NEW! REVISED EDITION- CHAPTER 5- LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS AND GAME MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER 5

THE ANIMAL RIGHTS, GAME MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT QUESTION

INTRODUCTION

        Owing to the indispensability of the country’s natural resources for a viable economy and wealth, a rational approach in the use of land and natural resources is a necessity for their sustainability.  The need to guarantee the existence of basic and good game management is paramount.  A good game management is an essential instrument for a sustainable development as it is projected to meet the needs of the present generation without compromising its benefits for the future generation. 

It should be a priority to maintain a balance among the quality and proactive capacity of the environment, the natural resources, the human population density and the systems of production.  Proper use of land, water and air form the basis for the past and present human interaction and the effects of such interaction with the natural resources and the environment is an indispensable tool for natural and sustainable allocation of renewable resources and energy for future development.In Nigeria, all land development programmes, policies and projects have evolved without the requisite appreciation of the values inherent in game management.

       

        Good game management is very essential in abridging the space between resources utilization and conservation of the resources.  The wealth of any nation is a function of the state of its natural resources of which the economic potentials are propelled by technology.  Conservation which means saving or careful management of natural resources, involve the exploitation of our valuable natural endowments in such a way that they serve us better and longer than they would otherwise. 

                                                              

        As said in the early chapters of this work, game, apart from the fact that it constitutes a renewable natural resource, also forms a source of renewable energy if properly managed.

        The management is in the sense of its improvement of livestock or domestic animals.  It should be noted however that today’s domestic animals have their progenitors in the wilderness.  Our livestock are products of the wild. Apart from dog, the Yorubas also give domestic fowl names such as “Goloba”, “Asa”, “Abolorun”, “Opipi”. The exotic breeds include New Hampshire, the Plymouth Rock, the Rhode Island Red, Wyandotte, Cornish, Orpington, Speckled, Sussex, Australorp, White Leghorn are all descendants of Red Jungle Fowl of Asia.

Domestication is a process. Domestication as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary is to tame to reclaim (an animal or plant) from a wild state.  The distinction which is usually made between domestication and taming is that the former includes controls of the reproductive phase of the life cycle and selection of precuts whilst taming does not. Taming is the practice of eliminating the desire of an animal to flee and possibly of training the animal to perform some useful function. On the basis of what is known about the inheritance of characters it is reasonable to assume that those animals which could be most easily tamed would be the ones most likely to reproduce in captivity and so form the basis of a domesticated group.  Thus it is clear that any species which is domesticated has at some stage passed through a period of taming.

Animal domestication is a part of the whole process of agricultural development which commenced at the end of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the beginning of the Neolithic or new Stone Age.  Obviously, it is not possible to be specific about dates on these matters but the process started around 1500B.C. There is evidence that the first animals to be domesticated, the dog and the rein deer were probably domesticated prior to at the commencement of agricultural development but that other species are more recent domesticates.

 It is known that agricultural development occurred independently at two man centres in the world one of these other referred to as the Fertile Crescent or Nuclear Asia is an area now represented by parts of Israel, Syria, Iraqi, Eastern Turkey and Northern Iran., the other centre which has been called Nuclear America, is an area which extends from Mexico the North American Continent through the Panamanian Isthmus to Ecuador, Colombia and Peru in the South American Continent.

        In recent past, it has been recorded that most of the game species not known to domestication some hundred years ago have started undergoing domestication and thus assume the status of domestic animals.

        The implication of this is that the energy derived at cattle shed slurries, pigry washings and abattoir waste would be complemented by the introduction of new game species into livestock.

        For instance, eland, a native African ungulate is now being conserved and managed as a source of food like other livestock in some African countries, particularly, Kenya.  The wild ungulates are naturally immuned or highly resistant to a number of diseases that afflict domestic cattle stock.  In terms of meat production and reproduction, the wild ungulates have a higher rate of flesh to body weight than domestic cattle and are highly prolific.

BIOGAS AS A SOURCE OF ENERGY AND

 NATION DEVELOPMENT

        Biogas shares some of the disadvantages of fossil fuels in that when burnt, produces pollutants such as waste gases, some of which are toxic.  These can be reduced by chemical processes before releasing the remainder into the atmosphere.

