Assessment Of Rodent Pest Diversity, Residents’ Perception And Management Strategies In Jimma Town, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

The study focused on assessment of rodent pest diversity, residents’ perception and management strategies in Jimma town, South West Ethiopia. Among the mammalian orders, Rodentia contains the largest number of species and they account for nearly 44% of the mammal species. They comprise 26 orders, 29 families, 443 genera and more than 2000 species. This study was conducted to assess the rodent pest diversity, residents’ perception and management strategies in six selected kebeles of Jimma town. Representative kebeles and householders/residents were selected, using a random sampling technique. Rodent pest diversity survey was carried out from March, 2019 to July, 2019 during both dry and wet seasons. Rodents were collected using live and snap traps procedure from representative households in selected kebeles of Jimma town. A total of 162 rodents and insectivores (live traps) and 30 (snap traps) were captured from representative kebeles residents’ house. Two rodent and two insectivore species were identified. The relative abundance of Rattus rattus,Mus musculus, Crocidura fumosa ,and Crocidura flavescens was 46.94%, 40.7%,8.2%and 4.32%,respectively. Majority of respondents believed that the people can catch diseases from mice and rats. Respondents know that dirtiness of the house environment, housing structural defects, high housing density, proximity of the houses to dumping sites and refuse bins facilitate the diversity of rodent pests and poor house management habits favor rodent pest proliferation contribute for the abundance of rodent pests were identified. The highest number of rodents were trapped in Bacho Bore kebele and the least numbers of rodents were caught in Hora Gibe. Strategies adopted by respondents to control rodent pests using traps (live and snap), environmental hygiene, use poison, block all rat hideouts, biological control and periodic fumigation were identified. Jimma town municipality should give required services in avoiding the solid waste in the appropriate place where the disposal should be properly handled.