Tradi-Practitioners Against Threats to Wildlife

The sustainable use and management of indigenous medicinal wildlife resources is at the centre of efforts by tradi-practitioners in the North West to exploit wildlife products to save lives without threatening the animals.

That was the focus when tradi-practitioners in the Region joined experts in respective sectors to chart a proper way forward. The event was a seminar to drill trainers of trainers towards a campaign on the sustainable use and management of indigenous wildlife resources.

Participants acknowledged that there is great value in traditional medicine with about 80 per cent of the African populations depending on traditional medicine for healing. This branch of medicine is derived from medicinal plants and medicinal wildlife. It was against this background that Dr Sama Julius of the Regional Delegation of Public Health stressed the need for a lasting base for the branch of traditional medicine. He prescribed better management of the generally scarce medicinal wildlife resources for continuous use.

The workshop featured lessons on the nation's wildlife legislations, preservation of medicinal wildlife products, hygiene in traditional medicine as well as breeding of identified medicinal wildlife species, among others. The Centre for Indigenous Resources Management and Development was to thank for initiating the seminars which also featured suggestions by tradi-practitioners on how medicinal wildlife could be conserved.

It is all about urging the government to encourage and promote the captive breeding of wildlife besides protection, intensification of controls of wildlife species, creation of more Zoos and sanctuaries to take care so that species should not go extinct. It is also about sustainable use and conservation and stopping bush fire and indiscriminate hunting. In a lump sum, the facilitator of the workshop, Liyong Emmanuel Sama stressed the need for preserving medicinal wildlife for a healthier World.