Black Stork Down: Military Discourses in Bird Conservation in Malta

Tensions between Maltese hunters and bird conservation NGOs have intensified over the past decade. Conservation NGOs have become frustrated with the Maltese State for conceding to the hunter lobby and negotiating derogations from the European Union’s Bird Directive. Some NGOs have recently started to organize complex field-operations where volunteers are trained to patrol the landscape, operate drones and other surveillance technologies, detect illegalities, and lead police teams to arrest poachers. We describe the sophisticated military metaphors which conservation NGOs have developed to describe, guide and legitimize their efforts to the Maltese public and their fee-paying members. We also discuss why such groups might be inclined to adopt these metaphors. Finally, we suggest that anthropological studies of discourse could help understand delicate contexts such as this where conservation NGOs, hunting associations and the State have ended in political deadlock

Large carnivores in the Tarangire ecosystem

We synthesize data on the ecology of large carnivores in the Tarangire Ecosystem (TE). Despite anthropogenic pressures, all large carnivore species (lions Panthera leo, spotted hyena Crocuta crocuta, striped hyena Hyena hyena, leopard Panthera pardus, cheetah Acinonyx jubatus, and wild dog Lycaon pictus) have persisted in this fragmented ecosystem consisting of multiple protected areas among a matrix of village lands. The focal species were widely distributed across land-use gradients. While the comparatively abundant spotted hyena permanently occupied village lands, other species only sporadically used these human-dominated areas. Across species, carnivores used village lands more frequently during the rainy season, possibly following seasonal shifts in the movement of prey species. These processes can increase human-carnivore interactions, expanding the potential for conflict. In some areas, leopards, lions, and striped hyenas reached high densities, whereas cheetahs and wild dogs occurred patchily and at low densities. Our review suggests that the existence of diverse protected areas contribute to the persistence of the large carnivore community. The persistence of lions, cheetahs, and wild dogs appears dependent on human-induced mortality and prey depletion. Conserving large carnivores in TE requires the application of interventions that reduce human-induced mortality while simultaneously conserving the spatio-temporal distributions of prey species

Human-carnivore coexistence in the Tarangire ecosystem

Facilitating coexistence between humans and large carnivores is one of the most complex and pressing conservation issues globally. Large carnivores pose threats to human security and private property, and people may respond to those risks with retaliation which can jeopardize the persistence of carnivore populations. The nature of these interactions can be influenced by several variables including ecological, anthropogenic as well as political dimensions. The Tarangire Ecosystem (TE) of northern Tanzania is a stronghold for multiple large carnivore species. Despite multi-faceted and long-term carnivore conservation efforts being implemented in the ecosystem, the anthropogenic impacts on carnivore populations are pervasive. As only a portion of the TE is fully protected, the wide-ranging nature of carnivores brings them into close contact with people living among a matrix of village lands. Consequently, this ecosystem experiences high levels of human-carnivore conflicts. In this chapter, we synthesize the existing information to characterize the extent, impacts, and spatiotemporal patterns of human-carnivore interactions (which often result in severe conflicts, causing harm to people, livestock, and carnivores), examine the efficacy and challenges of implementing interventions designed to reduce human-carnivore conflict, and explore the socio-economic dimensions of these mitigation efforts

