DIAGRAMA DE CLASES DEL DISEÑO

Hunting is the practice of pursuing animals to capture or kill them for food, recreation or trade in their product¹

It is the occupation of males and from the field study, all the hunters that were interviewed were males and they have not heard of or seen a woman ever going for a hunt. The average length of hunting experience among the hunters was 12.2years (8-16years) and their ages ranges between 20 and 50 years. Furthermore, two groups of hunters were identified as studies from other parts of the country had indicated (Ntiamoa-Baidu 1998, Conservation International 2002 a). These are full time hunters and part time hunters. All the part time hunters interviewed are hunter-farmers and at the same time artisans. They have skills in carpentry, masonry, metalwork (steel bending) and photography. The other group, which is the fulltime hunters, were relatively younger and they engage in group hunting and reside in the Mankessim township. This does not mean that there are no hunter-farmers residing here.

Also group hunting and full time hunters could be found in some surrounding villages Information from the focus group discussion indicated that only two out of the group hunters (15 in number) have acquired informal trade skills and 9 of them have basic level education

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting

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whilst the remaining have no formal education or informal training. It also noticed that hunting was a temporal job and they will stop when they get a “proper” job.

Usually, hunting activities are carried out during the night and early hours of the day. These times are, according to the hunters, conducive because it is when the animals normally come out to eat and perform other social activities. These hunters kill anything they come across and do not take into consideration if the animal is gravid or have young ones.

There are many ways of hunting the world over but the particular type used by a society is dependent on their socio-cultural practices. Five method of hunting in the country have been identified and these are shooting, setting traps and snares, the use of dogs cutlasses and clubs, the use of fire and poisoning of animals. These methods could be used individually or combined for more efficiency. Out of these, only two are legal and approved by the Wildlife Department and these are shooting and the setting of traps (Conservation International 2002 a). Group hunting, night hunting and the use of hunting light are also practices that have been prohibited.

Four of these methods were identified during the field study and these were; shooting, setting traps and snares, the use of dogs, cutlasses and clubs and the use of poison. Hunters do not rely on one method of hunting (for instance shooting alone) but use other methods interchangeably as and when the need arises.

4.2.1 The use of guns

Shooting of animals is one important hunting method. Traditional hunting societies use weapons like spears, bows and arrows and blowguns with poison darts to shoot animals (Marten 2001). With the introduction of firearms by the colonial masters, the use of the shot gun has become one effective mean of hunting.

The gun on the shoulders is one element used in identifying a hunter. All the hunters interviewed use guns in their operation. According to Conservation International (2002 a) the use of guns accounts for 60% of the bushmeat supply on the Ghanaian market. Marten (2001) also explained that the introduction of guns enable hunters to kill as much as they could. All

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these buttress the point that the use of shot guns is the most efficient way of extracting bushmeat

Owning a gun is expensive so is its use in hunting. Guns used by respondents were either inherited from their father, belong to a relative or hired at a fee.

4.2.2 Use of snare

Almost all the hunters interviewed who use guns also use cable snares in trapping animals.

The predominant type of snare is a noose usually set along the trail of animals. There are two types; foot and neck snare. When an animal steps on a pressure pad, it releases a bent over pole which springs up to tighten the noose around the animal leg. This is a foot snare and it is usually used in trapping large animals. The other is the neck snare which captures small animal as they try to pass through the cable noose that is perpendicular to the ground.

Robinson et al (2000) explained that cable snares are widely used in most hunting communities in Africa because they are less expensive to acquire and they also generate higher returns per hunter per day and there fore more suitable for commercial bushmeat production.

4.2.3 The use of dogs cutlass and clubs

In addition to the methods above, the use of dog, cutlass and clubs was also identified as being used by people to hunt in the district. Dogs sniff and track down animals usually rodent animals and lead their master (hunter) to them where they are clubbed, attacked by cutlass or shot at. Hunters who engage in group hunting usually use this method than hunters operating individually. This helps them to cover a wide area in a relatively shorter period since they depend on the dogs to find and retrieve the animals. It also allows the hunters to pursue and kill prey that would otherwise be very difficult or dangerous to hunt. This form of hunting (group) is illegal. According to an official from Conservation International, the use of this method in hunting is not sustainable because young animals are also attacked by the dogs and are often left behind because they will be of no use. Also when animals managed to escape from the grip of the dogs or from the cutlass and club attacks, most of them can not survive the injury. Furthermore, the amount of fauna extracted at a particular time within an area is more than what a hunter operating alone would extract within the same period.

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4.2.4 The use of poisonous chemicals

The use of chemicals to poison animals has been found by Conservation International as the second (32.5%) widely used method of hunting in the country. Locally brewed poisons with indigenous materials and those of foreign imported ones such as that of pesticides are used by hunters. According to the chemical science division of the Ghana Standard Board, an analysis of pesticide residue in both smoked and fresh bush meat in 2002 revealed traces of organophosphorus and organochlorine and carbonate compounds. Their analysis showed that chemicals belonging to the carbonate classes is the predominant due to the widely use of the pesticide Furadan.

Furthermore, information gathered on the field pointed to the fact that, hunters in the district use some amount of chemicals in killing animals. The predominant type used is the traditional one which they claim is not toxic to the human body when the animals are consumed. Conservation International (2002 a) further identified this traditional preparation as the bark of the tree “Nkradadua” grinded and mixed with fermented human urine and broken bottles. These are smeared on food as bait for the animals and they die after eating them. It is difficult to identify animals killed this way on the open market because of the massive campaign against it and the reaction of the consumers. 80% of consumers within the Mankessim Township said they would prefer domesticated animals especially grass cutter because with that they can be sure that chemicals were not used in killing them.

Animals observed on sale by the wholesalers all had open wound on their bodies indicating gunshots or trap wounds. Normally those poisoned do not have any injury on their bodies.

Further investigations revealed that animals killed by poison are later shot in the head before being sold to the wholesalers such that consumers will not be suspicious.