Okavango Carnivore Conservation

Category: Conservation issues | Date: Jun 16 2008 | By: okavangocarnivores

Livestock depredation by carnivores has a major impact on the livestock farming industry and has resulted in conflict with humans. The government of Botswana has made efforts to provide compensation for livestock losses due to predators. Regardless, most livestock owners continue to kill the perpetrators. A predator-livestock survey was conducted two years ago by some of our research colleagues and it was apparent that there is huge loss of livestock (people’s investment) due to carnivore depredation. The survey was focusing on the impact of carnivore species (with emphasis on lion, leopard, cheetah, spotted hyaena and African wild dog) on domestic livestock on neighboring farming areas.

How will we know status of the carnivore population in the country?  Understanding their general ecology is crucial for their conservation. It is for this reason that the Botswana Predator Conservation Program (BPCP) research team works, in collaboration with the government of Botswana, in carnivore management by providing scientific information through extensive research. Monitoring carnivore numbers is difficult, time consuming and expensive. We are introducing the spoor count technique as the most effective and easy tool to assess carnivore distribution and population trends in Botswana. We have been conducting the spoor survey in various habitats of the Okavango area. The Large Carnivore Spoor Sampling (LCSC) project involves and collaborates with work of other participating researchers in the BPCP project. Continued monitoring of population will be important because severe predator conflict and their population decline can be identified and management strategies can be applied.

Carnivore conflict is a critical issue, therefore, predator conservation needs active involvement of the stake holders (communities, farmers, hunting safaris, tour operators, etc). It is our mission to sensitize and inform people,  especially communities living close to the wildlife areas to be aware of the importance of large carnivore, and to advice them  with solutions or provide management tools they may need to reduce the carnivore conflict. This is our future goal, but unfortunately our efforts are often limited due to financial constraints.

See www.bpctrust.org  for more information on BPCP research projects

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