When we talk about eating meat, the types of meat that come to mind are beef, turkey, chicken, pork and lamb. These are the favorite of most families and are widely available throughout the country.
However, there is a category of meat – game meat that is scarcely available in restaurants and meat shop but a popular delicacy amongst most African families.
Game meat is the flesh of non-domesticated free-ranging and farm-raised wild animals and birds that are either legally hunted for personal consumption or reared, slaughtered and commercially sold for food.
Game species include Buffalo, Antelope, Wild Boar, Snake, Alligator, Rabbit, Squirrel, Hare, African giant rat, Grasscutter and birds such as Quail, Bat, Duck, Geese, Guinea fowl, and Pheasants.
Game meat is lean and lower in fat and cholesterol than most red meats and is a good source of protein, vitamin, and minerals such as iron and zinc among others.
Game meat from the wild though delicious and most desired over farmed game have in recent times posed a lot of risk on the health of its consumers as well as those (hunters and marketers) exposed to it. It has been found to be a rich source of emerging zoonosis (diseases transmitted from animals to man and vice versa) due to their ability to be the reservoir host as well as vectors of those infectious agents. Such infections include Brucellosis, Anthrax, Bird flu, Ebola, Hepatitis E, Ringworm, Tuberculosis, Swine flu, Toxoplasmosis, and Rabies.
Today these sayings “Health is wealth and You are what you eat” has made eating game from the wild a thing of global interest over its alleged nutritional benefits in the face of emerging diseases. Farm reared game animals are a good replacement for wild game.
Game animals when farmed are a good source of protein to subsistent backyard farmers and profitable business for farmers on a commercial production scale. In the face of economic recession, alternative source of income like game animal farming will help all and sundry to thrive under the harsh economic trend.
Game animal farming has several benefits compared to the game animal from the wild but there are still a lot of hunters who prefer hunting for game meat in the wild despite the numerous risk involved. This can be attributed to lack of proper sensitization.
Game animals that can be farmed in Nigeria include Rabbit, Grasscutter, Cane Rat, Antelope, Duck, Guinea fowl, Quail etc.