Wildlife Conservation In Kenya

Wildlife Conservation

Conservation is the wise use of the earth by humanity. The term came into use in the late nineteenth century and referred to the management, mainly for economic reasons, of such valuable natural resources. As urban growth expands and natural environments fragment, it is essential to understand the ecological roles fulfilled by urban green spaces. Biodiversity loss continues apace despite these global agreements and conservation actions, and is unlikely to stop any time soon. Wildlife conservation must be maintained to help the earth biodiversity.

Urban growth and natural environments are essential to understand the ecological roles fulfilled by urban green spaces. Mammal diversity has been estimated in city parks, golf

The resource use methods were based on the indigenous people’s cultural understanding and perception of the territorial and social landscape. Some of the indigenous natural resource use plans included pastoralism, shifting cultivation, and hunting and gathering of wild fauna and flora. Pre-colonial Kenyan societies acted upon and modified land through such resource strategies. Recent research on the history of wildlife conservation indicate that most rural Kenyan communities had governing regulations concerning hunting and use of wildlife products. These were community hunting regulations which subsistence hunters were supposed to follow. The killing of animals were perceived as bad omen believed to bring natural disasters, such as drought, famine and disease to the community. Wildlife formed an integral part of the socio-cultural experience of pre-colonial Kenyan communities. Wildlife featured in various indigenous cultural activities and routines. Different Kenyan communities had animals that were recognized as community totems and were held in high esteem, and were protected from wanton destruction. These were animals which symbolized a clan or local community, and this had ritualistic or religious value to the community. Animals which were totems among Kenyan communities such as Kikuyu, Maasai, Meru, Gusii, and cheetahs. In most rural communities were an important

There are now thirteen national parks and twenty-four reserves which cover about ten percent of the country. The national parks are exclusive state protected lands and are managed entirely for the conservation of wildlife, where areas national reserves are created on any type of land, and usually, with the consent of local authority. “These parks have become important centers of tourism attraction. Tourism has become Kenya’s leading source of foreign exchange. As is the case with most Third World countries, the conservation of wildlife and the development of wildlife-based tourism in Kenya is greatly influenced by Western cultural and environmental values (Akama p.109).” Since, in hunting, the act of killing is momentary compared with coming close to the animal in its own environment, the recreational hunter has always been concerned more with the perpetuation of species as a whole than with the artificial propagation of remnant individuals in zoos. The hunter knows that habitat preservation is central to the preservation of his own well-being. Reiger says “sportsmen were among the first to perceive that an arboretum doth not a forest make, and wild creatures in a zoo are no longer