Assessment of Wildlife Hunting Activities in Ido Local Government Area, Oyo State Nigeria

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess hunting activities in Ido Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria. A well-structured questionnaire was administered to obtain information from fifty hunters using a simple random sampling technique. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The result showed that 96% of hunters in the study area were men. Most of the respondents were married (84%) and within the age bracket of 31 and 50 years (48%). About 34% and 40% of respondents had primary and secondary education respectively while 13% had no formal education. They had between 20 and 29 years’ experience in wild animal hunting. Sixty-eight percent of the hunters in the study area engaged in part-time hunting while 32% were full-time hunters. The study further revealed that the hunters engaged in hunting for financial gain (64%), leisure (34%) and family tradition (38%). About ten types of species of wildlife animals were commonly killed by the hunters, and the animals were sold within the community market (42%), outside the community market (32%) and to visiting bushmeat marketers (26%). The study therefore recommends a policy that will control hunting activities
in the study area, knowing that animal hunting serves as another source of livelihood to the hunters.

Keywords: Hunters, wildlife, bushmeat, community market, occupation