Lion, cheetah, Hippo face extinction at Gashaka Gumpti National Park

By Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo

The Conservator of Parks (CP) of Gashaka Gumpti National Park in Taraba State, CP Joseph Ntui, on Saturday disclosed that lions, hippos and Cheetahs were at risk of extinction at the park.

He disclosed this while interacting with journalists during a tour of the park at the instance of Africa Nature Investors (ANI), a Non-Governmental Organisation, with an interest in conservation and climate change mitigation.

Ntui said that the park remained the largest, most scenic, and most diverse park in the country with several species of birds, fishes, butterflies, mammals and plants and made it a living laboratory for research and experimentation.

He noted that the disappearance of the Wildcats and hippos might not be unconnected to the activities of poachers, hunters and other illegal encroachment on the parks which had forced the animals to take refuge elsewhere.

“So far, we use to have cheetahs and lions here but we have not sighted them for a long time now despite improved surveillance. Our last sight of hippopotamus at the Hippo pool was about five years ago. And so we are tempted to believe that they are locally extinct.

 “You know, conservation generally is a difficult job in Nigeria because of the attitudes of the people. People are yet to come to terms with the overwhelming need for conservation. And so they feel their common heritage is taken over and handed to the control and benefits of a few people.

“We have the problem of people still going into the park to hunt these animals for meat. We have poachers at their game. We have farmers wanting to encroach at all costs and herders insisting on grazing on the parklands. In fact, the grazers will tell you that the grass in the park is more palatable than the one outside the park. All these are factors that drive wildlife away. The idea of a park is for them to be able to operate in their natural habitats without undue human interference”.

He further disclosed that, with the intervention of ANI, the rangers were better trained and equipped to patrol the park and tackle threats to the life of the park.