The Relative Importance of Trophy Harvest and Retaliatory Killing of Large Carnivores: South African Leopards as a Case Study

Abstract

There are considerable challenges in the conservation of large carnivores, caused by large area requirements, low reproduction rates and low population densities coupled with their tendency to cause conflict with humans. Trophy hunting is one strategy to increase support for large carnivore conservation. Leopards, Panthera pardus, rank among the most soughtafter trophies in South Africa. However, trophy hunting has been suggested as partly responsible for leopard population declines, and leopards are also killed in retaliatory actions. In this study we used a stochastic population model to evaluate the relative influences of retaliatory killing and trophy harvest on leopard population persistence, and to assess the sustainability of the current leopard trophy harvest in South Africa. There was a stronger effect of variation in retaliatory killing than of harvest on population persistence. Although we found low extinction risks for South African leopards within 25 years, high risks of population declines across a wide range of simulation scenarios call for concern regarding the viability of the South African leopard population. We suggest that conflict mitigation may be more effective in promoting leopard persistence than restricting trophy harvest, and that accurate estimates of retaliatory killing are necessary for assessments of harvest sustainability.Key words: trophy hunting, carnivore, adaptive management, simulation models, population viability analysis. INTRODUCTIONConservation biologists and wildlife managers face considerable challenges in the management and conservation of large carnivores (Noss et al. 1996). Large carnivores have extensive area requirements, low reproduction rates and normally occur at low densities (Purvis et al. 2000). Furthermore, protected areas are rarely large enough to maintain viable large carnivore populations (Linnell et al. 2001). Therefore, non-protected areas are important in the conservation of large carnivores (Funston et al. 2013). However, carnivore populations in non-protected areas are frequently in conflict with rural communities, commercial farmers and game keepers, and retaliatory killing in response to human-large carnivore conflict is common (Woodroffe & Ginsberg 1998; Dar et al. 2009; Dickman 2010 Thorn et al. 2012). Trophy hunting is often seen as an appropiate incentive to conserve leopards (Lindsey et al. 2007; Funtson et al. 2013), but concern over the sustainability of leopard trophy hunting in South Africa has been raised (Balme et al. 2009). These concerns are founded in a doubling of the harvest quota since 2005 (75 to 150 animals), as well as increased incidents of legal and illegal retaliatory killing (Daly et al. 2005). Coupled with recent concerns that poorly managed trophy hunting may be partly responsible for declining leopard populations (Balme et al. 2009;Packer et al. 2011), there thus appears to be a need for a formal evaluation of the sustainability of the current trophy harvest of South African leopards.Population viability analyses (PV...

Rosettes, Remingtons and Reputation: Establishing Potential Determinants of Leopard (Panthera pardus) Trophy Prices Across Africa

“…This is troubling as (a) this is considerably below the 'safe-age' limit for hunting set by Packer et al (2009) and (b) outfitters typically advertise their best trophies on websites, and it is likely that a high proportion of younger animals are under-represented. The results from our assessment of leopard trophies on outfitter websites lend support to the findings of Spong, Hellborg & Creel (2000) and Swanepoel et al (2014) who also found a high proportion of sub-optimal animals (mainly females) inharvests of leopards in Tanzania and South Africa.…”

“…However, using trophy hunting for revenue generation can create conflicts of interest whereby wildlife authorities tend to set quotas at high levels to maximize their income (Nelson et al, 2013;Lindsey et al, 2014). Excessive quotas can lead to population declines which can be compounded by other forms of mortality, such as non-parental infanticide (Loveridge, Searle, Murindagomo & Macdonald, 2007;Balme, Slotow & Hunter, 2009;Swanepoel, Lindsey, Somers, van Hoven & Dalerum, 2014). Excessive off-takes in hunting blocks can also result in negative impacts on populations in adjacent fully protected areas (Balme et al, 2010).Trophy hunting may also have genetic impacts over time and lead to a decrease in the size of the heritable secondary sexual traits selected for by hunters (Coltman et al, 2003;Von Brandis & Reilly, 2007).…”

“…The leopard has the widest habitat tolerance and distribution of any Old World felid (Nowell & Jackson, 1996) and occurs in tropical forests, savannas, true deserts and even human-dominated landscapes (Bailey, 1993). Despite this wide range it is thought to be in a state of decline (Ray, Hunter & Zigouris, 2005), mainly due to anthropogenic persecution in retaliation to stock depredation, the illegal skin trade and poorly managed trophyhunting (Hunter, 2012;Swanepoel et al, 2014). Poorly managed trophy hunting is a particularly important source of mortality in leopard populations, as leopards have naturally high rates of infanticide (e.g.…”

“…However, leopards are a key species for the hunting industry and contribute to economic incentives for land retention for wildlife, funding for wildlife management, and in some cases, may foster increased tolerance for leopards, particularly where depredation of livestock and valuable game is an important land use (e.g. Funston, Groom & Lindsey, 2013;Swanepoel et al, 2014).…”

Los seres humanos como depredadores: una visión general de las estrategias de depredación seguidas por cazadores con distintas motivaciones

“…Although legal persecution usually is controlled, it is sometimes carried out to cause local population extinction (Hone, 2004). Illegal persecution can potentially have dramatic effects on local populations, since it is often carried out on endangered species that reside in small populations (Treves and Karanth, 2003;Swanepoel, Lindsey, Somers, Van Hoven and Dalerum, 2014).…”