        The quantities involved are insignificant compared with other sources. Carbon dioxide - the “green house gas” is largely responsible for global warming is also released.  However, this originates from plants which have absorbed it from the atmosphere, so no additional carbon dioxide is involved.

        Decomposing materials produce some very unpleasant smells, and by capturing and using a large proportion of the biogas this effect can be greatly reduced- an important consideration- if the site is near a dwelling house.

        Inspite of the above, Biogas is readily available as a by product of waste for little extra investment.  By using it, we widen the source of energy resources and also help to dispose of the organic components of domestic and industrial waste.

        Since biogas is a high quality fuel, it can be used for many purposes including generating electricity, pumping water, agro processing etc.

        An excellent way to extract the maximum benefit from biogas is to make use of the waste heat that results from generating electricity, using a combined heat and power (CHP) plant.

        CHP or co-generation can be applied to generation on any scale, although at present, the economics tend to favour larger plants with an output of around half a megawatt or more.  Some commercial biogas stations in the U.K are of this type, supplying district heating to communities nearby.

        CHP can also be used to supply both heat and electricity to sites such as hospitals, light industrial units or commercial green houses.  Two types of biogas engine are in common use for electricity generation.  Small installations may use an internal combustion engine.  This works in the same way as a four-stroke petrol engine in a vehicle.  Each piston is driven down in turn by the expansion of a burning mixture of gas and air.  

       

        Larger plants normally use a gas turbine engine.  In this, a continuous flow of burning gas and air mixture expands through the multiple vanes of a turbine, spinning the turbine shaft.

        In either case, the engine drives a generation, which produces an alternating current for use locally or to supply the national grid.

        In Nigeria, electric power is generated by hydro and thermal means which include steam, gas and diesel with only Ughelli and Afam making use of gas. The National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA) now Power Holding Company Nigeria (PHCN) average daily power generation shows that Afam generates 210.70 MW.

        As a result of the simplicity and renewability of biogas, many countries have set out a policy of targeting renewable energy by the middle of this millennium.  For example, the U.K government has set a national target of 1,500 NW (DNC) new electricity generating capacity from renewable energy sources in the year 2000.  As of 1994, statistics for biogas power stations in the U.K. with output capacity range from 0.8-11 MW Landfill gas and 8.55 MW of sewage gas.

        In Nigeria however, the Federal Government already has a policy in place that 1,000 megawatts will be added to the national grid on annual basis, hence the award of contract to Siemens to construct the new station at Geregu, Kogi State, an over 360 million U.S. Dollars Gas Turbine Power Plant.

        Biogas could contribute to achieving these targets.  Biogas is somewhat higher than air, and has an ignition temperature of approximately 700⁰C (diesel oil 350⁰C, petrol and propane about 500⁰C).  The temperature of biogas flame is 870⁰C.  One cubic metre of biogas generates 5,500kcal corresponding to the thermal power of 0.6 litres of diesel fuel¹.

        Lighting and cooking Biogas can be used like any other combustible gas. Considerable number of the people in rural settlements uses kerosene for lighting lamps.  In the developing countries, women spend many hours collecting firewood.  This is a big burden on them and their time could be used for other productive enterprise.

        Biogas seems to be the most logical source of cheap energy in solving the major problems for people who are economically or geographically disadvantaged in getting or affording electricity or fossil fuel for cooking and lighting.

        The environment is being destroyed by the demand for firewood and to avoid the catastrophe, it has to be protected on way or the other.  Cooking with firewood produces lot of smoke, which is bad for the health of the women who tend the kitchen fire.  The smoke pollutes the air thereby causing problems with lungs, eyes etc. It is also believed that biogas will help in reducing deforestation as majority of the biogas owners use the gas for cooking.

       

The main use of biogas at present is for domestic purposes such as cooking and lighting.  Biogas can be used with suitable designed burners to give a clean, smokeless blue flame, which is ideal for cooking. It has been estimated that more than 87% of the people in Nepal use firewood for cooking.  After installation of biogas, firewood consumption has been greatly reduced.  This was shown by a comparative analysis made on firewood consumption before and after biogas installation.  Firewood is saved after biogas installation.  A study conducted by REDP in year 2000 has shown that roughly, this saves about 64% of the firewood consumption after installation of about 800 biogas plants.

