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Study area and interview locations (n = 92). The black patch on the inset indicates the position of the study area in South Africa
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Reducing human-carnivore conflict may provide conservation, social and economic benefits, but designing suitable mitigation activities requires information regarding underlying anthropogenic and environmental determinants. To obtain those data, we interviewed game and livestock farmers in Limpopo province, South Africa from March to August 2011. We...
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Context 1
... study was conducted in the UNESCO Waterberg Biosphere Reserve and surrounding areas of the Waterberg District Municipality (hereafter collectively termed 'the Water- berg') in Limpopo Province, South Africa (Fig. 1). The terrain within the 4,174 km 2 Biosphere Reserve consists mainly of rolling hills, but includes the Waterberg Mountain range. Elevation is from 808 to 2,100 m and annual rainfall is between 600 and 900 mm ( de Klerk 2003). The Waterberg is within the savanna biome and sour and mixed bushveld vegetation types predominate ( de Klerk ...
Context 2
... obtain information on human-carnivore conflict, we visited farmers throughout the Waterberg between March 2011 and August 2011. We interviewed 92 people who were responsible for the management of 95 farms (Fig. 1). Initial respondents were recruited at local farming forums and further contacts were supplied by each participant. With a refusal rate of 8 %, non-response bias was assumed to be minimal. All but one of our respondents were white, reflecting typical land tenure patterns in South African commercial farms ( Tladi et al. 2002). As in Marker et al. 2003, we considered white farmers to be a homogeneous group and therefore assumed our respondents to be approximately repre- sentative of the wider population of farmers in the study area. While not inherently , this assumption could not be verified as there are no available reference sta- tistics for land ownership by ethnic group. Our interpretation of the wider effects of conflict therefore remains ...
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Abstract
The Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), has disappeared in major parts of its mountainous habitats in west Asia.Asiatic cheetah is a critically endangered subspecies currently found only in central Iran. In this study, the feeding habits of Asiatic cheetah was investigated in two reserves in central Iran. Diet and prey selection...
Citations
... Predation by large carnivores is often perceived as the primary threat in various regions (e.g., Van Eeden et al., 2018), leading to the promotion of eradication campaigns for these carnivores, as in the following examples. This has led to several species' extinction locally in Europe and North America, including wolves and bears (Thorn et al., 2013;Smith et al., 2014). In Africa and Asia, these tensions have placed constant pressure on lion, cheetah, leopard, and African wild dog populations (Thorn et al., 2013). ...
... This has led to several species' extinction locally in Europe and North America, including wolves and bears (Thorn et al., 2013;Smith et al., 2014). In Africa and Asia, these tensions have placed constant pressure on lion, cheetah, leopard, and African wild dog populations (Thorn et al., 2013). Similar scenarios are observed in South America with pumas, jaguars (Palmeira et al., 2008), and wild foxes owing to potential sheep predation (Zambra et al., 2022). ...
... Human-wildlife dimension studies have been receiving particular attention (especially in recent years) in Europe and North America (e.g. Thorn et al. 2013, Smith et al. 2014, Franchini et al. 2021a), Latin America (e.g. Soto-Shoender & Main 2013, Guerisoli et al. 2017, and Asia (e.g. ...
... Kafley et al. 2019) and rely on the available livestock species. So, although these results could seem counterintuitive (see Holmern et al. 2007, Bhattarai & Kindlmann 2012, Thorn et al. 2013, we believe that case scenarios should be considered. For instance, on a local scale, Kafley et al. (2019) found that the intraguild interaction between tigers and leopards was mainly modulated by the abundance of natural prey and anthropic disturbances (i.e. ...
In coexisting carnivorans (Carnivora) relying on the same food resources, the dominant species imposes a cost on the inferior competitor by limiting its foraging ability. Tigers Panthera tigris and leopards Panthera pardus live in sympatry in most Asian countries and, because of their similar trophic niche, ‘interference competition’ may exist between these two predators. In fact, since tigers generally occupy prime habitats, leopards could be forced to roam into peripheral areas that are heavily used by humans to avoid competition, consequently increasing the risk of human‐leopard conflicts.
Using information collected from the reviewed scientific literature, the purposes of this work were: 1) to assess if livestock predation by leopards increases in areas of coexistence with tigers, and 2) to characterise leopard attacks on livestock to discern the main factors involved in the human‐leopard conflict.
Our findings showed that the leopard's ‘overall’ livestock predation rate (i.e. individuals taken/year) was higher in the absence of tigers than in their presence, and the same was observed for the ‘sheep and goat’ predation rate. These results confirm the leopard's tendency to take livestock and, especially, smaller prey. Conversely, the ‘cattle’ and ‘other’ predation rates were higher in the presence of tigers than in their absence, suggesting the existence of a sort of spatial segregation between predators in certain contexts. Lower levels of predation by leopards were observed on farms in which more prevention measures were used, than in those in which only one measure was implemented.
