
A number of animals are threatened by both environmental and human factors to the extent that their population is at risk of becoming extinct. The more the population of these animals is reducing the more the ecosystem is undermined, and eventually the more other species become vulnerable. This is due to the symbiotic relations among living things in the ecosystem. Dr. Aisha Abubakar is a member of Veterinary Council of Nigeria and a Chief Superintendent of Police, who says the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has identified over a thousand species of animals as endangered, but said for the avoidance of attracting hunters and poachers, it is always advisable to call them vulnerable species. At present, 1,556 known species in the world have been identified as endangered, or near extinction and put under the protection of government law in some countries. Abubakar said while some species are extinct, others are only extinct in the wild. She said there are some that are critically endangered, and some such as the blue whale which are categorised as endangered, while others are regarded as vulnerable and some as conservation dependant. Animals regarded as conservation dependent are restricted in game reserves. Hunting and illegal wildlife trade are primary threats to a number of species.
Sama'ila Dawayayo hunts wild animals and particularly alligators in the rivers of Abuja mainly for meat, their hide and a number of health purposes. The rate at which alligators are killed especially in Nigeria is alarming ,and as a result can be placed in the category of vulnerable species. Dawayayo sets local traps or snares at spots where the alligators feed, and entices them with the intestines of fish which he usually buys for that purpose. Dawayayo's catch for a day ranges between two to eight alligators, mostly above one year in age. He can recognise the age of alligators caught in the wild, and says that the oldest among them can live to about thirty five years and can grow up to 18 feet. Alligator hunters are aware that its tail accounts for half of its strength and it can hit and severely injure its victim with it. Thus they are mindful to catch it by the tail and head. Already, alligators in Abuja are threatened by habitat loss and encounters with people. However, with the increase in killing of alligators by hunters for meat and hides for leather goods, the species are now vulnerable.
Dawayayo said a year old alligator is sold at N1,500 or higher depending on how much it was bargained for, while four to six year old alligators are big enough and could be sold at N7,000 and above. A lot of people with interest in "bush meat" patronise Dawayayo for some reasons. While most of the customers eat alligator meat to get vigour, others strongly believe it is medicinal. The alligator's blood can also be used to cure some ailments in children, including measles. The increase in the demand of meat is obviously the factor motivating Dawayayo and other to hunt alligators.
For most people, hunting wild animals is a means of survival because the money they make from the sales of these animals either dead or alive, is enough to sustain them.But on the other hand, it is depriving the ecosystems of some of the species that keeps it balance, which cannot be bought with money ,except by restraining the extermination of these species.
Crocodiles, like alligators in Nigeria are also vulnerable, for they are hunted both for their meat, hides and medicinal purposes. They are extinct in most places due to the shrinking of water bodies and hunting. Dawayayo said the population of crocodiles in Abuja has gone down partly as result of lack of habitat and partly as result of frequent hunting.
A conservationist, Ms. Bidemi said only animals and birds confined in game reserves are protected by the state against poaching, but any other animal outside the reserve can be hunted no matter how its population is at the risk of becoming extinct. This implies that both the state and federal government have to make laws that will prohibit the killing of certain species of animals, whether under captivity or not. For Bidemi restricting certain species of animals is not enough to stop their population from diminishing but the commitment by policy makers to make enabling policies that would discourage the killing of the vulnerable species, as well as encroaching their environment.
The Greater Cane Rat is usually called a grasscutter in Nigeria, and eats grasses and cane, and since they have taste for cultivated foods, they make serious agricultural pests. So far, their conservation status is at risk because their population will potentially become extinct. For all the bush meat sold in southern Nigeria and indeed West Africa, the grasscutter is most preferred because of its delicacy.
Abdullahi Fillo, a hunter in Abuja, said people patronise the grasscutter more than any other specie of animal. They are better hunted at night when they come out looking for food, or when male and the female animals mate or during courtship. He said at night the animals are better killed with local guns once they are sighted, and that an experienced hunter can kill up to four grassgutters and above, in the rocky areas of lower Usuma Dam. He said the animals are extinct in many places in Abuja that were known to have them in large numbers. The reasons for the decline in the population of the Greater Cane Rat are mainly hunting and indiscriminate bush burning. In few places however, increased construction works has led to the loss of habitat and eventually mass migration of the grasscutters to more favourable environments. Since they are pests and feed on food crops, farmers use harmful chemicals as pesticides to kill them in large numbers. Like any other specie of animal in the ecosystem that cohabits with other species in a symbiotic relationship, the decline in the population of the grasscutters has adversely destabilised the ecosystem.
The rabbit which has a number of species, and is in few cases domesticated, is among the vulnerable species and in some instances an endangered one. The Riverine rabbit with dark brown fur that runs from one corner of the mouth and across the cheek to the bottom of the ear, found mostly in isolated vegetations especially in South and West Africa, is put among the ten most endangered species in the world. The Riverine rabbit is hunted for the delicacy of its meat and its fur. Abdullahi Fillo said the rabbits are hunted at night and are very difficult to come by, as a result of its declining population. Fillo uses the local gun to hunt rabbits and they are better killed because of their tricky attitude to its predators. He said the Riverine rabbits are very difficult to be seen ,and that only good hunters can kill one in two months of successful hunting.
However, apart from loss of habitat and hunting, predators and diseases have greatly reduced the population of rabbits. According to the People's Trust for Endangered Species, the numbers of rabbits have fluctuated greatly over the years: Their numbers soared early in the 20th century, but in the 1950s, the viral disease myxomatosis killed 99% of the wild rabbit population, especially in Britain. But because they reproduce quickly under favourable weather conditions ,there is the possibility of those in captivity to avoid extinction. Rabbits give birth to between four and eight young per litter and, if the weather is favourable, females can have litters every five to six weeks from January to August.
Fillo however said unlike in the past when people domesticate certain species of rabbit, the practice has now declined. Instead they are killed day by day ,thereby becoming so vulnerable.
Bats, like other few species of animals, are also vulnerable because the rate at which they are being killed is not addressed by conservationists in Nigeria. Dr. Aisha Abubakar of the Veterinary Council of Nigeria said of the 1,000 bat species that can be found worldwide, a handful of them are at the risk of becoming extinct, while one specie is feared extinct.
Seventy per cent of bats consume insects, sharing a large part of natural pest control. There are also fruit-eating bats; nectar-eating bats; carnivorous bats that prey on small mammals, birds, lizards and frogs; fish-eating bats, and perhaps most famously important in the ecosystem.
The main threat to bats is the loss of their habitats and food sources, due to a growing human population. This results in increased environmental pollution as well as deforestation -- that is, the cutting down of trees -- not only to use as fuel and building materials, but also to clear the land for urban, industrial, or agricultural development.
In Abuja, Dr. Abubakar said due to the destruction of their habitat, a large number have migrated to the surrounding of a rock in the Asokoro area, where they are not disturbed and eventually it has become their sanctuary.
Other human activities, such as pest control programs and the destruction of old mines, result in many bat deaths each year. In some cases, people deliberately kill large groups of bats. They regard these bats as dangerous carriers of disease, or as threats to their crops or livestock. Large colonies of bats in caves or during migration have been viciously destroyed by vandals armed with sticks, stones, or guns.
Donkeys, which were hitherto the main beasts of burden, are now rare in Nigeria, even in the rural areas of the north where they were predominant. Dr. Abubakar said the decline in the population of donkeys is alarming. They are killed for meat and hides particularly in eastern Nigeria.
Dr. Abubakar said unless laws are enacted to discourage the killing of certain species of animals, their population may become extinct.
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