Landowners Guide Human-Wildlife Conflict
In regions where agriculture intersects with natural habitats, farming operations often encroach on wild spaces. When this happens, wildlife may pose a considerable threat to both subsistence and commercial farming setups – for example, predators may opportunistically hunt livestock, antelopes may damage crops, baboons may raid orchards, porcupines and feral pigs may destroy infrastructure. To safeguard their property and livelihoods, farmers sometimes retaliate by reducing or removing wild species. Situations like this where encounters between humans and wildlife lead to negative results are known as ‘human-wildlife conflict’.
For centuries, agricultural communities have been trying to ‘control’ damage-causing animals, but despite these efforts, damage still occurs regularly and in some cases the losses are escalating. In fact, research suggests that removing ‘problem animals’ may cause even more problems – this method may be one of the least effective approaches to reduce human-wildlife conflict and may be more expensive in the long-run compared to non-lethal options (see further reading below*). Proactive and holistic prevention of potential conflict is key to managing this issue and ultimately to ensuring human-wildlife coexistence. Farmers play a vital role in promoting this and ensuring that ecosystem processes and services are protected for the future.
Several years ago, CapeNature produced a resource to support the agricultural sector in the Western Cape, called the Landowner’s Guide to Human-Wildlife Conflict. This concise booklet described species that may cause damage in the province, and provided tips on holistic livestock and crop management options. The Cape Leopard Trust (CLT) recently collaborated closely with CapeNature to refresh the booklet, extend the content, and produce an eye-catching, comprehensive, and up-to-date version. New sections developed for the updated booklet include descriptions of conflict mitigation methods and strategies, information on carcass inspection to aid accurate identification of the cause of death in livestock, and information on the ecosystem services and benefits that wildlife provides to farmers.
Electronic versions of the new booklet are available and can be downloaded in PDF format below (12mb each). A limited number of printed booklets will also be available for distribution by the CLT conservation team. Currently the booklet is available in English and Afrikaans, but the content has also been professionally translated into isiXhosa. This version of the PDF guide will be added to the CLT and CapeNature websites once ready and shared with Xhosa farmers through a targeted approach. It is anticipated that the wider inclusivity and greater applicability of the isiXhosa resource may help reduce predation risk for communal and subsistence farmers.
Several CLT funders supported this project by covering printing, translation and proofreading costs. We wish to thank Abax Investments, Lomas Wildlife Protection Trust, Mouton Citrus, Conservation Allies, Table Mountain Fund, Jamma International, Hans Hoheisen Charitable Trust and Gouritz Cluster Biosphere Reserve.
A special word of thanks also to Jaco van Deventer for helping to develop the new content of the updated booklet and assisting with the Afrikaans translation of the text.
