Abstract
<p class="1Body">This study discusses the conflict between Maasai pastoralists and African wild dogs (<em>Lycaon pictus) </em>over livestock before and after the Maasai were evicted from the Serengeti National Park (SNP) in 1959. We surveyed 181 randomly selected households from six villages in the eastern Serengeti ecosystem. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to acquire the required information from the respondents. We found that males had a greater awareness of local wild dog presence and livestock-derived conflict than females, and reported more frequently to have chased and killed wild dogs that attacked their livestock. Moreover, the conflict existed before 1959, decreased during the 1990s, but increased from 2000 onwards. This increase is attributed to the growth in human, livestock and wild dog populations in the area. This study recommends that to foster their coexistence, the continued escalation in livestock numbers needs to cease while simultaneously protecting the region’s wild prey populations.</p>
Highlights
Human-carnivore conflict over livestock presents one of the most complex challenges facing wildlife management and conservation
A logistic regression analysis with response to the question “Have you ever seen wild dogs?” as a dependent variable, and gender, education level and born before or after eviction from the Serengeti National Park (SNP) (1959) as independent variables indicated that gender (B = 2.7, Wald = 15.8, P ≤ 0.001) was the only factor explaining whether wild dogs had been seen in their area (Wald χ23 = 32.7, P ≤ 0.001, Nagelkerke r2 = 0.328)
Those who not had been to school observed wild dogs more frequent than those who had been to school, while those born before eviction from the SNP (1959) observed wild dogs more common than those born after eviction
Summary
Human-carnivore conflict over livestock presents one of the most complex challenges facing wildlife management and conservation. The endangered African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) has disappeared from much of its former range, due mostly to conflict with humans (Ogada, Woodroffe, Oguge, & Frank, 2003; Rasmussen, 1999; Treves & Karanth, 2003) which has led to their population decline (Swarner, 2004; Woodroffe et al, 2005) This endangered species has been reported to prey on livestock wherever it comes into contact with domestic animals (Lyamuya, Masenga, Fyumagwa, & Røskaft, 2014; Rasmussen, 1999; Swarner, 2004; Woodroffe et al, 2005). A recent genetic study, has indicated that while the packs inside the national park disappeared, the population never went extinct and most probably survived in adjoining areas (Marsden, Wayne, & Mable, 2012)
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