We stress the importance of using proper prevention measures to mitigate human‐leopard conflicts. However, because their implementation may not be easy or economically feasible, the financial support given by carnivoran‐policy makers assumes remarkable importance to minimise the economic impact on local families and, in turn, to foster the coexistence between leopards and humans in shared landscapes.
... Examples include the killing of canids, felids or mustelids to mitigate their predation on farmed animals (e.g. Thorn et al. 2013), or the killing of ungulates, macropods, birds or rodents to mitigate their competition for farmed plants (e.g. Flores 2016;Clark et al. 2018;du Plessis et al. 2018;Somers et al. 2018). ...
Killing animals has been a ubiquitous human behaviour throughout history, yet it is becoming increasingly controversial and criticised in some parts of contemporary human society. Here we review 10 primary reasons why humans kill animals, discuss the necessity (or not) of these forms of killing, and describe the global ecological context for human killing of animals. Humans historically and currently kill animals either directly or indirectly for the following reasons: (1) wild harvest or food acquisition, (2) human health and safety, (3) agriculture and aquaculture, (4) urbanisation and industrialisation, (5) invasive, overabundant or nuisance wildlife control, (6) threatened species conservation, (7) recreation, sport or entertainment, (8) mercy or compassion, (9) cultural and religious practice, and (10) research, education and testing. While the necessity of some forms of animal killing is debatable and further depends on individual values, we emphasise that several of these forms of animal killing are a necessary component of our inescapable involvement in a single, functioning, finite, global food web. We conclude that humans (and all other animals) cannot live in a way that does not require animal killing either directly or indirectly, but humans can modify some of these killing behaviours in ways that improve the welfare of animals while they are alive, or to reduce animal suffering whenever they must be killed. We encourage a constructive dialogue that (1) accepts and permits human participation in one enormous global food web dependent on animal killing and (2) focuses on animal welfare and environmental sustainability. Doing so will improve the lives of both wild and domestic animals to a greater extent than efforts to avoid, prohibit or vilify human animal-killing behaviour.
... The low density of cheetah populations means they are particularly sensitive to habitat loss and fragmentation, which represent an over-arching threat to cheetah (IUCN SSC 2007, 2012, 2015Durant 2017). Moreover, cheetah living outside protected areas face threats from conflict with livestock and game farmers (Marker et al. 2003a, Inskip & Zimmermann 2009, Thorn et al. 2013, Dickman et al. 2014). Grazing competition with livestock and unsustainable bushmeat extraction reduces prey populations (Lindsey et al. 2013, Ripple et al. 2016, with serious consequences for cheetah population viability. ...
The recent IUCN Red List Assessment of the cheetah Acinonyx jubatus demonstrated evidence of ongoing and increasing threats to cheetah due to rapid anthropogenic change across the species range. While the overall category of threat for the species remained as Vulnerable, the species is approaching the category Endangered. More-over, a large proportion of the cheetah population (67%) occurs on unprotected land and is exposed to elevated threats, yet is largely unmonitored. We therefore recommended that the Cheetah be designated a “Species under Observation”. This designation requires ongoing close monitoring of the status of the cheetah, with a reassessment after a minimum three-year period or as soon as new information emerges. Given the rising human pressures on the African continent, the next few decades will be challenging for the survival of cheetahs. Regular assessments and ongoing monitoring are needed to identify dangerous declines and provide an impetus for conservation interventions to rescue small and vulnerable populations.
... Leopards (Panthera pardus) are large carnivores with elusive habits and secretive behaviour, and are therefore difficult to count (Bailey 1993;Stander 1998;Balme et al. 2009a). Leopard distribution has shrunk across its range (Jacobson et al. 2016), due to the depletion of natural prey (Datta et al. 2008;Athreya et al. 2014), lethal removal due to real or perceived human-leopard conflict (Ray et al. 2005;Thorn et al. 2013;Swanepoel et al. 2015), unsustainable hunting practices (Lindsey et al. 2006;Packer et al. 2009;Gray and Prum 2012;Braczkowski et al. 2015), habitat loss and landscape fragmentation (Henschel et al. 2008;Jacobson et al. 2016). As a consequence, the leopard status in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recently been up-listed from "Near Threatened" to "Vulnerable" . ...