RENEWABLE NATURAL RESOURCES

        As said in the early chapter of this work that game species or wildlife is a product of habitats which include forest, the ocean and rivers, the soil and its contents and composition and all other elements of the biosphere which are particularly utilised by man are natural resources.  It is renewable depending on how it is managed because for instance, disappearance without hope of recreating them may make them not renewable.  In reality, it is difficult to have complete disappearance without the hope of recreating them in view of the global sensitivity to conservation. 

Even though record has shown that some species of dinosaurs that dominated the earth for over 165 million years during Mesozoic era but mysteriously went into extinction about 65 million years ago probably because of the environmental and climatic changes brought about by an asteroid hitting the earth to which dinosaurs could not adapt².  Quagga also has gone into extinction.  Although, the hope of bringing back Quagga is alive, the global awareness of their usefulness today gives a respite that such situation would never arise again having regard to the development of biotechnology and various effects of both governmental and non-governmental policies in conservation of the endangered species.

        For Quagga, the chances of ever seeing it ended in Amsterdam zoo on August 12, 1883 when the last of this creature died.  What a the front and also mistaken for horse viewed from behind at one time existed across South Africa, when the first bushmen and Hottentot tribes of South Africa heard the quagga cough like bark, they were so amused that it was only natural to name them after the sound they made.  Sadly, during the 19^th century, the reverberating crack of the hunter’s gun ensured that quagga would join the silent ranks of the extinct until recently at Etosha Game Reserve in Namibia where a chance of retrieval was explored with promising result.

        Notwithstanding the above, wildlife is renewable natural resources and can be maintained more or less permanently depending on the way they are used.  In other words, they remain as long as they are removed at rates commensurate with their formation and the ecosystem maintained for their perpetuity.

        The benefits are in form of contributions reflective of both economic and non-economic indicator.  A natural endowment such as game species only become a resource when man is able to discover the socio-economic potential of it and thus utilise it to his advantage.

        Through the protection of their habitat, hydrological systems are stabilised, soil is protected, climate is stable, another form of renewable resources is protected, genetic resources is protected, breeding stocks, population resources and biological diversity are preserved, tourism and recreation are supported, employment opportunities created and facilities for research education are protected.

        The combination of renewable natural resources and ecological services described may be considered as the biological resources endowment of the country, the natural capital in which economic growth is based. This endowment is based on genes, species and ecosystems, which have actual or potential value to people. Biological resources are manifested as biological diversity.  This term refers to the variety of numbers and prevalence of ecosystems diversity.

       

        The non-consumptive benefit of wildlife as renewable natural resources is tourism and recreation, which have been known to the important sources of revenue.  Estimates of the actual contribution made by components of the ecosystem in eco-tourism have only recently been calculated.  Statistics show that foreign tourists in Zambia has increased to nearly 264,000 in 1996 from about 160,000 in 1995, a 60% increase in 1997, it increased to nearly 341,000,29% increase over 1996.  Tourism revenue also increased from 59.8 million Dollars in 1996 to 75.5 million Dollars in 1997.

        Generally, the development of tourism borders on two fundamental factors of supply and demand.  These two factors are adequately catered for by the Nigerian environment.  There are numerous potential tourist attractions and this accounted for the 30 million naira realized by National Parks in 2001.  Game reserves provide unique environment which attract the tourists to the excitement of seeing wildlife at a close range.  One of the most important sources of revenue in East Africa is tourism through wildlife.  In Kenya, next to agriculture is tourism as about 961 million Dollars was realised in 1989.

        In Medicine, wildlife has proved to be an indispensable tool.  Business is good at the Ruili bear farm is South Western China, near the border of Miyanmar.  In a long factory like building, 300 bears are kept in cages of about one square metre.  They are harnessed into metal suits like body-armour, with a built-in pouch for collecting their most valuable excretion-bile from their gall bladder, a highly prized remedy in traditional Chinese medicine³.

        Bear bile is used to treat a range of complaints such as cancer, hemorrhoids, conjunctivitis and sinusitis.  The gall bladders are used for serious liver diseases including cancer and cirrhosis.

