ASSESSMENT OF THE UTILIZATION OF WILD ANIMAL SPECIES IN ADJOINING COMMUNITIES

ABSTRACT

The study of the assessment of the Utilization of Wild animal species in adjoining communities of Okomu National park was carried out in selected communities adjoining Okomu National Park, Edo State Nigeria. A total of four (4) communities which had close proximity to the National Park were selected for the study. A total of 120 respondents (household) were interviewed during the study using questionnaire and personal interview. Data was collected with the help of copies of questionnaire and personal interview. A total of 120 copies of questionnaire were administered to the respondents. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentage, mean were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that 98.33% of the respondents utilize wild animals while 1.67% do not utilize wild animals. The majority of the respondents (71.19%) utilize wild animals because they are more nutritious while the least (4.24%) because they are cheap. A very high percentage of the respondents utilize wild animals for food (81.67%) and source of income (15%). The results also revealed that antelopes (29.28%), grasscutters (27.03%), monkeys (9.91%), porcupine (7.21%), snails (6.76%), and snakes (5.86%) were mostly utilized by the respondents. 61.02% of the respondents obtained their wild animals from the market, 23.73% from the forest, and 15.25% obtained theirs around homes. Majority of the respondents (87.50%) do not have farms where wild animals are domesticated while 12.50% have farms. 53.33% intends to have a farm while 46.67% do not intend to have one. A very high proportion of the respondents (95%) revealed that the utilization of wild Animals has improved the quality of lives in their household while 5% had contrary opinion. It was recommended that the host communities should be encouraged to go into wildlife domestication to ensure sustainable utilization of wildlife resources.