Chapter 1 Introduction to Wildlife

Management
1.1 Definition and Concept of wild life management

Wildlife
All free ranging vertebrates in their natural associated environment. This is incomplete
definition because it doesn't consider plant and invertebrates, which are also living. Literally
wildlife means all living things outside human beings control. It will include plants, fish,
insects etc.
In practice wildlife management has centered more on birds and mammals. Also in the past
wildlife was considered to be those species of animals harvested by recreational hunting
(birds and mammals). Such species were called game species.
Wildlife Management
MANAGEMENT: 
It is a science and art disciplines for Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling
Activities.
 Leading includes Directing, Coordinating, Actuating and Commanding.
By combining wildlife and management we can describe wildlife management as
"The art and science of changing the characteristics and interactions of wild animal
populations and Man in order to achieve specific goals by means of wildlife resources.
OR
MANAGEMENT …
It is “the management of human activities that affects wildlife and human use of
resources”.
OR
It is an art and Science techniques for changing the characteristics and interactions of
wild animal populations and man in order to achieve specific goal(s). OR
"the science and art of managing wildlife and its habitat, for the benefit of the soil,
vegetation and animals, including humans."

Comprehensive definition for wildlife management must take into consideration the
interactions of Man, habitat and wildlife resources.

Wild life management is the art of making land produce populations of wild life, for
harvest or other values. In simplest terms, wildlife management consists of a series of
decisions and management interventions. The decisions must be made every year and
whenever necessary
Wildlife management is the art of making decisions and taking actions to manipulate the
structure, dynamics, and relations of populations, habitats, and people to achieve desired

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goals. The goals may be one or more of the following:

1. To increase the population size - of both plants & animals.

2. To remove / harvest individuals from the population on sustainable basis – which
requires to leave enough or viable number of individual in the population so that to
insure their reproduction to replace those removed or harvested.
3. To stabilize or reduce the population - if happen to be beyond the carrying capacity

Management of living resources / wildlife in a protected area involves steering the ecosystem.
What management is necessary will be determined by the objectives stipulated for a given
conservation area.

There are essentially two kinds of management: active and passive.

Passive management, if the goals are to allow nature to manage itself. It is the prevention of
certain actions or letting natural development take their course. The manager may not need to
do anything to the habitat, because the natural process is dynamic, for example area closure.
Active management manifests itself in positive measures such as increasing Oryx population
through planting food patches, or Swayne’s hartebeest population through making prescribed
burns of range lands to produce food: stabilizing some populations through specifying harvest
dates and methods while stabilizing food production; decreasing some populations by
harvesting, for example, baboons that are damaging their habitats. Active management of the
wildlife resources will be required to reach or maintain those stipulated objectives.

Why active management? Because

 To ensure species survival
 Man has already injured nature to a great extent - unlimited exploitation ultimately
lead to extinction of species.
 There is almost nothing in nature that can be called a “ stable environment “ even
within the large blocks of undisturbed climax rain forests. The element that
managers wish to preserve or protect in conservation area can easily be lost
through lack of management simply because the nature of the reserve changes.
 Any conservation area naturally continues to change as wind, animals, man or other
agencies introduce new species. Other species drop out through local extinction,
disease, pest, succession and other ecological factors.
Thus, it is clear that, a good deal of active management is needed to maintain the qualities
managers wish to preserve in conservation area. However, it must also be stressed that
interference with natural processes is full of dangers unless cautiously manipulated.
Therefore, it requires proper understanding of ecological principles and an appreciation of the
ecological processes operating in nature before manipulation natural system/ wild life
resources. There is an expression which summarizes unwise intervention and play with
nature:

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 “ Bad management can be worse than no management “
Ecological processes are often unpredictable because of their complex inter - relationships.
Although ecological knowledge is growing rapidly, scientists are still so ignorant of the
working of many tropical ecosystems that it is wise to be cautious.

