Setting up and planning for the sustainable management of a zoological garden

INTRODUCTION

A zoological garden is a site setup and managed around population centres for recreational, aesthetic, research or cultural purposes and containing fully protected and other interestingly wild indigenous or exotic animals. Rearing or breeding wild animals under captive conditions as in zoos can be one of the ways of accomplishing biodiversity conservation. This is known as Ex-situ method, and focuses on species conservation in botanic gardens, zoos, gene banks, and captive breeding programs. It is opposed to In-situ method which uses conservation areas as “warehouses” of biological information.

The idea of zoo keeping originated in the ancient period, when zoo and park lays were either associated with royalty or established by feudal magnates for the purpose of protecting their sport and excluding people outside their immediate circle.

Constraint to wildlife conservation

Introduction

Many people think of wildlife as free ranging, repulsive, reservoir hosts for diseases agents and aggressive animals that attack people and their crops, and which man has little or no control over them, may be you do, but why? Wildlife should be considered as an integral part of man’s wellbeing because of the essential products provided by the resource, and the need to conserve them is extremely important. Many wildlife species offer high potentials for generating income, providing food, for medical researches and formulation of medicines; play important role in the essential life processes, are sources of inspiration to people, serves as a source of identity and pride to most indigenous groups; also serve as a symbol of cultural and national heritage; and many argue that all species have their own intrinsic value and, therefore, the right to exist.

 

Problems of wildlife conservation

1. The regulative structures and mechanism within village communities could not control the increasing pressure on the wildlife resources any longer.
2. Inadequate knowledge of methods and potential of sustainable wildlife hunting coupled with an increasing pressure on the resource through over hunting by indigenous and non-indigenous interest groups.
3. Political decisions seldom consider the interests of the local population, and participatory extension service is lacking.
4. Lack of awareness of the benefits of conservation and of its relevance to everyday life results from poor or no educative propaganda. Hence most people do not appreciate nature.
5. The lack of awareness consequently result in the assumption that living resources conservation is a separate issue from development, rather than an approach that cuts across and must be considered by all development sectors. Therefore undue emphases are laid on short-term interest projects in preference to longer-term stability and sustainability.
6. The activities described above are all supported by the fact that the Forestry and Wildlife Services are not adequately equipped, motivated and most often transparent.
7. There is a conflict between conservation and the sensible use of renewable resources on one hand, and economic development which almost inevitably results in over exploitation, pollution, and degrading of ecosystems on the other hand.
8. Whether wildlife should be conserved and the best way to conserved them has been debated for many years. There was no clearly defined policy in the colonial days, mainly because there were more important things to consider, and because it was impossible to envisage that our environment would change so rapidly prior to the year 2000 A.D.
9. A further constraint to wildlife conservation is inadequate database. There is very few inventories of vegetation and animal habitats over most of the wildlife conservation areas, and without species or checklist, it is difficult to know what species are disappearing or increasing. In the few wildlife areas for which inventories exist, there are no much study on the ecology of the individual species nor on the total ecosystems on which sound management can be based.
10. Solving the problems of wildlife conservation and achieving any set objective(s) centres on budgetary allocations. A lot of funds are needed for improved awareness, enforcement of regulation and laws; for example anti-poaching patrol, training of personnel and inventory.

Wildlife and traditional hunting systems

The findings presented are based on research works of different authors with different research methodologies. In a greater detail, the paper present a comprehensive picture of the rich wildlife species diversity of the Takamanda Forest Reserve, the different forms of traditional hunting practices in the area and the utilization of wildlife by the communities living around the Reserve. From the findings of the studies, it can be inferred that the TFR has a rich wildlife potential and represents a promising hotspot for the conservation of wildlife and biodiversity as a whole. Unfortunately, the uncontrolled/illegal hunting, commercialization and rapidly rising prices for bush meat have had serious effects on the status of certain species, and the endangered species like the Cross River gorilla, elephant, chimpanzee etc are hunted and also traded as live wildlife or as wildlife products within the area, violating the riparian rights granted to the local communities during the gazettment of the Reserve.

Getting to know elephants

1. Introducton
In the case of forest elephants such as those of the tropical rainforests, it will most likely be impossible to approach and observe them in the forest itself. Rather it is better to let them approach you. To this, hides (or blinds) will be set up in clearings that elephants are known to frequent. It would also be possible to approach them when they come out in the grassland.

2. How to approach elephants
In the case they come out in the grassland, the following rules should be followed:
 Always approach elephants very slowly;
 Do not try to get too close;
 Do not approach elephants from behind their movement or behind their direction of orientation;
 Whenever possible, make a large detour around a group and approach the elephants from an angle or head on or, better yet, stop and let them come to you.

3. Sexing elephants
a) Head shape differences
One important difference in appearance between males and females is in the head shape. Males have rounded heads, which are broader between the eyes. Females tend to have pointed heads and the area between the eyes is narrower. These characteristics are distinguishable even in calves.

b) Body shape differences
 A male elephant has no external testicles and the penis is enclosed in a sheath. The female’s elephant vulva hangs low between the hind legs with the opening facing the ground unlike most ungulates whose vulva is just below the anus.
 Male underside slopes up towards front legs penis sheath visible; female underside more parallel to the ground, breasts on adults visible

c) From Behind
Female vulva squared off with opening facing ground, folds of skin from tail down to opening; male has ridge that extends from below tail down in between the legs and forms sheath with opening facing forward. Note also that female body shape is more rounded and sides often extended beyond pelvis while male has a narrower shape.

4. Individual recognition
The patterns on the ears make each elephant unique and actually very easy to recognize. Elephants usually have holes, nicks, and tears on the edges of the ears. Other characteristics such as tusklessness, one tusk, broken tusk, scar tissue on body, deformities and injuries (e.g. missing trunk tip, no tail) will help in individual recognition.