Potential for long-term coexistence between people
and predators in Laikipia & neighboring districts
Stephanie Romañach, Peter. Lindsey, & Rosie Woodroffe
Assessing attitudes of people living with wildlife, and
identifying the determinants of these attitudes are of key
importance in terms of conservation planning.
• Lions were the least tolerated predators (Fig 3a)
• Some respondents would not kill predators in response to
livestock attacks (Fig 3a)
• Some respondents stated they would kill predators on sight,
even if no attack had occurred (Fig 3b)
Commercial Ranchers
Would not kill predator (%)
People killing predators over conflict with livestock has
been a key factor behind declining predator populations in
Africa.
In Kenya, more than 70% of wildlife is found outside of
protected areas in privately- and communally-owned land.
These wildlife populations are of major importance for
conservation and for the persistence of Kenya’s primary
industry, tourism.
Community Members
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Cheetah
Jackal
Leopard
Lion
Commercial Ranchers
Kill on sight policy (%)
• Conducted interviews through parts of Laikipia,
Samburu, Baringo, and Meru (Fig 1)
• Interviewed 416 livestock owners & managers
(community members & commercial ranchers)
• Assessed attitudes towards 7 local predators:
cheetah, jackal, leopard, lion, spotted hyena,
striped hyena, & wild dog
• Assessed tolerance for predator attacks on livestock
Spotted
hyena
Striped
hyena
Wild dog
40
20
0
Jackal
Leopard
Lion
Spotted
hyena
Striped Wild dog
hyena
Number of cattle/shoats
Commercial ranchers shoat tolerance
12
Community members
100
80
60
b)
40
Number of cattle/shoats
Interviewees with positive attitudes
(%)
Commercial ranchers cattle tolerance
15
Community members cattle tolerance
9
Community members shoat tolerance
6
0
Cheetah
Jackal
Leopard
Lion
Spotted
hyena
Striped Wild dog
hyena
Fig 2. Percentages (95% confidence intervals) of interviewees who wanted
each predator on their property
Jackal
Leopard
Lion
15
Spotted
hyena
Striped
hyena
Wild dog
12
9
• Trophy hunting
• Ecotourism
What this means for Laikipia & neighboring districts
• Reducing livestock losses is of major importance, as tolerance
is relatively high where threat of attack is minimal
• Promoting group ranch ownership allows shared risk of loss
and could have positive implications for predator conservation
• Despite the high number of community members reporting a
‘kill on sight’ policy, all native large predator species are present
on communal land
• Trophy hunting has been successful in creating incentives for
conservation in communal lands in other parts of Africa, and is
especially important in areas where ecotourism potential is low
• Benefits from conserving wildlife must accrue to individuals
(not to communities as a whole) to be effective
6
3
0
Cheetah
20
Shoats
• Community tourism ventures can continue to be successful
given foreign tourist interest in both wildlife and local cultures
3
Cheetah
Commercial ranchers
Cattle
•The most common responses given as suggestions to increase
tolerance were to give value to wildlife through
60
0
Commercial ranchers were significantly more positive
toward predators than community members (Fig 2)
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
80
Fig 3b. Of interviewees who would kill predators, the percentage with ‘kill on sight’
policies
What we found
Community members
Fig 5. Percentages of livestock owned that were lost to predators in the last year
Community Members
• All respondents who managed livestock 20 years ago indicated
that their tolerance for losses to predators was higher in 2005,
than 20 years ago (Fig 4a & b)
Fig 1. Map of study area; crosses represent commercial rancher interview
locations and circles represent community member interview locations
• In the last year, community members proportionally lost 10
times more of their wealth in cattle than commercial ranchers
(Fig 5)
100
Cheetah
a)
• Community members who lost livestock to predators in the last
year killed more predators than those without attacks
Commercial ranchers
Fig 3a. Percent of interviewees who would not kill predators responsible for livestock
attacks, no matter how much livestock was lost
How we approached the issue
• Of community members, those living on group ranches were
most positive toward predators
Livestock owned lost to
predators (%)
The conservation issue
Jackal
Leopard
Lion
Spotted
hyena
Striped Wild dog
hyena
Fig 4. Average numbers of sheep & goats (‘shoats’) interviewees were willing to
tolerate losing before they tried to kill the predator responsible (a) 20 years ago, and
(b) in 2005
We extend our thanks to The residents of the study area who
participated in our interview, our assistants who conducted interviews: N
Gitonga, M Kahindi, D Lomoe, P Lekitasharan, B Lengalen, S
Lesowapir, D Masere, J Musiany, and S ole Ranah; to LWF, and to the
MRC and its staff.