Examining evident interdisciplinarity among prides of lion researchers

Lions (Panthera leo) have experienced dramatic population declines in recent decades and today, inhabit just a fraction of their historic range. The reasons behind these declines are many, but conflict with humans, principally motivated by lion depredation of livestock, is among the most influential. Recent calls within the scientific community have identified that wicked problems like these should be addressed using interdisciplinary approaches. Here we examined the extent to which human-lion conflict research has been interdisciplinary. We conducted an extensive review of the literature and uncovered 88 papers, published between 1990 and 2015, that assessed human-lion interaction and the ecology of lions exposed to anthropogenic disturbance. While human-lion conflict research experienced near-exponential growth (y = 8E-194e0.222x, R2= 0.76) across this time period, the number of co-authors engaged in this research changed very little (x = 3.28, se = 0.19). Moreover, co-authors of this research tended to be affiliated with units from just three highly-related STEM disciplines (biology, wildlife management, and environmental science). Comparatively, co-authors affiliated with units in the humanities and social sciences occurred in < 4% of all papers examined. Our analysis also presents a novel framework that positions human-lion conflict research as having not two dimensions, as has been commonly conceptualized, but five dimensions. These dimensions include not only the human and the lion dimensions, but also the livestock, wild prey, and environmental dimensions. None of the papers that we evaluated concurrently studied all five of these dimensions to determine their impact on human-lion conflict. Furthermore, despite the fact that human-lion conflict research was primarily developed by co-authors from STEM disciplines, the most common dimension evaluated was the human dimension which requires social science and humanities expertise. Our analysis indicates that interdisciplinarity among human-lion conflict research has historically been low. These low levels of interdisciplinarity observed from 1990 to 2015 however, are not necessarily representative of the ongoing efforts to develop more inclusive research teams. Thus, we discuss the implications of this research for the development of sustainable solutions to conserve lions and preserve human well-being and identify potential avenues forward to create more interdisciplinary prides of lion researchers

Landscape Suitability in Botswana for the Conservation of Its Six Large African Carnivores

<div><p>Wide-ranging large carnivores often range beyond the boundaries of protected areas into human-dominated areas. Mapping out potentially suitable habitats on a country-wide scale and identifying areas with potentially high levels of threats to large carnivore survival is necessary to develop national conservation action plans. We used a novel approach to map and identify these areas in Botswana for its large carnivore guild consisting of lion (<i>Panthera leo</i>), leopard (<i>Panthera pardus</i>), spotted hyaena (<i>Crocuta crocuta</i>), brown hyaena (<i>Hyaena brunnea</i>), cheetah (<i>Acinonyx jubatus</i>) and African wild dog (<i>Lycaon pictus</i>). The habitat suitability for large carnivores depends primarily on prey availability, interspecific competition, and conflict with humans. Prey availability is most likely the strongest natural determinant. We used the distribution of biomass of typical wild ungulate species occurring in Botswana which is preyed upon by the six large carnivores to evaluate the potential suitability of the different management zones in the country to sustain large carnivore populations. In areas where a high biomass of large prey species occurred, we assumed interspecific competition between dominant and subordinated competitors to be high. This reduced the suitability of these areas for conservation of subordinate competitors, and vice versa. We used the percentage of prey biomass of the total prey and livestock biomass to identify areas with potentially high levels of conflict in agricultural areas. High to medium biomass of large prey was mostly confined to conservation zones, while small prey biomass was more evenly spread across large parts of the country. This necessitates different conservation strategies for carnivores with a preference for large prey, and those that can persist in the agricultural areas. To ensure connectivity between populations inside Botswana and also with its neighbours, a number of critical areas for priority management actions exist in the agricultural zones.</p></div

Examining the extinction of the Barbary Lion and its implications for felid conservation

Estimations of species extinction dates are rarely definitive, yet declarations of extinction or extirpation are important as they define when conservation efforts may cease. Erroneous declarations of extinctions not only destabilize conservation efforts but also corrode local community support. Mismatches in perceptions by the scientific and local communities risk undermining sensitive, but important partnerships. We examine observations relating to the decline and extinction of Barbary lions in North Africa. Whilst the extinction predates the era of the scientific conservation movement, the decline is relatively well documented in historical records. Recently unearthed accounts suggest Barbary lions survived later than previously assumed. We use probabilistic methods to estimate a more recent extinction date for the subspecies. The evidence presented for a much later persistence of lions in North Africa, including generations when sightings were nil, suggests caution when considering felid populations as extinct in the wild. The case raises the possibility that captive animals descended from the Moroccan royal collection are closer contemporaries to wild Barbary lions. Furthermore, our results highlight the vulnerability of very small lion populations and the significance of continued conservation of remnant lion populations in Central and West Africa. © 2013 Black et al