Predator research

While some predator species (e.g. lion) have been entirely pushed back into the national park  areas by man and others (e.g. brown hyena) and only occur in very sparse populations on farm land, radio telemetry indicates that cheetahs and leopards still live in relatively high numbers on commercially used grazing land. It is estimated that the Namibia has around 3000 - 4000 cheetahs (one third of the entire world population), i.e. the largest consolidated cheetah population in the world. Cheetahs are under considerable pressure in protected areas due to the presence of lion and spotted hyena: these predators are not present on the farm land. The habitat is also attractive due to the rich availability of food and easily accessible watering places. For this reason, some 90% of cheetahs in Namibia live on commercial farm land, the remaining ten per cent being spread over the national parks and communal areas.

Naturally, the co-existence of mankind and predators in a shared ecosystem results in conflict. Again and again, agricultural animals are mauled by predators, causing considerable economic damage to the farmer. Predators are thus combated using various methods (e.g. shooting, poison, hammer, capture and live sale).

Frequently, however, predators are made responsible for the loss of calves, small livestock or wild game without other possible causes being considered (poaching, snake bites, illness, plant poisoning etc.). By the time the carcass is found, it has usually been largely destroyed by scavengers so the cause of death cannot always be determined.

There is no doubt that among both cheetahs and leopards there are individual animals who specialise in mauling farm animals and thus develop into so-called “problem animals”. They are often animals who are impaired by injury, senility, illness etc. and thus have difficulty preying on wild animals.

There are no objections to a consumptive but selective use of such individual animals. Both trophy hunting and live export are controlled and limited by international agreements (CITES) and thus do not pose any threat to species conservation. The conflict between farmers and large predators essentially derives from the fact that many farmers have tended to regard every predator as a potential threat to their farm animals, seeing their elimination as the only solution. Radio telemetric studies, track analyses and long-term monitoring set out help solve this conflict.