AN ANALYSIS OF LANDSCAPE CHARACTERISTICS INFLUENCING LIVESTOCK DEPREDATION BY LIONS, HYENAS, AND LEOPARDS IN LOIBOR SIRET, TANZANIA
Abstract
The African lion has declined precipitously across its entire range from nearly 500,000
in the early 1900s to roughly 35,000 individuals today. While a multitude of factors
contributes to the lions’ decline, conflict with traditional pastoralists is one of
the gravest threats. Lions, hyenas and leopards opportunistically prey on livestock
including cattle, donkeys, goats, and sheep in pastoral regimes. However, lions are
disproportionately blamed for livestock depredation and are common targets in retaliatory
killings in many communities. Several NGOs including the African People & Wildlife
Fund are finding ways to minimize predation incidences and thereby reduce retaliatory
killings. Strategies such as corral fortification have reduced predation events within
the homestead, however, a significant percentage of attacks are at the pasture. Using
54 months of carnivore/livestock conflict data in the Maasai Steppe of Tanzania, I
assess the influence of landscape features to characterize the risk of predation at
the pasture. By identifying factors contributing to greater predation risk, strategies
to mitigate attacks at pasture can be designed. This way, herders will have greater
capacity to protect their primary source of wealth and can better co-exist with predators.
I found that proximity to bomas (corrals) is the most relevant landscape feature explaining
the likelihood of attack across all three carnivores. After accounting for boma proximity,
no other variable contributes a significant explanatory role, and attacks cannot be
accounted for by landscape features alone. Fifty-three percent of all pasture predation
occurs at night. Of these, roughly 71% occur on lost livestock. This study suggests
that “lost livestock” represents an area of further research. After, the initiation
of the Living Walls corral fortification program, boma predation declined by over
ninety percent. Pasture predation also declines, though the causal mechanism is unclear.
This study shows that environmental characteristics may be less important than social
or behavioral characteristics of the herders in determining livestock predation at
pasture.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/5374Citation
Baraso, Sam (2012). AN ANALYSIS OF LANDSCAPE CHARACTERISTICS INFLUENCING LIVESTOCK DEPREDATION BY LIONS,
HYENAS, AND LEOPARDS IN LOIBOR SIRET, TANZANIA. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/5374.Collections
More Info
Show full item record
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Rights for Collection: Nicholas School of the Environment
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info