Pest Rodent Species Composition, Level of Damage and Mechanism of control in Eastern Ethiopia

The assessment on the current information on the species composition of pest rodents and the local communities' perception on their pest status was carried out in Dire Dawa Administration from March 2010 to September 2011. Stratified and multistage random sampling techniques were used to sample representative villages (urban and rural) and respondents (n=150). Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered through trapping, observation, questionnaire and interview. The collected data were tabulated and organized and appropriate statistical analysis like frequency distribution, percentage and chi-square test were used. For the survey of species composition and relative abundance of pest rodents Sherman live-traps and snap traps were set in the selected standardized and variable trapping grids. Five hundred and nine new individual rodents were captured from the trap nights of 986 Sherman live-traps and 130 snap traps. Twelve species of pest rodents were recorded of which eight were trapped and the four were observed in the study grids. The present result revealed as rodents were the most noxious pests causing substantial damage to agricultural crops, household items and human health through different mechanisms like feeding, discomforting, contaminating and mechanical damage and disease transmission. Techniques like using cat, hunting and trapping, rodenticides and field sanitations were frequently used. The present records of high pest rodent species composition not only indicate as the area is highly infested but it also indicates the existence of a high stock of rodent species diversity that requires an immediate development and application of ecological based rodent pest management strategy.