1.2. wildlife conservation and management

 What is conservation?

According to the world conservation strategy the term conservation defined as:

“ Conservation is the management of human use of the biosphere so that it may Yield the
greatest sustainable benefit to present generations of people while maintaining its potential
to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations“

Conservation is thus inclusive term, meaning it includes management, preservation,

maintenance, sustainable utilization restoration and enhancement of the natural environment.
It is an ethical imperative, expressed in the belief that “we have not inherited the earth from
our parents, we have borrowed it from our children”

Conservation does not simply mean the “locking away “of resources. It is analogous to using
the interest while keeping the capital

Living resources conservation, such as wild life, forestry, is different from non - living
resources because living resources are renewable if conserved, destructible if not.

Renewable living resources- inherently renewable if managed properly. So sustainable use

must be necessary in order the remaining individual or resource able to reproduce or continue
to exist.

e.g. wild life, forestry, agriculture.

Non - renewable resources - non- renewable and irreplaceable once over, they over forever.
Therefore, conserving in wise manner (with maximum utilization and minimum waste) will
reduced resource depletion in short period of time.

e.g. it is used to refer to deposits of fossils fuels and mineral materials such
as coal and copper

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1.3. REASONS FOR CONSERVING AND MANAGING WILDLIFE

 ‘’The last word in ignorance is the person who says of an animal or plant: ‘what good
is it?’…. If the land mechanism as a whole is good, the every part of it is good,
whether we understand it or not… Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend;
you can not cherish his right hand and chop off his left’’ ALDO LEOPOLD

Those of us who work in the field of wild life conservation so often hear and aware of the
question why care for wildlife?. But, for example, the majority of people in Ethiopia through
lack of information, think that wild life only has damaging characteristics, particularly where
crops are concerned, and that the only reason to conserve it is to do with some vague idea of
“heritage”, and also possibly, so that a few foreign tourists can come and look at it in wonder,
and take pictures of large wild animals and pay money in return. Nevertheless, wild life has
values more than these and is important in several ways.

1.3.1 To maintain essential ecological processes and life support

Systems.

It is one of the essential roles of wildlife, which is more difficult and vague to understand and
accept for majority of people.

Essential ecological processes are those processes that are governed, supported or strongly
moderated by ecosystems and are essential for food production, health and other aspects of
human survival and sustainable development. Such as soil regeneration and protection, the
recycling of nutrients, ensuring the availability of quality and clear water, natural regulation
of plants and animal population and the many other ecological processes. The maintenance of
such processes and systems is vital for all societies regardless of their stage of development.
Let’s see some more examples:

 Majority of higher plants depend for their reproduction on other wild life especially on the
transport of pollen by organisms either wild insects or wild mammals and birds.
 Changes in Ecosystems by mans activities will reduce the efficiency with which
Reproduction is carried out in many plants.

 Many seeds will not germinate unless they are first passes through the gut of some animals
or birds species. This process-
 Damages the seed coat,
 Provides nutrients as well as,
 Usually transports the seed from one location to another, giving the tree species a
chance to occupy new habitat and spread the species further.
 The valuable tree (Calvaria major) known to be reproductively associated with the dodo

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bird on Mauritius Island. The decline and reproduction failure of the tree Calvaria major on
Mauritius Island has been attributed to extinction of the dodo bird, which may have been its
main seed dispersal agent.

 Natural regulation of plant and animal population- an example of the extermination of top
predators leading to extermination of the prey of their prey has been happening in different
parts of the world. For example, on Panama’s Colorado Island, where the elimination of
Jaguars, Pumas and Harpy Eagles caused a population explosion of their prey such as
monkeys and Coatimundis, which intern proceeded to exterminate several species of ground -
nesting birds. Species interact with each other, whether as predators, mutualists, competitors,
and herbivore parasites, or pathogens. Thus, a change in abundance of one species is likely to
lead to changes in abundance of other species.