In Namibia, leopards (Panthera pardus) are widely distributed, used commercially as trophy animals and are often persecuted for perceived or real predation on livestock and valuable game species outside protected areas. Therefore, leopard populations living in protected areas might be important source populations and for maintaining connectivity. Little data on their population sizes and densities are available from the northern part of the country, particularly from protected areas. Here, we estimated leopard densities using a spatial capture-recapture approach in northern Namibia: (i) the Khaudum National Park (KNP) in northeast Namibia with an annual average rainfall of 450 mm and (ii) the Lower Hoanib River (LHR) in northwest Namibia with an annual average rainfall of 25 mm. With an effort of 2430 and 2074 camera trap nights in the KNP and LHR, respectively, 11 adult female and six adult male leopards were identified in the KNP, whilst only one adult female leopard was detected once in the LHR. For the KNP, a maximum likelihood approach (using the package SECR) revealed a density estimate of 2.74 leopards/100 km 2 , whereas a Bayesian approach (using the package SPACECAP) revealed a density estimate of 1.83 leopards/100 km 2. For the LHR, no density estimate could be determined and it is suggested that the leopard density in such an arid environment is low. These are the first leopard density estimates based on camera trap surveys provided for these protected areas and thus of importance for further monitoring programs to understand leopard population dynamics. We discuss our findings with current habitat changes and conservation measures in both study areas.
... The majority of Cheetah resident range (77%) and most of the Cheetah population (67%) are found on unprotected land . Cheetah living outside protected areas are often threatened by conflict with livestock and game farmers (Marker et al. 2003a, Inskip and Zimmermann 2009, Thorn et al. 2013, Dickman et al. 2014. While Cheetah tend to prefer wild prey over livestock, they may kill livestock in some circumstances and can be killed by farmers either in retaliation to depredation or to prevent livestock loss (Marker et al. 2003a, Dickman et al. 2014. ...
... Humans intentionally kill carnivores using a variety of methods and tools, including stoning (Farrington and Tsering, 2019;Parchizadeh and Belant, 2021), trapping (Carter et al., 2017), poison (St. John et al., 2012;Carter et al., 2017), herding dogs , or most commonly, firearms (Thorn et al., 2013;Parchizadeh and Belant, 2021). Since humans are capable of efficiently killing wildlife using these tools, human-caused mortality represents a primary conservation concern for many species linked to conflicts (Liberg et al., 2012;Gantchoff et al., 2020;Parchizadeh and Belant, 2021). ...
Humans are responsible for over a quarter of all wildlife mortality events across the globe. The pressure this puts on wildlife populations contributes to the decline of many at-risk species. To minimize human-caused mortality and reverse population declines in species across the world, we first need to know where these events are happening or likely to occur since managers and public agencies often have limited resources to devote to a problem. As such, our objective was to develop a modeling approach to delineate human-caused wildlife mortality hotspots in regions with limited data. We used internet search engines and national media to collect data on brown bear (Ursus arctos) mortality events in Iran from 2004 to 2019. We then developed a spatially-explicit Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) model using anthropogenic and environmental variables to predict the probability of human-caused brown bear mortality. We were able to delineate 7,000 km2 as human-caused mortality hotspots, along with the geographical locations of those hotspots. This provides information that can help identify where critical conflict mitigation efforts need to be implemented to reduce the potential for human-caused wildlife mortality. However, more targeted studies such as surveys of local people will be needed inside hotspots identified with this methodology to assess the attitudes of humans toward different wildlife species, informing the specific mitigation actions that will need to be made. Finally, we suggest that media data can be used to identify these hotspots in regions where systematic data is lacking.
... To reduce predation on livestock, farmers often resort to lethal management (Thorn et al., 2013;Treves & Karanth, 2003), which may disrupt social structures resulting in predators compensating reproductively by having higher proportions of young breeders and larger litter sizes (Haber, 1996;Minnie, Gaylard et al., 2016). Disrupting social structures in territorial species may also create vacant spaces which facilitates compensatory immigration (Minnie, Zalewski, et al., 2018;Pulliam, 1988). ...
... latrans;Knowlton et al., 1999) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes; Kierepka et al., 2017)], jackals show physiological and behavioural flexibility to local conditions (e.g. compensatory reproduction and immigration (Minnie, Gaylard et al., 2016;Minnie, Zalewski, et al., 2018)), resulting in lethal management having little effect on jackal densities (Thorn et al., 2013). ...
