Wild animal-crop raiding conflict: A case study of old Oyo national park, Nigeria

The study focused on the assessment of crop raiding activities in community’s adjacent Old Oyo National Park, Nigeria. The study identify the pecies of wild animals that raid farms, farm produce that were affected in the area, seasons such activities occurred and level of destruction to farm products in the study area . Stratified sampling technique was used to select Marguba and Tede ranges out of the five ranges at OONP due to the prevalence of agricultural practices and crop damage. Furthermore, twelve communities were selected purposively based on their proximity to park boundary i.e. communities that fell within 20km distance away from the park buffer zone. Non probability snowballing method was used in the selection of the respondents. A total of 60 copies of questionnaires were administered to farmers in villages at Marguba Range while 170 copies of questionnaires were administered to farmers in villages at Tede Range. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Input-Output Ratio Model. The findings from this study revealed that Erythrocebus patas and Sus scrofa were the prominent crop raiders with occurrences ranging from 44.3% and 31.7%. Also, an average of N1141251 111078, N1995640 104967, N902500 38456, N40000, N6500 3250, losses worth of Yam, Maize, Cassava, Tomato, Pepper respectively were incurred by famers due to crop raiding activities by wild animal in the study area. Due to the emergence of conflicts resulting from crop raiding activities in communities adjacent Old Oyo National Park, the government and all conservation associated stakeholders should foster efforts together to ensure that compensation schemes are been put in place to address the losses incurred by the affected farmers before they start taking laws into their own hands. Keywords: Natural habitat, Conservation, Wildlife, Antagonistic and Attitud

Survey of free-range animals within Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta Zoo Park, Nigeria

The study examined the abundance of free-range natural inhabitants of Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) Zoo Park. A  baseline data of free ranging inhabitants of the Park is essential to monitor trends and institute conservation plans through unsustainable natural resources exploitation and habitat destruction. Four transects were selected across the study area. Each transect was traversed for the period of four months and observations were carried out twice a day. The Four existing tracks explored during the study were the  aviary, reptile, carnivore and primate tracks. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistic. The findings from this study revealed that 8 species of natural inhabitants were identified which were Chlorocebus pygerythrus,Philantomba maxwellii, Herpestidae spp, Tragelaphus scriptus, Naja naja, Marmotini spp, Centropus senegalensis and Milvus migrans. The result further showed that a total of 115 animals were encountered in the primate transect, 77 animals in carnivores transect, 46 animals in aviary transect and 34 animals in ungulates transect by representative of 43.3%, 28.3%, 15.8% and 12.5% respectively. Human activities and level of disturbance was observed to have affected the abundance and distribution of animals at FUNAAB Zoo Park. Continuous field inventory is recommended to ascertain the dynamics of animals observed as free- range inhabitants in this study