 Water shed vegetation or Natural forests are particularly important because they protect
soil cover on site and protect areas down streams from excessive floods and other harmful
fluctuation in stream flow and help to ensure a continuous flow of clean water. By thus
reducing the silt load of rivers, watershed forests are helpful to prevent the closing of
reservoirs, irrigation system, canals etc.

e.g. the contribution of Bale Mountains National Park in this

regard

 Natural forests or Vegetation has an influence on local and regional climates, generally by
making them milder and calm.

1.3.2- To preserve genetic or bio-diversity in general

It is the range of genetic material found in the world’s organisms, on which depend the
breeding programs necessary for the protection and improvement of cultivated plants and
domesticated animals. It is the variety of different genes, as found within a breeding
population, within a whole species or of all species found within a given area.

The preservation of genetic diversity is both a matter of insurance and investment - necessary
to sustain and improve agricultural, forestry and fisheries production to keep open future
options, as a buffer against harmful environmental change and as a raw material for much
scientific and industrial innovation. It is very essential for the breeding programs in which
continued improvements in yields, nutritional quality, flavor, durability, pest and disease
resistance, responsiveness to different soils and climates, and other qualities are achieved.

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In general cultivated crops and domesticated animals man using today in long run will be
extremely vulnerable to out breaks of pests and diseases and to sudden changes in
environmental conditions. Therefore, existence of genetic reservoirs is indispensable. Loss of
diversity thorough loss of wild life will make it more difficult for man to breed resistant
cultivars.

The other importance of preserving genetic diversity is for its medicinal value (resources for
health). Although only a minute portion of the world’s plant and animals has been
investigated for their values as medicines and other pharmaceutical products, modern
medicine depends heavily on them. There are undoubtedly many more natural chemical
compounds that can be used for this purpose which man still does not know about. Loss of
diversity will lose man the opportunity to exploit these compounds, as new disease evolve in
man, such as AIDS.

There are three ways of preserving genetic diversity

a. On site (in - situ) - In which the stock is preserved by protecting the ecosystems in which
it occurs naturally.
b. Off site ( ex - situ), part of the organisms - in which the seed , semen or other element
from which the organisms concerned can be reproduced is preserved
c. Off site (ex - situ), Whole organisms - in which a stock of individuals of the organisms
concerned is kept outside its natural habitat in a plantation, botanical garden, zoo,
aquarium, ranch or culture collection.

1.3.3 To ensure the man’s sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems (notably fish,
natural forests and other wild life) which support millions of rural communities as well as
major industries.
The necessity of ensuring the utilization of an ecosystem or species is sustainable varies with
a society’s dependence on the resource in question. For a subsistence society, sustainable
utilization of most, if not all, its living resources is essential. The greater the diversity and
flexibility of the economy, the less the need to utilize certain resources sustainable.
Sustainable utilization is somewhat analogous to spending the interest while keeping the
capital. Unfortunately, most utilization of a aquatic animals, of the wild plants and animals of
the land, of forests and of grazing lands is not sustainable.

Wildlife can bring two types of economic benefits

a. Wild life may be used directly as food, fodder, fuel, fiber etc.

e.g. The world’s marine fisheries, which yield as much as 70 million tones of
food a year, provide a large percentage of the protein eaten by human
and in some areas is the only animal protein available. In Ethiopia, many
wild animals & plants has been used as food sources - fisheries, antelopes
etc.
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b. That same wild life may be sold, providing communities or countries with much - needed
income- commercial benefits.

The commercial value of wild life is the capitalized value of the income derived from
selling or trading animals/ plants or their products, or from conducting a business
based on access to wild life population. This value can usually be measured in Dollars.

