The Welfare of Wildlife in Captivity: Gorillas Enclosure Hygiene in Limbe Zoological Garden, Southwest Region, Cameroon (Published)
Captive management of wildlife species is important in the tropics, where their population is alarmingly reducing due to poaching and habitat loss. Achieving this goal needs hygiene priority to the animal enclosures in the zoos, for animals and humans health safety reasons. However, zoo management standards need to be based more on zoo-wildlife-enclosure hygiene. Hence, the main objective of this study was to examine some areas of gorilla enclosures in Limbe zoological garden, commonly called Limbe Wildlife Center. After a brief feasibility study was done, research data collection program was launched and executed for a period of four months, each day from 8: am-5: pm. Results have shown that hygiene of the zoo enclosures is significant X2 = 30.459 df=6 P=0.000, X2 = 9.642 df=9 P<0.05, X2 = 6.827 df=6 P<0.05, and X2 = 4.964 df=3 P<0.05 on enclosure floor types, gorilla position in enclosures, physical appearance of gorillas, reaction of gorillas during tourist influx respectively. Environmental hygiene is the source of good health and health safety, therefore, there is need for it to be given preventive attention. More so, the study has shown that gorilla enclosures in the zoo are clean 43%, while other ratings were recorded on wet enclosures 31%, dry enclosures 26%, and dirty enclosures 15% respectively. Nevertheless, a 15% rating on dirty zoo enclosures is relatively high for animal and humans to strive safely and healthily. Enclosures with different floor descriptions, concrete 39%, grass-cover 36%, and bare-ground 25% respectively were very useful to the social activities of all the gorillas. Furthermore, food type recorded a significance on hygiene of gorilla enclosures, X2 = 28.407 df=15 P=0.019. Though, the zoo management is seemingly over-stretched due to the zoo-shut-down strategy adopted during the advent of covid-19, hygiene priority is still not optional. The in-service training of zoo workers is another goal to achieve conservation success in recent time due to the alarming rate of wildlife population decline in the wild. Hence, captive wildlife management and breeding have been resorted to for population increase. Collaborative management of wildlife species and their population is a conservation recommendation that would produce positive results in countries like Cameroon.
Keywords: Activities, Gorillas, Grass-cover, Hygiene, Wildlife, Zoo-enclosures