LOCAL PEOPLE AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE MAKURDI WILDLIFE PARK, BENUE STATE, NIGERIA: IMPLICATION FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION (Vol. 3 Iss. 1; pp. 18-27)
LOCAL PEOPLE AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE MAKURDI WILDLIFE PARK, BENUE STATE, NIGERIA: IMPLICATION FOR WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
J.A. ITYAVYAR*, J.O. BUKIE, G.O. YAGER
Department of Wildlife and Range Management, Federal University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2373 Makurdi Benue State, Nigeria, *Corresponding author email address: akumba123@gmail.com
| A R T I C L E I N F O
Article Type: Research Received: 09, Feb. 2019. Accepted: 30, Apr. 2018. Published: 04, May 2018.
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A B S T R A C T
The conservation of wildlife is often dependent on those saddled with such responsibilities and to some extent those living in close to the animals. This study was therefore undertaken in the wildlife park of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, to identify the socio-economic characteristics of the support zone dwellers, examine their awareness and perception of the park and determine the factors that will elicit the support of the local dwellers. Structured questionnaires and interviews were used to obtain information from five communities surrounding the park. The questionnaires were administered by the simple random method to all those (males and females) that were 18 years and above in each community. A total 500 of questionnaires were administered. The results obtained showed that there were more males (68.4%) than females (31.6%) among the respondents, while Christians (73.6%) dominate the other religious groups. The age class of the respondents ranged from 18-50 years while majorities (81.2%) of them were married. Only 9.2% of the respondents had tertiary education, with only 9.6% working as civil servants. The rest (90.4%) were farmers, hunters, traders, cattle rearers or fisher. About 66.4% were aware of the existence of the park while 66.8% had knowledge of why the park was created. 47.2% were aware of the law governing the park. The awareness level about the part was found to be significantly {P>0.05} higher than unawareness level. About 55.6% indicated that the park is a good project while the factors expected to elicit the local people’s support included the provision of clinics, electricity, schools, pipe borne water and employment.
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| Keywords:
Wildlife Park, support zone community, Awareness and perception |
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