There are two forms of wild life utilization

A) Consumptive utilization

The organism concerned is used up - either killed if an animals, or cut down if a plant.
Examples are hunting for meat or skin, harvesting or cutting of wild trees, “sport” hunting,
and fishing. In Ethiopia sustainable utilization and farming of wild life is in its infancy stage,
however there has been encouraging attempts:

 Ostrich farming - at Abijatta - Shalla lakes National Park

 Crocodile ranching - at Arbaminch, close to Nechisar National Park.
 “Sport “hunting, at different cotrolled hunting areas.
 Trophy sales ( ivory, skins of spotted cats & colobus monkey
 Live animal export (monkeys, baboons and birds).

The development of commercial breeding of wild life species (through rearing and farming
methods) can help take utilization pressure off wild life population, and can even prove a
benefit to them ( by way of returned animals). However, the following points should be
considered for controlled trade:

 Develop a system where by there is a net gain to wild life population. In exchange for
permit to remove from the wild either breeding stock or eggs and young for captive rearing
projects, the farming/ rearing agency must agree to make available for release in to the wild
an agreed number of animals or percentage of reared stock

Link farming and utilization closely to adequate protection of wild population.

 Development a control system that makes it difficult for wild stock to be poached and
traded as farmed or domestic animals. Methods can include application of upper size limits
and supervised marketing of captive stock. This is particularly important for species listed
under the convention for the international trade as endangered species of fauna and flora.

B) Non - Consumptive utilization

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The organism is available again and again to generate income, or its products are harvested
without killing it. In Ethiopia there are examples with regard to this form of utilization.
 Tourism - tourist viewing of wildlife and scenery.
 Civet must collection- from individually reared animals.
 Wild coffee collection- from natural forest.
 Incense and gums collection- from arid and semi-arid parts of Ethiopia.

Recreational and aesthetic value

 Recreational value

People derive benefits of pleasure, adventure, and enhanced physical and mental heath from
out door activities involving the pursuit or sometimes-accidental enjoyment of wild life.

People can recreate by hunting, fishing, bird watching, photographing, hiking, camping and
by other wildlife based out door activities. Sometimes these activities are take place in
conservation areas such as National parks, sanctuaries, game reserves which are set aside for
the purpose, or sometimes they take place in remote or un-populated areas where there are
little other possible use for the land. Ethiopia has many places, conservation areas (parks,
controlled hunting areas, sanctuaries and game reserves), natural forests and mountains which
have recreational values and benefits.

The value people receive is usually measured by their willingness to pay for the out door
recreation, to the extent that wild life is wholly.

 Aesthetic value

It is the most personal and variously conceived value of wild life. Everyone appreciates the
sight of a lion, leopard, colorful birds, beautiful mountain scenery, songs of ducks etc. This
is beautiful that meets the eye and ear, and our response to it seems innate.

Aesthetic values of wild life are usually impossible to quantify. They are values that stir the
emotions and they are often the first value that attracts and initiates people to the
conservation of wildlife.

Educational and scientific values.

The scientific value of wild life is the value of wild populations as object of scientific study.
Wild life and their habitats can be considered as field laboratories where scientists such as
ecologists, evolutionists, geneticists, behavioral researchers and others can do study to extend
their knowledge in their discipline.

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The modern science of gene technology, which allows researches to use and manipulate the
gene characteristics of different species of animal and plants, continued discovery of new and
useful genes that can be transferred from one species to another (in order to improve
viability, disease resistance, survival and/or other qualities)- are scientific values of wild life.

The educational value of wildlife is realized in the use of wild life examples in schools and at
nature centers and parks.

Cultural values of wild life

Many forms of wildlife and their products have great significance in local cultures/
ceremonies or beliefs. Certain trees and plants are collected for their special beliefs (healing
properties) or for their ability to ward off evil sprits and events. Amongst certain societies /
local communities, feathers (from ostrich or other different colorful birds), skins from certain
animals (e.g. leopard), horns from Greater kudu or other animals are used or displayed at
different ritual ceremonies.

