Lions and other African large carnivores are in decline, due in part to effects of illegal hunting with snares, which
can reduce prey availability and directly kill or injure carnivores. It is difficult to effectively remove snares from
large ecosystems by patrolling, but an additional approach to reduce effects on large carnivores is to monitor the
population closely and de-snare individuals who are found in a snare or have broken free but still carry the wire
(often with serious injury). The effectiveness of de-snaring programs to reduce impacts on large carnivores has
not been directly tested. Here, we used long-term demographic data from 386 individually identified lions in the
Luangwa Valley Ecosystem to test the effects on population growth (λ) and population size (N) of a program to
remove snares from injured lions and treat their wounds. Stochastic Leslie matrix projections for a period of five
years showed that the population grew with the benefits of de-snaring, but was expected to decline without desnaring.
Mean annual growth (λ) with de-snaring was 1.037 (with growth in 70% of years), closely matching
observed changes in population size. Mean annual growth was 0.99 (with growth in 47% of years) for a model
that assumed snared animals would have died if not treated, and 0.95 (with growth in 37% of years) for models
that also accounted for super-additive effects via the death of dependent cubs and increased infanticide with
increased male mortality. De-snaring requires intensive effort, but it can appreciably reduce the effect of snaring
on lion population dynamics.
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Exploring multiple dimensions of conservation success: Long‐term wildlife trends, anti‐poaching efforts and revenue sharing in Kibale National Park, Uganda
Parks are essential for protecting biodiversity and finding ways to improve park effectiveness is an important topic. We contributed to this debate by examining spatial and temporal changes in illegal activities in Kibale National Park, Uganda between 2006 and 2016 and used existing data to evaluate how the changes were correlated with the living conditions of people in neighboring communities, as well as patrolling effort. We explore the effectiveness of conservation strategies implemented in Kibale, by quantifying changes in the abundance of nine animal species over two to five decades. While uncertainty in such animal survey data are inherently large and it is hard to generalize across a 795‐km2area that encompasses diverse habitat types, data suggest an increase in animal abundance in the National Park. An increase in patrolling effort by park guards over the decade was correlated with a decline in the number of traps and snares found, which suggests patrolling helped limit resource extraction from the park. The park’s edge was extensively used for illegal forest product extraction, while the setting of snares occurred more often deeper in the forest. Perhaps counter‐intuitively, increased community wealth or park‐related employment in a village next to the park were positively correlated with increased illegal forest product extraction. Overall, our results suggest that the portfolio of conservation strategies used over the last two to five decades were effective for protecting the park and its animals, although understanding the impact of these efforts on local human populations and how to mitigate any losses and suffering they sustain remains an important area of research and action. It is evident that complex social, political and economic drivers impact conservation success and more interdisciplinary studies are required to quantify and qualify these dimensions.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10370176
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Animal Conservation
- Volume:
- 25
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1367-9430
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 532-549
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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