......................................................................................................................................... iv List of tables .................................................................................................................................. vii List of figures ................................................................................................................................ vii List of abbreviations .................................................................................................................... viii 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1Background ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Justification ........................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Objectives and hypotheses .................................................................................................... 3 2.0 Material and Methods ............................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Study species ......................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Study area description ........................................................................................................... 7 3.0 Data collection .......................................................................................................................... 8 3.1 Data analysis ....................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 Respondents’ demographic information ............................................................................. 10 4.0 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 11 4.1 Local people knowledge of topi .......................................................................................... 11 4.2 Local people perception on Topi presence/absence in their areas ...................................... 11 4.3. Consumption of topi meat .................................................................................................. 12 4.4 Illegal hunting methods ....................................................................................................... 12 4.5 Origin of Poachers ............................................................................................................... 14 5.0 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 16 5.1 Knowledge of topi ............................................................................................................... 16 5.2 Local people perception on topi presence/absence in their areas ........................................ 17 5.3 Consumption of topi meat ................................................................................................... 17