Costs of elephant crop depredation exceed the benefits of trophy hunting in a community‐based conservation area of Namibia

Community-Based Workshops to Involve Rural Communities in Wildlife Management Case Study: Bighorn Sheep in Baja California, Mexico

The description of natural history, and information on the factors threatening conservation, the distribution area, and the status of species population are necessary for proper wildlife management. The objective of this research was to generate such information in two rural communities and to engage residents in bighorn sheep management through a program of three workshops. The first one covered training regarding natural history and management of the species. The second one consisted in the description of the habitat of the species through a dynamic of participatory mapping. The third, include a design of a one strategy to monitor the bighorn sheep population. The workshops were attended by 37 people from the two rural communities. The results suggest the economic element was the main interest of the inhabitants regarding the bighorn sheep. Eleven risk factors were identified to the bighorn sheep in the study sites, a participatory map with relevant information for the management of the species on each community was developed, and a monitoring strategy of the bighorn sheep population was prepared. The workshop program proposed in this research is a tool that can be applied in rural communities to lay the groundwork for a long-term management project of wildlife species.

Ten years of coverage of trophy hunting in UK newspapers

Hunting is an increasingly contentious topic. Trophy hunting, whereby people hunt individual animals with desirable characteristics in order to keep body parts (e.g. horns, heads, hides, antlers) as mementos, is especially contested. Political pressure, often in the form of trophy import bans, is being applied in multiple nations, and campaigns to ban trophy hunting, or trophy imports, attract considerable media attention. However, trophy hunting often has conservation value, acting to protect habitat and provide income for local communities. Assuming that media coverage can influence public and political opinion, negative or simplistic media coverage of trophy hunting has the potential to cause adverse outcomes for conservation and local communities. Here, we analyse coverage of trophy hunting from July 2010 - June 2020 (five years before and five years after the death of Cecil the Lion) in the most popular UK media outlets (624 articles in total), assessing the overall sentiment of each article, and the species and countries covered. Ninety percent of all coverage occurred after the death of Cecil the lion, marking this event as a watershed moment in UK mainstream media depiction of trophy hunting. The overall sentiment of articles was largely against trophy hunting (63.1%), and this was more pronounced in tabloids (84.2%) than broadsheets (42.2%). Pro-trophy hunting articles were very uncommon overall (3.5%). Articles that described the complexity of trophy hunting decreased following Cecil and were most common in pre-Cecil broadsheets (35.7%, dropping to 30.6%) and rarest in post-Cecil tabloids (3.1%). Articles focussed mainly on charismatic but rarely hunted species including lion, elephant and rhino, with commonly hunted species (such as impala or Cape buffalo) only rarely being mentioned. When countries were mentioned, southern African nations predominated, with four nations (Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Botswana) being named in 68% of qualifying articles. We conclude that simplistic media depiction of trophy hunting has the potential to cause negative outcomes for conservation through its impact on public perception and political opinion.

Stakeholders' Perceptions of the Outcomes of Translocated Eland in Nyae Nyae Conservancy, Namibia

Translocation of wildlife species from one area to another is a conservation tool that contributes to the restoration of depleted populations, augments declining populations, or establishes of new populations. This paper documents one of the first studies examining in detail stakeholders' perceptions of the factors influencing the outcomes of translocations of wildlife into a community conservation area, using the case of eland (Taurotragus oryx) translocations into the Nyae Nyae Conservancy in Namibia. The translocations took place between 2000 and 2005 as part of the national community-based natural resource management programme and were monitored through annual waterpoint counts. These data on perceptions were collected through a household survey and focused group discussions involving community members and leaders and key informant interviews with external stakeholders. Community members' perceptions could not confirm that the translocated eland decreased or increased, however, reflected that eland individuals moved away from the release site soon after translocation to more distant locations further away from human settlements. The outcomes of the translocations were perceived to be most strongly associated with anthropogenic factors compared to habitat or environmental factors. However, stakeholders exhibited divergent perceptions regarding which of the anthropogenic factors was of most importance, particularly with respect to the roles of the different types of hunting, and to a lesser degree, the role of traditional burning of landscapes on translocation outcomes. The paper illustrates the complexities associated with translocations of wildlife into community conservation areas compared to state protected areas, given the strong influence of human disturbances on translocation success. It highlights the importance of understanding the social factors influencing how and why translocated individuals may adapt well or poorly to their new environment. Building this understanding is essential to improving the outcomes of similar translocations in the future.