        In the same vein, snail, a muscular soft bodied creature with a visceral mass, apart from offering itself to carnivorous man for meat as a rich protein, iron and calcium sources, the shell, a zinc repository is said to be good for weight loss, and prostrate health and the slimy secretion is a therapeutic agent for several ailments.  The ecological name of snail is Achatina.  It is know by different names in three major ethnic groups in Nigeria.  The Yoruba call it “Igbin”, Igbo call it “Ejuna” and Hausa – “Akhusa”.

Despite its culinary value, that is, meat, the snail according to traditional medical practitioners possesses valuable therapeutic effects.  For pregnant women, it is a source of non-calcium and the venom offers healing potentials for the treatment of wide range of ailment such as stroke, hemiglegia, migraine, high blood pressure, heartbeat and diabetics.  It is a pregnancy fortifier for the viability of the foetus basically to prevent miscarriage.  The slimy irritating substance, the bluish substance that drops when the snail is cut from the rear is actually the “serum” of the snail which is employed in the traditional medicine in the treatment of stroke.  Snail is used to stop bleeding during circumcision in Yoruba land.  The land snail, which is the commonly preferred species, is one out of its kind, which belongs to Gastropod class.

Most very young children respond to animals with spontaneous, instant and concentrated fascination.  Whether babies see cats as fellow beings or vice-versa, or both is another issue.  What is beyond doubt is that there is a quite remarkable degree of mutual interest and friendly tolerance between these very disparate species. As a child matures, this pristine and innocent interest changes but does not wane.  At heart other things being equal, most children and many adults find animals fascinating to a quite extra ordinary degree.

Reportedly^3a, an autistic son refused to speak or even smile until a stray cat called Benny-boo changed his life.  The cat transformed the life of 10 year old autistic George who could barely hold a conversation or even smile would learn to communicate, laugh and show affection due to his relationship with the cat he named Ben.

Autism suffered by George is said to affect over 1.2 million Nigerians. It is not a disease but a childhood developmental disorder that could be effectively managed.  Dr. Annan Lamikanra at the Guaranty Trust bank Autism Spectrum Disorders seminar organised by the organisation for parents, caregivers and doctors of people living with the disorders in Lagos said “Autism is Autism”.  It is not a disease . It is neither infectious nor curable but the causes are yet unknown.  However, the symptoms include restricted and repetitive behaviour or speech, incoherent conversations with imaginary people and erratic behaviour⁴.

Little did Dr. Anna Lamikanra know that cat, in far away Hounslow, South-West London cured this disorder permanently and  changed forever the life of George, a child whose behaviour was strange by hiding behind sofa when the news came on television (he thought the news-reader was staring at him).  He would not eat food if it was touching another item on his plate.  He would merely repeat words over and over and was aggressive towards other children. George first began to speak to Ben (cat) in a way he never had before, telling stories and sharing his thoughts and worries.  As George gets older he used his cat voice less and his real voice more and they became inseparable. 

Wildlife also creates job opportunities.  The ceaseless campaign to stem the scourge of poverty and high unemployment rate in the country may infuse a fresh impetus from the government to repackage agricultural development programmers with emphasis on snailry and cane rat farm settlements, a sector of micro livestock propagation.  Cane rats are indigenous to our environment and any serious minded unemployed person can breed them as a profitable venture.  Cane rat is disease resistant, highly prolific and fast growing with high protein and low cholesterol contents.  It also attracts high market value.

Animals are kept as “pets” thereby serving as “educational aids” from birth to death in human communities where contact with the undoubted reality which they bring would otherwise be denied. The keeping of animals helps foster the “finer emotions” of love, affection, empathy, respect and even fear for the various forms of life.

The involvement of young children in the keeping of animals helps to instill in them a sense of personal responsibility.  They relate their own subordinate position in life to that of the small animals in their care, which depend wholly upon them. Realising the animal’s needs increases the children sense of personal responsibility thereby elevating their own status in some cases, especially with emotionally disturbed children. Animals may become transitional object offering a stable base in times of stress.

FOOTNOTES

1.     http:/www.superflex.dk/supergas/bioga.shtm/.

2.     htp/.www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/dinosaurs/allabout.

3.     The Economist, November 9^th 1996. Page 84.

3a.    Daily Mail, Saturday, November 20, 2010 pages 64 and 65.

4.     The Punch,Wednesday, April 6, 2011. page 57.