How to salvage Bauchi State tourism

Last week, the Bauchi State Commissioner for Tourism, Ahmed Modibbo, was in the media to refute allegations that his state government decided to sell off animals at the Sumu Wildlife Park.

He insisted that the state was not in dire financial straits as claimed by those opposed to the sales, but needed to sell off some of the animals that had very large numbers or had become aged. His defence leaves much to be desired for tourism in Nigeria.

To place facts where they belong, the original land area earmarked for the wildlife park is 82 square kilometres. The animals received for acclamatisation: eland, giraffe, kudu, impala and zebra‎ were kept in an area of eight square kilometres. There is therefore 74 square kilometres unused. Overpopulation, or overstretching of the park, is therefore not an excuse once the correct decision to allow the animals roam free is taken.

Ageing of animals is also not an excuse because people still pay to see old animals in the wild. Nigerians who travel to wildlife parks in South Africa or Congo, or even Yankari Game Reserve in the same state will attest to this. It is also out of place to insist that selling off animals from the park is not a new thing in the state, because previous governments did so. A more creative and beneficial approach ought to be adopted. 

Animals that are found in the grasslands of Bauchi State include migrators like wilderbeest, zebras, impala and gazelles. Zebras are gradually going extinct. A member of the zebra family, the Grevy’s zebra went extinct since 1986 while the Quagga, a zebra lookalike went extinct as far back as 1883. The giraffe is also gradually going extinct due to human activity. These animals must therefore be preserved by man. The more prolific animals should be retained and fed to new animals that could be introduced into the park.

For example, the spotted leopard is an animal being hunted to extinction. Lions are also gradually receding in global population. As a win-win situation for the state, these two animals, if kept in the park, could be fed the meat of the ones overpopulating it. Animal behavouirists say predators usually hunt only weak animals for food, unlike man who kills wild animals indiscriminately. So, why sell off animals that could feed new, exotic ones that can be introduced to the park?

Africa has lost a lot of wildlife to extinction, with the most popular being the Dodo, which became extinct in the 1700s. Others are the Elephant bird which went extinct in the 1600s. Its eggs were one hundred and sixty times larger than chicken eggs and thus attractive to man. The Cape Lion, or black maned lion became extinct due to treasure hunting in the 1850s and the Bubal Hartebeest became extinct in 1923. 

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Several animals are endangered right now. They include the Pangolin, Black Rhinoceros, Ethiopian Wolf, White Rhinoceros, Mountain Gorilla, African Wild Dog, African Penguin, Rothschilds Giraffe, ‎Hooded Vulture, Chimpanzee, Elephants and the Riverine Rabbit among others. From this list, some animals can be introduced into the Sumu Park to create fauna diversity. This enrichment will subsequently invite the curiosity of tourists from all over the world.

A simple example of balancing is to introduce rabbits, which are prolific in birthing, encourage them to multiply ‎hugely for about a year, then introduce a pair of a particular specie of fox that feed on rabbits. As the rabbits move towards overpopulation, the fox feed on them and multiply in number. This is one of the approaches the state government could adopt.

If a serious fauna expansion programme‎ is initiated by the Bauchi State government, funding cannot be a herculean challenge. There are several international conservation organisations that would readily support such an initiative.

Attracting tourists to Sumu Park is also a very good opportunity for Bauchi State to invite venture capitalists to invest in industrial scale agriculture or capitalisation of the state’s inadequately tapped solid minerals value chain.

Selling off wildlife to people, who would probably use them for the appeasement of exotic culinary tastes, could be inimical to selling away a tourism investment opportunity. The state government needs a rethink on this issue and learn to see big opportunities in every challenge.