Farmers and other residents of communities in Boki and Akamkpa local government areas of Cross River State are lamenting persistent attacks by Gorillas and Elephants on their farms and settlements.
The residents said the devastation being caused by these animals is affecting their harvest and investments and warned that they may be forced to kill the animals if the attacks continue.
They spoke at a one-day workshop organized by the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, and the World Conservation Society in Calabar, the state capital.
The farmers also expressed their concern that the incessant straying of the animals into human settlements poses a huge security risk to the inhabitants, especially older women, and children.
Elephants, Image: Shutterstock.
According to a community leader, Elder Obeten Erasmus, “These animals may at times be friendly, but they pose big risks to human beings as they continue to escape from their confines.
“They have destroyed some of our farmlands, leaving our entire efforts in ruins.
“If not checked, the people could take revenge on them.”
Another elder revealed that in the past some of the Gorillas that escaped from their habitat in the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary in Boki, regularly lost their tracks, after straying into nearby communities in search of food.
Reacting to the complaints a senior staff at the World Conservation Society, WCS, Dr. Inaoyom Imong, observed that the animals are under protection and passionately appealed to the affected communities not to kill them, adding that considering the few number of Elephants and Gorillas, they were already becoming extinct.
Imong also noted that the animals are being forced out of their natural habitats by invasive human activities and blamed the government for failing to ensure that the National Parks in the state, which are gazetted as protected areas, are left unprotected.
Gorilla; Image: Shutterstock.
“But we find that human activities like traversing these territories for economic trees and fruits, such as bush mangoes, Afang leaves, and cocoa, have left these places porous, for which reason the animals stray out,” he said.
The WCS officer disclosed that they are working to reduce the rate of incursions into the national parks, by providing alternative economic means, including support for beekeeping, livestock as well as training and empowerment for the forest communities, as conservation requires a change of behavior and attitude towards nature by the communities.
Environment. Agriculture. Career and Productivity.
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