Assessing the sustainability of African lion trophy hunting, with recommendations for policy

Creel, Scott; M’soka, Jassiel; Dröge, Egil; Rosenblatt, Eli; Becker, Matthew S.; Matandiko, Wigganson; Simpamba, Twakundine

doi:10.1002/eap.1377

Cited by 53 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…The potential threat of excessive trophy hunting mortality can be mitigated against by careful management of hunting offtakes (Creel et al . ). However, snaring for bushmeat is a growing problem and is likely to increase in areas where growing human populations live adjacent to wildlife‐rich areas (Watson et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The landscape of anthropogenic mortality: how African lions respond to spatial variation in risk

Loveridge

Valeix

Elliot

et al. 2016

Journal of Applied Ecology

104

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Summary Demography and conservation status of many wild organisms are increasingly shaped by interactions with humans. This is particularly the case for large, wide‐ranging carnivores. Using 206 mortality records (1999–2012) of lions in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, we calculated mortality rates for each source of anthropogenic mortality, modelled risk of anthropogenic mortality across the landscape accounting for time lions spent in different parts of the landscape, and assessed whether subsets of the population were more at risk. Anthropogenic activities caused 88% of male and 67% of female mortalities; male mortality being dominated by trophy hunting while the sources for female mortality were more varied (bycatch snaring, retaliatory killing, hunting). Landscapes of anthropogenic mortality risk revealed that communal subsistence farming areas, characterized by high risk (due to retaliatory killing) but avoided by lions, are population sinks. Trophy hunting areas and areas within protected areas bordering communal farmland, where bushmeat snaring is prevalent, form ‘ecological traps’ (or ‘attractive sinks’). Lions avoided risky areas, suggesting they may make behavioural decisions based on perceptions of risk. Experienced adults used risky areas less and incorporated lower proportions of them in their home ranges than young individuals, suggesting that the latter may either be naïve or forced into peripheral habitats. Synthesis and applications. This paper contributes to an understanding of how large carnivore populations are affected by anthropogenic mortality across the conservation landscape. This is critical to designing focussed, appropriate and cost‐effective conservation management strategies. Agricultural areas are intuitively identified by conservationists as being risky for carnivores due to retaliatory killing, with threats largely mitigated against by improving livestock protection. However, parts of protected areas may also form less easily identified ‘attractive sinks’ for carnivores. In particular, trophy hunting areas adjacent to national parks need careful management to avoid damaging effects of overhunting. Law enforcement is needed to reduce the effects of bushmeat poaching on predators and other wildlife in protected areas. To be most effective, resource‐limited antipoaching activities should prioritize wildlife‐rich areas close to human settlement as these tend to be hot spots for bushmeat poaching.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The landscape of anthropogenic mortality: how African lions respond to spatial variation in risk

Loveridge

Valeix

Elliot

et al. 2016

Journal of Applied Ecology

104

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show abstract

“…While these steps are laudable, it is likely that hunting remains additive to overall lion mortality given the prevalence of other anthropogenic threats (poisoning and poaching) across the ecosystem. In a series of stochastic population models projected over a 25-year period in a "realistic" scenario (within a protected national park and adjacent hunting areas in Zambia), lion numbers declined due to trophy hunting for all continuous harvest strategies; substantial declines resulted from quotas greater than ∼0.5 lion/1000 km 2 and hunting of males younger than 7 years (Creel et al, 2016). Furthermore, prior research on lion demography in WAP provided evidence of a heavily perturbed population with low recruitment even inside NPs, which the authors link to the presence of trophy hunting (Sogbohossou et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determinants of Distribution Patterns and Management Needs in a Critically Endangered Lion Panthera leo Population

et al. 2016

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The lion Panthera leo is Critically Endangered in West Africa and is known to occupy only four protected areas within the region. The largest population persists in the trans-boundary W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) ecosystem, in the border region of Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger. WAP harbors an estimated 350 individuals, or 90% of West Africa's lions. We modeled lion occupancy across WAP using systematic, vehicle-based spoor counts to assess how landscape variables related to biotic factors, management, and human impact influence lion distribution across WAP. We surveyed 1110 km of roads across WAP in 2012, obtaining 79 lion detections in 32 of our 167 15 × 15 km sampling units (naïve occupancy = 0.41). Overall occupancy ( ) was 0.71 (95% SE = 0.56-0.83) when accounting for imperfect detection (p = 0.22, 95% SE = 0.18-0.27). The best predictors of lion occupancy were numbers of permanent protected area staff and mean monthly dry season precipitation. Model-averaged estimates suggest greatest lion occupancy in the Arly and Pendjari management blocks, with lowest occupancy in the tri-national W National Park. Our results suggest that lions in WAP are equally limited by management and biotic factors, and demonstrate how unevenly distributed protection effort limits the distribution of an apex predator across a protected landscape. We strongly recommend increased funding and better protection to increase lion occupancy in WAP, most urgently in the W National Park.

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“…survival/mortality, recruitment, longevity, sex ratio) obtained from long-term monitoring of predators are used widely for assessing population viability and predicting population change under alternative scenarios (e.g. habitat fragmentation, [19, 20]; disease, [21], climate change, [22]; and poaching/harvesting/ trophy hunting, [23, 24, 25]. These parameters are relatively well-known for a number of large felids (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long term monitoring of jaguars in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize; Implications for camera trap studies of carnivores

et al. 2017

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In this study, we estimate life history parameters and abundance for a protected jaguar population using camera-trap data from a 14-year monitoring program (2002–2015) in Belize, Central America. We investigated the dynamics of this jaguar population using 3,075 detection events of 105 individual adult jaguars. Using robust design open population models, we estimated apparent survival and temporary emigration and investigated individual heterogeneity in detection rates across years. Survival probability was high and constant among the years for both sexes (φ = 0.78), and the maximum (conservative) age recorded was 14 years. Temporary emigration rate for the population was random, but constant through time at 0.20 per year. Detection probability varied between sexes, and among years and individuals. Heterogeneity in detection took the form of a dichotomy for males: those with consistently high detection rates, and those with low, sporadic detection rates, suggesting a relatively stable population of ‘residents’ consistently present and a fluctuating layer of ‘transients’. Female detection was always low and sporadic. On average, twice as many males than females were detected per survey, and individual detection rates were significantly higher for males. We attribute sex-based differences in detection to biases resulting from social variation in trail-walking behaviour. The number of individual females detected increased when the survey period was extended from 3 months to a full year. Due to the low detection rates of females and the variable ‘transient’ male subpopulation, annual abundance estimates based on 3-month surveys had low precision. To estimate survival and monitor population changes in elusive, wide-ranging, low-density species, we recommend repeated surveys over multiple years; and suggest that continuous monitoring over multiple years yields even further insight into population dynamics of elusive predator populations.

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Assessing the sustainability of African lion trophy hunting, with recommendations for policy

Cited by 53 publications

References 33 publications

The landscape of anthropogenic mortality: how African lions respond to spatial variation in risk

The landscape of anthropogenic mortality: how African lions respond to spatial variation in risk

Determinants of Distribution Patterns and Management Needs in a Critically Endangered Lion Panthera leo Population

Long term monitoring of jaguars in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize; Implications for camera trap studies of carnivores

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