Monday, September 2, 2019

Nigerian environmentalists want laws to stop hunters from killing animals

Some participants at the just-concluded environmental training on Sunday urged the federal government to enact and enforce laws that would stop local hunters from driving the nation’s animals into extinction.

The participants made the appeal during separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos after a-week-long training organised by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation in partnership with Earthnewsinfo (an online environment website).

NAN reports that multiple-award-winning-environment journalist, Jennifer Igwe, organised the weeklong Environmental Journalism Summer School for aspiring environmental journalists, particularly those from polluted environments and areas with degradation.

One of the participants, Rukayat Ali-Oluwafuyi, an Environment Consultant, said the only reason why some endangered species like pangolin were being traded was due to ignorance and poverty on the part of the local hunters.

“The reasons some of these endangered species were being traded by the local hunters was because they were not aware of the importance of these animals.”

She said that most of the hunters killing and selling the animals did not know their economic and market values.

She added that because of that, those buying the endangered species from the hunters used to pay them token; only to trade them at millions of dollars at the international market.

“I am begging Nigerians to put the importance of the existence of the animals before money. Like pangolins eat ants; imagine if we do not have pangolins to eat ants, our houses will be littered with ants,“ Ms Ali-Oluwafuyi said.