The Colobus Monkey in Ethiopia is sometimes called the forest monk and is said to have very
special respect during times of fasting. As a result, some people do not like to harass or kill
Colobus Monkey.

Moral / Ethical/ religious reasons

The issue of moral principle relates particularly to species extinction. We are morally obliged
to our descendants and to other creatures to act prudently (sensibly and wisely, carefully to
consider one’s advantage, especially by avoiding risks). We can not predict what species
become useful to us. Indeed we may learn that many species that seem dispensable are
capable of providing important products, such as pharmaceutical, or are vital parts of life
support systems on which we depend. Thus, for reasons of ethics and self interest, we should
not knowingly cause the extinction of a species.

Lastly, but not least, we all should agree on that, every creatures of GOD has the right
to live.

As a conclusion of the discussion regarding why case for wild life? I found it important
to present a part of an article written by J.C.Hillman on AGAZEN MAGAZINE, of
1989 issue.

Just think about it for a minute, and see if you can provide the answers to the following
questions, which all concern your own daily life in one way or another:

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 You use wood to build part of your house, your office, or to make some furniture. Where
did it come from, how long did it take to grow, where did it get its water supply, what
fertilized the parent tree that produced the seed from which this tree grew?

 You eat honey either on bread or as “Tej”; you use polish for your wooden floor and
furniture; it is made from beeswax. Where did the bees live, where did they gather nectar,
and make the honey and wax?

 You take a medicine, or use an ointment on your skin, which you bought in the pharmacy.
Where did the active ingredients in that medicine comes from?

 You use “Tossigne”(thyme) in your tea, or in special butter with “kinche” for breakfast.
Were did it grow, what fertilized the flowers to produce seeds for more plants, where did the
plant get its water and minerals from, who cultivated it?

 You eat a piece of cake from the bakery; it has a red colored sweet icing on the top. What
substance is used to make the red coloring in the icing, where did it grow, was it from an
animal or from a plant?

The answer to most of the above questions is wildlife in one form or another. Let us look
more closely at the answers.

Most wood used in Ethiopia is wild growing species of forest trees from natural forests.
They are watered by natural rain; the soil is part of a natural ecosystem; they are fertilized by
wild species of insects, bats, birds and bushbabies, and the new seeds produce new trees to
replace those that are cut down. Man plays no part except in some forest protection, and in
cutting the tree and processing it for its various products wood of different shapes and sizes,
charcoal, bark for tanning products, etc. - A wild living thing.

The great majority of honey in Ethiopia comes from wild bees- they may live in the holes of
rocks, or in hives put in trees by people; but man’s management of their way of life is limited
almost to the placing of the hive, and taking the honey at the right time of the year. The wild
bees do all the rest. Important medicines are also made from other bee products propolis and
“royal jelly”- the special food made for the queen bee - A wild animal.

It is known that the active ingredients of many modern medicines come from wild living
plants, i.e. plants that live in wild vegetation, bush, forest unmanaged by man, that are
gathered, processed and the respective chemicals extracted and used in these preparations.
Recently a new cure for the cancer called “leukaemia” was discovered in a wild plant in
Madagascar called the “Rosy periwinkle”(Catharanthus roseus). This has brought life to
millions of children, the majority of whom previously died on contraction the disease.
Several birth control pills comprise plant extracts controlling fertility in women. These drugs
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have had a beneficial effect in many countries, allowing parents to decide when they will
have children and how many they will have in accordance to the resources, means and quality
of life they can offer their family- They are products of wild plants. How many more
medicines to relieve human suffering exist in unknown plants in the few remaining forests
and patches of wild bush of Ethiopia?

“Tossigne” is a small wild herb that grows on the hillsides at high altitude such as on Intoto,
Bale, Arsi, etc. The local children who look after the cattle gather for sale to people,, it is
fertilized by wild bees and insects, and it grows totally naturally. On the hills near Addis it is
so overgrazed and trampled by livestock and shaded out by Eucalyptus (“Bahr Zaf”) forests,
that is no longer grows in sufficient quantities for people to gather commercially. Now it
comes in bulk from Bale; how long will it be before these wild areas are also overtaken by
development, and we lose “tossigne” from our kitchens and taste menus? - A wild plant.

