Figure 6 : Irgaansa Kebele settlements in Nech Sar National Park (Photo by Yacob Kassa, 2018)
The local people living adjacent to the Nech Sar National Park replied that there was illegal hunting practice on most mammals for the purpose of feeding and to utilize them for disease resistance. Previously, the poaching activities of mammals particularly Warthog, Grant’s gazelle, the Greater kudu, and Lesser kudu were the most common in the park. This occurs especially in the site of the Guji people area. The local hunters kill a large number of Warthog for tuberculosis disease resistance. Since the people was a pastoralist, the mammal′s Grants gazelle, the Greater kudu, and Lesser kudu were killed for their food purpose during the study period (Table 4). According to the witness obtained from the park experts and archives, poaching and illegal wildlife trade activities in and around the park as well as the unwise use of natural resources have been the major problems facing the Park area, and have led to the extinction of some mammalian fauna species (e.g.; the endangered endemic subspecies of Swayne hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei ) was locally extinct due to the reason of illegal hunting in the park during the past few years).
Table 4: Number of killed animals during the study period in NSNP