Survey of Wildlife Species Killed as Bush Meat in Otuocha and Environs, Anambra State, Nigeria.

Abstract

A survey of wildlife species killed as bush meat in Otuocha and environs was carried out for four weeks  

  (animals and the total number of each species. Photographs were also taken. Data was sourced through April to May) 2012. The following parameters were recorded: sexes of the animals, body length of the    information from hunters and result shows that a total of 1630 animals belonging to diffe rent species  were recorded during the study period and they include: grasscutter ( Thyronomys swinderianus), civet  cat (Vivera civita),brush tailed porcupine (Atherurus  africanus ), bush buck (Tragelaphus scriptus),  guinea fowl (Numida meleargris), Maxwell duicker ( Cephalophus maxwelli), African giant rat  (The total number of female bush meat caught was 848 and the number of male bushmeat was 782. Grasscutter had themonkey and guinea fowl occurred least with a total number of two and relative abundance of 0.5% Cricetomys gambianus highest abundance with a total of 936 and a relative abundance of 57.1% while mona ), Mona monkey (Cercopithecus mona               ) and bush pig (Potamochoerus porcus). respectively. The species with the highest average length was the bush buck  with an average length of  108cm followed by the Maxwell duiker, bush pig and mona monkey with an average length of 78.2cm,   68.5cm and 62.4cm respectively. The species with the least average length is the guinea fowl with an   average length of 24.4cm while the African giant rat had an average length of 33.4cm respectively.