The red coloration in food often comes from a small insect called the “Cochineal
insect”(From the place called Cochin in Asia). It feeds on the pest plant Opuntia Ficus indica
or prickly peer (Yebahir kullkwal”) introduced from south America. So, in addition to the
natural food color its crushed body provides on your cakes, it also helps to control
biologically, a plant that has got out of the control of man in many parts of the world,
especially Australia, and also parts of Ethiopia such as near Adami Tullu - A Wild Insect.

Did you know that for thousands of years, Ethiopia has been exporting the musk of the civet
(“Tirign” - Viverra civetta)? There are records of export from the port of Mitsiwa from the
15th century , and the product is mentioned in the Christian bible as one of the gifts from
Ethiopia taken by the queen of Sheba to king Solomon. The civet is a wild animal that is
kept in captivity by man and the musk a product of the anal gland, is harvested at regular
intervals, much as eggs are collected from chickens. It is still an important export for
Ethiopia, and constitutes the basic ingredient for some of the most expensive perfumes of the
world - the product of a wild living animal.

These are relatively small and unimportant wildlife products, but easily seen as examples.
Much more difficult to understand and accept for people is the role wildlife plays in
maintaining vital ecological processes. Let us just try and understand this through and
example.

Addis taxis are motor vehicles, but nor ordinary motor vehicles. Through wonderful means of
encouragement and the use of ingenuity, the owners are able to make basic vehicle that is
falling to pieces, carry out a vital task needed by so many people every day in the capital city.
A car is a collection of working systems that all combine to the final objective of carrying
people from one place to another. These systems include wheels, gears, electric, fuel system,
engine, ballestra, etc. Many of the taxis have not lights. OK they can still be used by day.
Some have no wind screen wipers; they are all right in the dry season, and in the rains the

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driver must stop and use a cloth on the every few meters. Some have no spare wheel, but that
is all right until there is a

puncture. But a few you see abandoned by people’s houses, used as a shelter by the chickens.
Why? - they have lost or broken some vital parts so they cannot work again.
What has this to do with your daily life? Can you see that the ecosystem in which we live is
also a combination of many parts and living things working together? For example rainfall in
the right place at the right time, a new supply of tree seedlings to replace those that die of old
age or are cut down, a supply of wild genotypes of plants such as coffee, wheat, Teff and
Podocarpus (“Zigba”) which can be used to breed new disease resistant strains or for greater
productivity. Can you accept that the tree you cut down for firewood today, if not replaced,
will alter the evaporation characteristics of the area, and will affect the rainfall downwind,
maybe in Djibouti, Zaire or India? Can you accept that the water that is diverted into a
vegetable farm, will alter the hydro-electric capability of the new Melka Wakena dam on
river Wabe-Shebelle, Ethiopia?

You may say “but only a little water is being used in this vegetable patch, the tree is only one
and there are so many in this forest”. You are then being blind to the fact that you are one of
the community of man, and in Ethiopia alone there are over 42 million of us people. Forty
two million trees make a very big difference and 42 million small gardens is a lot of water.
We have to remember that sometime in our use and development of wildlife or our
environment we too might be contributing to modify, break or remove a vital system, without
which the environment will not carry out the vital processes which we need for human
survival.

So remember as you use the environment and its wildlife products (and use them we must in
order to survive)- you are not the only person in the world. Think beyond your immediate
objective, to the lateral effects your actions will have. Try to help the environment, and the
wildlife, to continue to maintain this world for our children, for wildlife to continue to
reproduce, and provide its products and us.

Next time people say to you “wildlife has no use “, try to enlighten them, and help them think
about the things, which they have taken for granted.

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