Ruaha Carnivore Project Progress Report

Transcription

1 Ruaha Carnivore Project Progress Report Spring-Summer 2013

2 Dear friends of the Ruaha Carnivore Project, The second half of 2012 and first part of 2013 have exceeded even our own expectations. The Lion Guardians programme got off to a very quick and so far successful start, with three staff members and five Barabaig Lion Guardians hired. We had the entire dry season, when the number of depredations is low, to get them used to their jobs and the Barabaig community used to the idea of not killing lions. They then proved their worth in this recent rainy season, as they helped stop numerous lion hunts, and helped reduce lion killing in the core study area. We had hoped to provide two full secondary school scholarships to pastoralist children. Instead, we raised enough money to send six children to secondary school, which was really great. Thanks to grants from the National Geographic Big Cats Initiative and other supporters, we have now predator-proofed over 50 livestock enclosures, which is great. No livestock have been killed in the improved enclosures, which has reduced the local economic costs of carnivore presence and the need for retaliatory killing. Our camp has grown tremendously: we have added two bandas (thatch-roofed platforms to protect our tents from the elements and marauding wildlife), are slowly replacing our nylon tents with second-hand canvas ones (that hopefully will be less inviting to snakes and mice), have expanded our solar power array, and most exciting of all have run a water pipe from Kitisi to camp! This was surprisingly inexpensive and saves many hours of manpower and wear and tear on our vehicles. You can read more about what we are doing below and also find out more on our website or on Facebook. None of our work would be possible without all of our supporters, so huge thanks from the entire team for everything you are doing. We hope that you enjoy the report! Best wishes, the RCP team Dr. Amy Dickman, director; Dr. Maurus Msuha, scientific collaborator; Monty Kalyahe, senior research assistant; Ayubu Msago, community liaison; Msafiri Mgumba, senior research assistant; Justin Chumbulila, research assistant; Stephano Asecheka, Lion Guardians coordinator; and George Sedoyeka, Lion Guardians coordinator. Cover photo by Mdonya Old River Lodge s game driver, Kahimba. Page 1

3 ABOUT THE RUAHA LANDSCAPE AND THE RUAHA CARNIVORE PROJECT Tanzania s Ruaha landscape, which includes the Ruaha National Park, Wildlife Management Areas, Game Reserves and neighbouring village lands, is one of the most important places in the world for large carnivores: this area holds over 10% of the world s remaining lions, one of only four cheetah populations in East Africa numbering 200 individuals or more, the third largest population of endangered African wild dogs in the world, and globally important populations of leopards and spotted hyaenas. However, despite its significance, very little scientific research has been conducted on Ruaha s carnivores, hindering the development of effective conservation plans. Furthermore, there is intense human-carnivore conflict in the local area, which is a major conservation issue. This conflict in which carnivores pose a threat to people or their stock, and people respond by killing carnivores causes severe problems for both villagers and carnivores, so reducing it is a top priority for the project. The Ruaha Carnivore Project, which was established in 2009, is part of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) within Oxford University s Zoology Department. It works in partnership with Tanzanian organisations such as the Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) and National Parks authorities to achieve the following: (i) Provide baseline information on large carnivore distribution, relative abundance and ecology across the Ruaha landscape, including both protected and unprotected land; and (ii) Reduce the costs and improve the benefits associated with living alongside carnivores for local people, thereby reducing human-carnivore conflict in this critically important area. Page 2

4 GENERAL NEWS Five Barabaig Warriors become the first Ruaha Lion Guardians Thanks to a grant from Panthera, and through close partnership with the Lion Guardians organisation in Kenya, five young Barabaig warriors have been hired as RCP s first Lion Guardians. As Lion Guardians, the warriors help protect lions in human-dominated areas by collecting data on lions, warning people of lions presence in grazing areas, helping villagers repair livestock enclosures, locating lost livestock (and children) and working with other warriors in the community to prevent lion hunts. The Barabaig are responsible for the majority of the Ruaha area s lion killings, both in retaliation for livestock depredation and as part of their coming-of-age rituals. They are an intensely secretive group who typically do not mix with outsiders, and earning their trust took RCP staff almost two years. But since agreeing to become part of the Lion Guardians programme, which originated in Kenya with the Maasai, there has been a striking decline in lion killings in the core study area. This is particularly impressive as convincing a Barabaig warrior to renounce lion killing is no small feat some of the Barabaig Lion Guardians reported participating in more than 90 lion hunts before becoming Guardians! Our Lion Guardians team (from left to right): Gwagi Gaga, Daremu Philipo, Stephano Asecheka (ccordinator), Ema Kwashema, Mandela Dudmeka and Daudi Kinyoka The Barabaig s commitment was sorely tested in February, when almost nightly attacks on Barabaig bomas caused more than a dozen livestock deaths. The Lion Guardians and RCP staff worked day and night even staying at vulnerable bomas overnight to help prevent attacks and retaliatory lion hunts. The Lion Guardians intercepted one hunt and convinced the warriors to turn back, and eventually the attacks stopped without any lions being killed. We look forward to reporting on more successes as the programme grows. Page 3