Globally, levels of human–wildlife conflict are increasing as a direct consequence of the expansion of people into natural areas resulting in competition with wildlife for food and other resources. By being forced into increasingly smaller pockets of suitable habitat, many animal species are at risk of becoming susceptible to loss of genetic diversity, inbreeding depression and the associated inability to adapt to environmental changes. Predators are often lethally controlled due to their threat to livestock. Predators such as jackals (black backed, golden and side striped; Canis mesomelas, C. aureus and C. adustus, respectively), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and coyotes (C. latrans) are highly adaptable and may respond to ongoing persecution through compensatory reproduction such as reproducing at a younger age, producing larger litters and/or compensatory immigration including dispersal into vacant territories. Despite decades of lethal management, jackals are problematic predators of livestock in South Africa and, although considered a temporary measure, culling of jackals is still common. Culling may affect social groups, kinship structure, reproductive strategies and sex‐biased dispersal in this species. Here, we investigated genetic structure, variation and relatedness of 178 culled jackals on private small‐livestock farms in the central Karoo of South Africa using 13 microsatellites. Genetic variation was moderate to high and was similar per year and per farm. An absence of genetic differentiation was observed based on STRUCTURE, principal component analysis and AMOVA. Relatedness was significantly higher within farms (r = 0.189) than between farms (r = 0.077), a result corroborated by spatial autocorrelation analysis. We documented 18 occurrences of dispersal events where full siblings were detected on different farms (range: 0.78–42.93 km). Distance between identified parent–offspring varied from 0 to 36.49 km. No evidence for sex‐biased dispersal was found. Our results suggest that in response to ongoing lethal management, this population is most likely able to maintain genetic diversity through physiological and behavioural compensation mechanisms.
... Outlook: human-carnivore conflict management interventions in sub-Saharan African context HCC, particularly over livestock depredation is arguably one of the most pressing conservation issues across sub-Saharan Africa, including Tanzania (Hemson et al. 2009);Kissui 2008a;Thorn et al. 2013;Woodroffe et al. 2005). Apart from the direct economic costs (i.e., costs of livestock depredation) which are relatively easy to quantify, local communities living alongside large carnivores also incur indirect economic costs through investment in damage control strategies. ...
As human populations grow and natural habitat shrinks, conflicts between humans and large carnivores are inevitable. Thus, effective interventions for mitigating or preventing human-carnivore conflicts are necessary for promoting coexistence. Despite extensive efforts by researchers to address the human-carnivore conflict in Tanzania, there have been no attempts to review the potential mitigation and preventative interventions in the region. A systematic review of 43 scientific literature published between 2000 and 2020 was conducted using Science Direct, Wiley Online Library and Google Scholar search engines to evaluate the current status and research trends of human-carnivore conflict management in Tanzania. This literature review also identified the most commonly recommended conflict mitigation and preventative interventions, and generated management recommendations. Results showed that research on human-carnivore conflict management is deeply biased, where most studies were conducted in the northern region of Tanzania. Most studies recommended preventative interventions (54%), followed by community interventions (30%) and a few mitigation interventions studies (16%). Only two articles included in this review evaluated the effectiveness of interventions. Overall results showed that the most recommended preventative intervention was fortified bomas (20 publications), while the most recommended mitigation intervention was ecotourism benefit-sharing schemes (9 publications) and the most recommended community intervention was community education and awareness (21 publications). Therefore, an integrated approach that combines livestock management strategies (e.g., promoting the use of fortified bomas); community interventions (e.g., increasing community conservation awareness and education) and equitable ecotourism benefit-sharing with park-adjacent communities should be adopted to address human-carnivore conflict in the region.
... Most were at the reserve site level, including the Phinda-Mkhuze complex, KwaZulu-Natal (Balme, Slotow & Hunter, 2009), Baviaanskloof, Eastern Cape (Minnie, Boshoff & Kerley, 2015) and the Greater Kruger Area, Limpopo/Mpumalanga (Lagendijk & Gusset, 2008;Anthony, 2007;Anthony, Scott & Antypas, 2010). Two studies were conducted at the provincial level (Thorn, Green, Dalerum, Bateman & Scott, 2012;Thorn, Green, Scott & Marnewick, 2013), both involved free-ranging populations of leopards (Panthera pardus), cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) and brown hyaenas (Parahyaena brunnea). While some reserves in the provincial studies were possible reintroduction sites, this was not reported, but it is likely that these represented relict populations. ...
Human-wildlife conflicts may be unintended consequences of conservation successes and rewilding, and could be exacerbated where baselines around biodiversity have shifted. Mediating conflict is a conservation priority due to its socio-economic impacts and the consequences negative perceptions have for conservation outcomes. We document locally novel emergent conflict following reintroductions of large carnivores to fenced reserves in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Interviews with managers of reserves (reintroduction sites) and adjacent properties show that reintroduced carnivores escaped from eight reserves (62%) and were recorded on 68 neighbouring properties (37%). Since large carnivore reintroductions began in 1996, 75 associated conflict events were reported. This conflict was not evenly distributed, spatially or economically. Effective, evidence-based mitigation strategies are needed to ensure the continued success of conservation actions. Neighbours and policymakers should be primed for such lifted baselines, specifically reflecting the natural state of these reintroduced predators in their landscapes. Specifically these conflicts should be anticipated and included in the planning early on in the reintroduction adaptive management process. Conflict mitigation strategies for reintroductions should include lifting baselines to manage perceptions around recovering wildlife populations or face the prospects of re-extirpation associated with conflict-motivated retaliation.
