Lions and Warriors: Social factors underlying declining African lion populations and the effect of incentive-based management in Kenya

Abstract

African lion ( Panthera leo) populations are in decline throughout most of Africa, but the problem is particularly acute in southern Kenya, where Maasai people are spearing and poisoning lions at a rate that will ensure near term local extinction. Lion killing is shaped by Maasai perception of livestock depredation, socio-economic factors, and the complex relationship between Maasai and conservation. These all affect tolerance for lions and consequently Maasai behavior towards conservation initiatives and carnivores in general. We used an in-depth quantitative questionnaire and participatory rural appraisals (PRAs) to identify the social and ecological predictors of lion killing and to investigate the effect of a compensation scheme on individual tolerance. Individuals who lose a greater proportion of their livestock to predators relative to their overall livestock loss, those affiliated with an evangelical church, and those who mainly sell rather than accumulate livestock all reported a higher propensity to kill carnivores. The future of carnivore conservation in this region depends on a better understanding of the nuances of human–carnivore conflict and a concerted effort to address appropriate cultural and community-level institutions, chiefly by providing economic benefits to local people who engage in positive conservation activities.