Community‐based livestock protection 541
enclosures varied across the three communal areas (χ2 = 93.52,df = 2,P,0.001), with Mabale having the greatest number of incidents inside kraals (32%). The majority of lion attacks on livestock occurred during the night (61%) and outside kraals (83%).
Long Shields programme activities
During 2013–2017, the programme sent a total of 2,262 early warning messages (mean = 38 per month) alerting farmers to approaching lions. Fifty-one farmers were assisted in recovering missing livestock (n = 386 livestock). Across the same period 21 lionswere hazed to encourage them to return into the protected area on a total of 116 occasions (mean = 5.5 chases per lion). More than half of the chases (53%) were in Tsholotsho, followed by Mabale (40%) and Victoria Falls (7%). One hundred and four farmers approached Community Guardians seeking assistance to reinforce their kraals during this period.
Effectiveness of the Long Shields programme in limiting livestock losses
Mean livestock losses to lions were significantly reduced in the period after initiation of the Long Shields programme in participating villages (likelihood ratio test for GLMM: χ2 = 98.63,df = 6,P,0.001). Mean livestock losses to lions per village per year for participating farmers in Tsholotsho decreased from 19.27 before to 12.73 after the programme was implemented. In Victoria Falls, this was 17.55 for participating farmers before vs 11.23 after pro- gramme implementation. In Mabale, however, mean live- stock loss to lions for participating farmers increased from 13.44 per village per year before to 25.44 after programme implementation. (Fig. 2). In addition, mean livestock losses- for non-participating farmers in Tsholotsho decreased slightly after the programme was implemented, but the de- crease was less pronounced than for participating farmers (Fig. 2).
Lion mortality before and after programme implementation
During 2008–2017,a total of 46 lions (males = 26; females = 20) were killed in conflict-related incidents inMabale (n=13), Tsholotsho (n = 23)and Victoria Falls(n = 10). Of these, 63% (n = 29,mean = 5.8 lions per year) were killed before (2008– 2012)and 37%(n = 17,mean = 3.4 lions per year) after the Long Shields programme was implemented (2013–2017). Thus, the number of lions killed in retaliation declined by 41%. Most of these lions (67%, n = 31)wereshotas problem animals by officials of national parks authorities or rural dis- trict councils. Farmers were directly involved in the illegal
FIG. 2 Mean number of livestock lost to lions per village per year during 2008–2017 before (2008–2012) and after (2013–2017) the introduction of the community-based Long Shields programme, for farmers participating (treatment) and not participating (non-treatment) in the programme. Error bars represent standard errors (SE).
killing of 15 lions, using either snares (n = 12), spears (n = 2) or poison (n = 1). More collared lions were killed in Mabale than elsewhere (Table 1). The proportion of lions illegally killed by farmers declined significantly after the implementa- tion of the programme (χ2 = 5.33,df = 1,P = 0.02), but the number of lions legally shot by officials remained unchanged (Table 1). There was only a weak association between the number of livestock killed by lions and the number of lions killed in retaliation by farmers (rs = 0.54,df = 8,P = 0.11).
Discussion
Our findings indicate that farmer participation in the Long Shields programme is a significant factor in reducing live- stock loss to lions. Since the inception of the Long Shields programme in 2013, participating farmers in Tsholotsho and Victoria Falls recorded an overall decrease in livestock loss to lions compared to non-participating farmers. We suggest this is because participating famers were alerted to approaching lions via the Long Shields programme and con- sequently moved their livestock to areas with lower depre- dation risk. In addition, using vuvuzelas to haze lions that crossed over the Park boundary into village settlements, en- couraging farmers to reportmissing livestock to prevent at- tacks, and assisting them to repair livestock kraals to avoid night-time predation may have also contributed to a decline in livestock depredation.
Oryx, 2022, 56(4), 537–545 © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605321000302
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