Assistant Professor of Anthropology University of Lethbridge, Canada
Abstract: Across shared landscapes, negative human-carnivore interactions can bring about serious consequences for both wildlife and human livelihoods. Identifying factors that promote coexistence is thereby one of the most pressing and complex contemporary issues facing wildlife managers and local communities globally. The nature and intensity of human-carnivore dynamics is contingent on both ecological and human social factors. Carnivore behavioural ecology is influenced by their external environment and distribution of available resources, whereas human tolerance for predatory wildlife is determined by an array of social, economic, and cultural factors. This paper examines carnivore-pastoralist conflict dynamics in the Tarangire-Manyara Ecosystem of northern Tanzania using a mixed-methods framework. Using ethnographic data from household surveys (n = 427) we assess reported levels of livestock depredation by leopards (Panthera pardus) and spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) across a savanna landscape adjacent to a mountain forest. We examine the effects of environmental factors (i.e. vegetative structure, intraguild competition, proximity to protected area or water source) and livestock husbandry practices on the relative frequency of attacks using a general linear model framework. We further identify predictors of people’s tolerance levels towards carnivores using a paired quantitative (binomial logistic regression) and qualitative descriptive analytic approach. Preliminary findings suggest that a combination of environmental factors and predator deterrent strategies contribute to the degree of livestock attacks people experienced at bomas in the Tarangire Ecosystem. Pastoralist tolerance for hyenas and leopards was determined by a culmination of the degree of economic losses experienced, individual’s lived experiences and perceptions around the importance of conservation and the perceived benefits of living amongst large predatory wildlife. Our findings offer valuable insights into mechanistic determinants of conflict and identify possible pathways to coexistence.
