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AGBELUSI, E. ABA)'"OMI Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management

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AGBELUSI, E. ABA)' \-\ AGBELUSI, E. ABA)'"OMI e.s« M.Sc Wildlife Management UI Ph.D Wildlife Conservation ,FUTA Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management I -~ 7-· WILDLIFE RESOURCE: A NATIONAL HERITAGE Inaugural Lecture Series 55 Delivered at Federal University of Technology, Akure On Tuesday, 3rd November, 2009 By Agbelusi, Ebenezer Abayomi B.Sc. M.Sc. Wildlife Management (UI) - Ph.D. Wildlife Conservation (FUTA) Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management The Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Development, Registrar, Other Principal Officers of the University, Deans, Directors and Heads of Departments, Highly esteemed colleagues, Eminent invited Guests, Great Futarians, Gentlemen ofthe Press, Ladies and Gentlemen. INTRODUCTION It is with great thanks to Almighty God and with joy and unspeakable humility that I stand before you all, to present my inaugural lecture titled, "WILDLIFE RESOURCES: A NATIONAL HERITAGE", the fifty-fifth in the series of inaugural lectures of this great Institution. Mr. Vice-Chancellor Sir, this lecture is the 23'd from the School of Agriculture and Agriculture Technology and the first from the Department of Ecotourism and Wildlife Management of this . University. Permit me to mention that this lecture is also the fourth inaugural lecture in the field of wildlife conservation in Nigeria. The first inaugural lecture in this field was delivered by Prof. S. S. Ajayi on 27'h February, 1986, over 23 years ago and titled, "Wildlife in crisis: Conservation Antidote". Prof. T. A. Afolayan delivered the second in the series on 27'h February, 1987 titled, "Man's Inhumanity to Nature: The over-exploitation of Wildlife Resources" while Prof. S. A. Onadeko delivered the third in the series titled, "Home on the Range: Crises, Consequence and Consolation" on 25'h August, 2004. WHAT IS WILDLIFE? Mr. Vice Chancellor Sir, this is a good question without a definite answer. There are no clear taxonomic or behavioural boundary definition of wildlife, therefore ad ictionary will be oflittle help. In view of the changing definition of wild 1iIc, it is not surprising that the debate is continuous about the proper body' of knowledge and principle of wild life management. Many people including those in the hall today listening to this lecture, literate PI' illiterate. regard wildlife as "bush meat" in the pot; this is far from ,Ill uuih. Wildlife is neither wild flower or lichens nor nematode. Genesis chapter i ictts the story of creation, which reveals that all living things created by God can be regarded as wildlife ( i.e.jlora andfaunay. Genesis 1verse 11 says that "God said ~ let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth, and it was so". This is the creation of the flora composition. In verse 24 "And God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after its kind, and it was so". This is the creation of the fauna component. Going by these verses, it was clearly demonstrated that God endowed different regions, nations or ecosystems ofthe earth with different flora and fauna resources. This was supported by Udvardy (1975) in his classification of terrestrial ecotypes recognized eight biogeographical realms overlapped by 14 biome. The biomes according to Mackinnon et al (1986) may occur in two or more provinces with different fauna or flora characteristics or may be divided by a physical barrier. For instance, the savanna of South America, Africa, India and Australia reflect similar climatic conditions but different animals and plants associations. Sir, this is illustrated by the coat of arms of each countries of the world. Most nations used wild animals in the emblem of their coat of arms which may be the species ofwild animal that is endemic to such countries. For example, in Nigeria, for our coat of arm is eagle whi Ie that of Uganda has the Uganda-crane. National Conservation Foundation (1965) defines wildlife as "all living things: plants, invertebrates and vertebrates outside the direct control of man (that is, all non- cultivated plants and non domesticated animals). It embraces all animals in their natural habitat. They are undomesticated animals which may be small organisms only visible to humans if seen through a microscope or as big as the elephant or whale. Wildlife includes, but not limited to insects, spider, birds, reptiles, fish, amphibians and mammals if not domesticated. A folayan (1987) defines wildlife as "all forms of wild animals and their environment" while he defined wildlife management as the active manipulation of wild animals and their habitat for the benefit of mankind". What is Heritage? Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to the future generation. Our culture and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources oflife and inspiration. They are our touchstones, our points of reference, our identity. Therefore, we hold it a duty to protect and preserve these resources for the future generation. Mr. Vice Chancellor Sir, in this lecture, wildlife will be defined simply as (i) "Native plants and animals in their natural environment" or (ii) "Wild terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates and plants (i.e, all 11011- cultivated plants and non-domesticated animals). 4 From the various definitions of wildlife stated above, it means that _all living things (i.e. biological resources) are referred to as wildlife resources. Therefore, the biological resources ofa nation are a mirror of the wildlife resources of that area. The wildlife composition of any nation, determines both the culture and traditional occupation. Onadeko (2004) pointed out the three things at the heart' (mind) of God during creation as (i) Conservation, (ii) Sustainability and (iii) Development. Mr. Vice-Chancellor Sir, let me remind you that the art of conservation of biodiversity resources was as old as the creation of mankind. Genesis 2:8 & 15 "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed". Verse 15 says that "And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it". The above gave the account of the first conservation area established on the earth and Adam was the first Custodian (Conservator General) appointed. God entrusted the biodiversity resource to Adam to manage for his generation and for future generation. In Genesis 2: 16-17, God also gave the first conservation edict to Adam. As a result God's interest in wildlife (biodiversity) resources, He went ahead to establish the first zoological (conservation) garden/game sanctuary and He appointed Father Noah to be the first curator (Gen. 6:13-21). Wildlife is a product ofland like any other agricultural crop. This is an indication that wildlife management is the "mother of agricultural practice". Furthermore in the Biblical era all the notable leaders were shepherds. Abraham, Moses, David e.t.c. In Genesis 10:8-9, the bible describes the founder of Babel and other cities in the land ofShinar as a mighty hunter. In Yorubaland most villages/towns traced their original founders to hunters. Wildlife resources or biological resources belong to the.renewable natural resources of an area. Agbelusi and Afolayan (1991) defined the natural resources, as "the natural assets (wealth) that God endows a nation with". In this regard, natural resources may be considered as our natural heritage. This heritage includes both the cultural and natural aspects. The basic wealth of a nation then depends on its natural resources. The natural resources constitute a starting point in the dev~lopment of a nation on which other inputs depend. A nation that is endowed with abundance natural resource has a good prospect for economic progress. The natural resources of a nation at any given time may be broadly classified into two groups namely: , (a) Non-renewable or exhaustible resources i.e. abiotic resources (petroleum, gold e.t.c.) (b) Renewable resources which are potentially inexhaustible jf properly managed i.e. biotic resources (plants, animals and water). .-- The non-renewable natural resources exist in finite amount, and cannot be 5 replenished after they have been exploited Such resources are gold, diamond, petroleum e.t.c. Unlike the non-renewable resources, the renewable resources are 'potentially inexhaustible and they replenish themselves if properly managed. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF WILDLIFE CONSERVATION IN NIGERIA ' In the 'early 1930s, a number of colonial officers urged the government to conserve wildlife but the proposed policy objectives of conservation differed. Collier (1934) suggested game conservation only if it could provide protein for the masses. Shorthouse (1935) did not consider the immediate need of the masses important in preserving wildlife, since continued indiscriminate and unregulated hunting could result in fewer animals to hunt. According to him the long term survival of wildlife required large reserves with strict rules of protection. With the strict rules on protection alone, very little progress was made on wildlife conservation in the early part ofthis century because the local people continued uncontrolled hunting. Within the same first half of this century, Haywood (1932) made a survey of the wildlife resources of West Africa. He suggested that Game Reserves be concentrated in the savanna areas of Nigeria, including Borgu/Oyo area in southwestern Nigeria, and the Wase/Mori region of Plateau State. Haywood also suggested the abolition of organized hunting drives, use of strong traps and night hunting. He urged the establishment of game departments to coordinate wildlife development, to enforce game laws and give special consideration to the protection of endangered species such as Chimpanzee, Gorilla, Ostrich, Giraffe, Pygmy Hippopotamus and Chevrotain.
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