The cost of livestock lost to lions and other wildlife species in the Amboseli ecosystem, Kenya

Margaret W Muriuki,Hellen Ipara,John W Kiringe

doi:10.1007/s10344-017-1117-2

Margaret W Muriuki, Hellen Ipara + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-017-1117-2

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Abstract

Though retaliatory lion (Panthera leo) killing as a result of livestock predation in the Maasai group ranches between the Tsavo NPs and Amboseli is remarkably high, other wildlife species are known to kill livestock. Surprisingly, lions suffer the most from retaliatory killing by the Maasai community for killing livestock. The extent of livestock predation by lions in comparison to other species is unknown. This study was carried out in the Olgulului group ranch (OGR) located adjacent to Amboseli National Park in June 2009. The cost of livestock killed by each of these species including lion, hyena (Crocuta crocuta), cheetah (Acynonyx jubatus), leopard (Panthera pardus), olive baboon (Papio cynocephalus), black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas), and African elephant (Loxodonta africana) was analyzed. Questionnaires, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews with officials from OGR, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and compensation scheme organizations were the methods used to collect information. Cluster and systematic sampling techniques were used to select a sample of 199 respondents from OGR. Lions were blamed for 40.5% (US$ 374,603) of the value of livestock lost to wildlife. The costs of livestock lost to hyenas and lions were not significantly different (q = 0.24, p = 0.968). Although hyenas killed more livestock compared to lions, the economic damage between the two was not significantly different because lions attacked cattle which had high economic value. Conservation of lions will be increasingly difficult if the current levels of predation are not reduced to economically and socially acceptable levels.

Highlights

The most severe threats to large carnivores in Africa result from human population growth and the associated conflicts brought by livestock predation by carnivores
Economic losses caused by lions in the study area are among the highest reported in East Africa and in comparison to other wildlife species
The belief that carnivore conservation, the lion, is a non-affordable luxury is widespread among the local community in the study area because of the opportunity cost in the form of lost livestock

Summary

Introduction

The most severe threats to large carnivores in Africa result from human population growth and the associated conflicts brought by livestock predation by carnivores. The African lion population declined steadily to 500,000, from an estimated population of one million before colonization, by 1950, 200,000 by 1975 (Myers 1975), and less than 100,000 by the early 1990s (Nowell and Jackson 1996). The most recent population assessment by Riggio (2011) has shown that over 30,000 lions remain in approximately 3 million km of sub-Saharan Africa, distributed across a total of 78 lion habitat patches in 27 countries. In his 2002 survey, Chardonnet estimated the lion population in Kenya to be 2749. Data on population status, trends, and distribution in Kenya before 2002 is lacking, indicating inadequate monitoring of lion population

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