Hippos, Black Rhinos May be Going Extinct in the Country

An environmentalist has raised a startling alarm over what appears to be the apparent extinction of some wildlife species such as hippopotamus and black rhinoceros in the country.
Mr Oludotun Babayemi revealed this Abuja Monday as on the occasion of World Wildlife Day. He urged governments at all levels to take real measures to prevent endangered species from extinction. The environmentalist said that all wildlife should be cherished because of their contribution to the economy, tourism and personal well-being.
“Conserving wildlife can generate revenue for the country; if you look at Kenya, it generates one billion dollars for the country annually. So, Nigeria should learn from that country. We should create awareness on the need to conserve these species and stop killing them; those animals are supposed to be appreciated and used for recreation.
“In fact, their contribution to well-being is so immense that human beings cannot do without them; they are used as food, medicine, recreation and for economic purposes, among others.’’
Babayemi, the Country Director of Worldwide Fund for Nature, an NGO, urged governments at all levels to create awareness on the illegality of poaching. The environmentalist said education and awareness campaigns should be taken to both primary and secondary schools for students to embrace wildlife conservation.
“We need to do more on awareness creation because if we do not conserve these wildlife, what do we want to show to our future generation?,” he asked.
The United Nations has set aside March 3 as World Wildlife Day (WWD) every year, to create awareness on the escalating crisis of wildlife poaching. The inaugural WWD kicked off on Monday with events around the world, drawing attention to illicit wildlife trade estimated to be 19 billion dollars.
March 3 is significant in creating awareness on the conservation of Wildlife as it was the day in 1973 when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was opened for signature and it entered into force on July 1, 1975.
The CITES Convention is aimed at ensuring that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild.
(NAN)
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