Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceptions of Local Communities Towards Consumptive Wildlife Utilization in Shompole Group Ranch

Abstract

The controversial practice of consumptive wildlife use involves hunting wild animals to acquire a trophy, often a part of the animal's body to showcase the accomplishment. Proponents argue that trophy hunting can benefit the local economy and support conservation efforts, while critics emphasize the ethical concerns and potential threats to wildlife populations. Due to the limited information on consumptive wildlife use, research was needed to understand the attitudes,perception, and knowledge of local communities about this practice. The general objective of the study was to assess the knowledge; attitude and perception of local communities towards consumptive wildlife utilization, a controversial topic often debated wildlife conservation practice in Shompole Group Ranch. Specific objectives of the study were the influence of socio-demographic factors towards consumptive wildlife utilization in SGR and the potential for sustainable consumptive wildlife utilization in Shompole Group Ranch. The null hypothesis for the study states that there`s no significant association between the level of education of the local communities and their attitude towards consumptive wildlife utilization. The study used a descriptive study design involving both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. The study employed a combination of systematic and simple random sampling techniques to gather data from households in three sub-locations selected that is Oloika, Pakase and Shompole sub-location. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis and later recorded in themes. Quantitative data analysis involved descriptive analysis (frequency distributions) and cross-tabulation with chi-square to determine statistically significant associations between level of education and attitude. The results of this study revealed that the majority of the respondents were somewhat knowledgeable 37.9% (110) on matters of wildlife conservation but were not knowledgeable at all 56.6% (164) concerning consumptive wildlife utilization and were also not familiar at all 64.5% (187) with consumptive wildlife utilization practice in the area. On the attitude of the local communities towards consumptive wildlife utilization, the majority of the respondents 74.1% were against the idea of allowing both domestic and international hunters into the area. The overall attitude from the data collected indicated that the 44.5% of respondents, which is in majority, expressed a very negative attitude. The Chi-Square test was used to test the significant association between the level of education of the local communities and their attitude towards consumptive wildlife utilization. The chi-square statistic x2 is greater than alpha 0.05, therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected, indicating that the level of education significantly influences the attitude of the local communities. The result of the chi-square test indicates that socio-demographic factors had an association with the attitude of the local communities towards consumptive wildlife utilization. Notably, gender, age, level of education and tribe had a statistically significant association with the attitude of the local communities towards consumptive wildlife utilization at p< 0.05. Furthermore, the duration of stay and sub-location of the respondents were statistically significantly linked to the attitude at p<0.05 (0.000). The perception varied on the problematic animals mentioned as a majority of the respondents didn`t want lions hunted but advocated for the hunting of hyenas and baboons. However, a majority of the respondents 45.2% believe that ordinary people should have the most influence on what happens to wildlife. Insight qualitative data revealed a negative attitude towards consumptive wildlife utilization perceiving the entire practice as unethical and against cultural norms and advocating for hunting of specific wild animals such as hyena and baboons which have been a nuisance and have no value since KWS doesn`t compensate for the damages caused by them. This study concludes that knowledge influences the attitude of the local people towards consumptive wildlife utilization. The findings of this study recommend that education and awareness should be prioritized to increase public understanding of the ecological and socio-economic as well as limitations of consumptive wildlife utilization.