Lions at the Gates: Trans-disciplinary Design of an Early Warning System to Improve Human-Lion Coexistence

Abstract

Across Africa, lions (Panthera leo) are heavily persecuted in anthropogenic landscapes. Trans-disciplinary research and virtual boundaries (geofences) programmed into GPS-tracking transmitters offer new opportunities to improve coexistence. During a 24-month pilot study (2016-2018), we alerted communities about approaching lions, issuing 1,017 alerts to four villages and 19 cattle posts. Alerts reflected geofence breaches of nine lions (2,941 monitoring days) moving between Botswana's Okavango Delta and adjacent agro-pastoral communities. Daily alert system costs per lion were US$18.54, or $5,460.24 per GPS deployment (n = 13). Alert-responsive livestock owners mainly responded by night-kraaling of cattle (68.9%), significantly reducing their losses (by $124.61 annually), whereas losses of control group and non-responsive livestock owners remained high ($317.93 annually). Community satisfaction with alerts (91.8%) was higher than for compensation of losses (24.3%). Study lions spent 26.3% of time monitored in geofenced community areas, but accounted for 31.0% of conflict. Manual alert distribution proved challenging, static geofences did not appropriately reflect human safety or the environment's strong seasonality that influenced cattle predation risk, and tracking units with on-board alert functions often failed or under-recorded geofence breaches by 27.9%. These insufficiencies prompted the design of a versatile and autonomous lion alert platform with automated, dynamic geofencing. We co-designed this prototype platform with community input, thereby incorporating user feedback. We outline a flexible approach that recognizes conflict complexity and user community heterogeneity. Here, we describe the evolution of an innovative Information and Communication Technologies-based (ICT) alert system that enables instant data processing and community participation through interactive interfaces on different devices. We highlight the importance of a trans-disciplinary co-design and Weise et al. Lion Early Warning Botswana development process focussing on community engagement while synthesizing expertise from ethnography, ecology, and socio-informatics. We discuss the bio-geographic, social, and technological variables that influence alert system efficacy and outline opportunities for wider application in promoting coexistence and conservation.

Lions Panthera leo Prefer Killing Certain Cattle Bos taurus Types

“…Following voluntary depredation reports by livestock owners and position cluster detection from daily monitoring of GPS-tagged study lions (see [27] for tracking details), we investigated conflict sites and cattle carcasses as soon as possible. Similar to Stander et al [31], we relied on the expert skills of an indigenous tracker (Christopher Tiro Dimbindo) and two experienced researchers (F.J.W.…”

“…From randomised herd counts, we estimated a total standing herd of approximately 16,500 cattle in this area in 2017. Livestock owners received 100% financial compensation for lion-induced stock losses [26], although often with significant delays [27]. Cattle management in the area is highly variable but generally characterised by minimal day-time herding (<10%) and irregular night-time confinement (~40%) in predator-proof enclosures [13].…”

“…In the northern Okavango Delta, Tswana beef cattle (a Sanga breed) exhibit strong seasonal habitat selection patterns, preferring woodland habitats (with more digestible grasses) during the wet season and wetland habitats (with more reliable forage and water availability) during the dry season [6]. Lions frequently kill unguarded cattle, resulting in annual compensation claims of approximately 40,400 USD, or about 320 USD per livestock owner, an estimated 4.7% of the annual agropastoral household income in this area [13,27].…”

‘Get together, work together, write together’: a novel framework for conservation of New Zealand frogs

“…Considering the human dimension of conservation is essential for the effective management of natural systems, including decision-making and planning (Carson et al 2018;Weise et al 2019). In the conservation management of a threatened species, input from the natural sciences is necessary to make evidence-based management decisions.…”

OpenDropOff: An open‐source, low‐cost drop‐off unit for animal‐borne devices

“…For example, video cameras attached to falcons (Falco sp.) have provided insights into the evolution of pursuit and evasion strategies (Kane & Zamani, 2014); satellite collars are being used to mitigate human-wildlife conflict (Weise et al, 2019); and inertial measurement units have provided insights into the biomechanics and energetics of elusive large carnivore species (Wilson et al, 2018). For a review of how animal-borne sensors are impacting ecology, see Wilmers et al (2015).…”