IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
| Lamarque, F.; Anderson, J.; Fergusson, R.; Lagrange, M.; Osei-Owusu, Y.; Bakker, L. | |
| Human-wildlife conflict in Africa | |
| 2009 Full Book | |
This review focuses on Africa, where human-wildlife conflict is particularly prevalent, even in countries with a higher average annual income. Crocodiles still kill people in the Lake Nasser area in Egypt and within towns in Mozambique; leopards still kill sheep within 100 km of Cape Town, South Africa, and lions kill cattle around the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. In terms of the scale of their impact on humans, it is the smaller animals, occurring in vast numbers, that have the greatest impact. The red locust has been responsible for famines across vast swathes of Africa for centuries. Annual losses of cereals caused by the red-billed quelea have been estimated at US$22 million (Bruggers and Elliott, 1989). In Gabon, the number of overall complaints about grasscutters far surpasses those relating to any other animal species, including the elephant (Lahm, 1996). However, the larger herbivores (elephants, buffalo and hippopotamus), large mammalian carnivores (lions, leopards, cheetahs, spotted hyenas and wild dogs), and crocodiles are traditionally seen as the animals representing the greatest threat to humans and responsible for the majority of human-wildlife conflicts. This may be due to the fact that local communities often regard the large wild animals as government property, as was the case under previous colonial legislation, and therefore feel prohibited from dealing with the problem themselves (WWF SARPO, 2005). The impact of the activities of large mammals on farmers and their livelihoods is enormous and even traumatic when people are killed. These incidents are often newsworthy, and generally attract the attention of political representatives who demand action from governments. _Human-wildlife conflict in Africa _2 Baboons can cause significant damage to timber forest plantations and are also considered a pest, notably in Southern Africa. For these reasons this survey deals with larger herbivores and carnivores, particularly animals that have been investigated in FAO studies, i.e. elephants, lions, baboons and crocodiles. |
|
 |
PDF files are only accessible to Friends of the Cat Group. Joining Friends of the Cat Group gives you unlimited access and downloads in the Cat SG Library for one year, and allows you to receive our newsletter Cat News (2 regular issues per year plus special issues). More information how to join here |
(c) IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group ( IUCN - The World Conservation Union) |