5 First Simba Scholars start school! One of the benefits that local villagers said they would most appreciate from the presence of carnivores was better access to education. To address this, in 2012 RCP raised funds, through the AZA Conservation Endowment Fund and private donors, to provide six Simba Scholarships. These are competitive scholarships available for children from local pastoralist families, and the six Scholars began attending Idodi Secondary School in February It is hard for villagers to pay for their children to attend secondary school, so this has been very important in terms of a tangible benefit to local people, as it will have long-term value for the students and their families. To learn more about these first Simba Scholars, visit our website at Please contact RCP if you are interested in learning more about the Scholarships or funding a Simba Scholar next year. Ayubu Msago (RCP s community liaison) with the six Simba Scholars: from left to right, Grace Nchachi, Herieth Charles, John Kunguti, Kwangu Charles, Isaya Koyesa, & Zawadiana Daniel Staff Updates Msafiri Mgumba has returned to camp after completing his Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice at Oxford University. We are thrilled to have him back with all his new skills, and have promoted him to Senior Research Assistant. Research Assistant Meshack Saigulu received a scholarship to undertake his Masters degree at the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) we are sad not to have him at camp but will be working with him again both during and after his degree. Stephano Asecheka and George Sedoyeka came on board to manage the Lion Guardians programme, and Justin Chambulila has been hired as a research assistant for RCP. Page 4

6 New options for donating People interested in giving to the Ruaha Carnivore Project - in particular those in the United States - have a great new option for online donations. The Houston Zoo is hosting a donation page for lion conservation organizations, and RCP is one of the featured organizations. To check out our gorgeous and easy-to-use page, go to Please give! U.S. tax-payers and others can also make tax-free donations through Americans for Oxford at Remember to designate the Ruaha Carnivore Project as the recipient of your donation. One hundred percent of your donations, through either link, go directly to support RCP s research and programmes that help people living in the Ruaha landscape better coexist with carnivores. Do you want to get involved with exploring wild Africa, from the comfort of your own home? Now you can, through RCP s newest initiative, the Ruaha Explorer s Club (REC). REC members become virtual explorers of the Ruaha landscape by sponsoring one of our camera traps that move throughout this relatively uncharted area. Each camera s images and GPS coordinates are posted on designated Facebook pages that the sponsors control, giving Explorers a unique insight into the work of RCP and the wonders of Ruaha s wildlife. The first sponsorships are being trialled and the programme will be made public in the spring of Look for news on this fun initiative on our website ( and Facebook page: Project/ Page 5

7 RESEARCHING CARNIVORE ECOLOGY Despite the global significance of the Ruaha landscape, very little research has been conducted to date; thus remarkably little is known about the number, distribution or ecology of its valuable carnivore populations. We are working with a variety of stakeholders, including Tanzanian authorities, Park lodges and tourists to collect as much reliable data as possible on Ruaha s carnivore populations. These data are then shared with organisations such as TAWIRI, where we hope they will assist in the development of conservation and management plans for carnivores in the Ruaha landscape. Camera-trapping RCP staff continue to analyse the data in the images recorded in our camera traps. To date, we have recorded 8,027 camera-trap images, which involve 43 different wild mammal species, including 22 carnivore species. While most images have come from the Park (4,607) followed by Wildlife Management Area land (2,319) and then village land (1,101), species diversity continues to be highest on Wildlife Management Area land (37 mammal species, including 17 carnivore species), followed by the National Park (35 mammal species, 18 carnivore species) and village land (35 mammal species, 17 carnivore species). Senior Research Assistant Monty Kalyahe is examining these data in more detail as part of his Masters in Conservation Biology at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. Monty s analysis will provide the first scientific data on carnivore diversity, distribution, demography and abundance across different land-use zones of the Ruaha landscape. This image of a young male lion was captured by a camera trap placed in the Mpululu area of Ruaha National Park in December. Page 6

8 Carnivore sightings Who better to collect data and images of carnivores than game drivers for the lodges in Ruaha National Park? RCP has worked with the lodges, by equipping the drivers with digital cameras and GPS units to record carnivore sightings during their daily travels. These data will be used to identify individual animals and provide critical information on their movement in and around the Park. Mwagusi Safari Camp s three drivers lead the pack with an incredible 1,112 sightings, Ruaha River Lodge (four drivers) has tallied 833 sightings, Mdonya Old River Camp (two drivers) has reported 580, and Jongomero Lodge (two drivers), the furthest southwest and our newest addition, has logged 20. From July February 2013, Mwagusi s Vicent Kavaya collected the most sighting data forms and images of carnivores, with 69 reports thanks so much to all the lodges and drivers for the efforts! In addition to providing an incredible amount of data, the game drivers photos are gorgeous and sometimes quite dramatic. In 2013, we hope to hold a game driver photo contest on Facebook, with such categories as Best Identification Photo, Cutest Sleeping Lion Photo and Most Dramatic Photo. This beautiful image was taken by Mwagusi Safari Camp driver Moses. Additionally, visitors to the area are asked to tell us about carnivore sightings and, if possible, us their photos. So far, we have received information on 315 large carnivore sightings, mainly from Ruaha National Park but also from occasional sightings outside the Park. The majority of tourist sightings were of cheetah (125), followed by lion (93), then leopard (71), spotted hyaena (24), and finally African wild dogs, with 2 reported sightings. Page 7

9 Visitors to Ruaha National Park can share their photos with RCP to help us track the comings and goings of Ruaha s resident carnivores, such as these cheetahs (photo by Sasja van Vechgel ( These reports are extremely useful to us, so if you are planning to visit Ruaha National Park or have visited it in the past and would like to share your sightings with us, please contact us via Facebook or by . The camera-trapping and sightings data are being used by MSc student Leandro Abade, who has produced the first maps of likely carnivore presence across Ruaha. These maps show the importance of the southern area of the Park, which is close to village land this really highlights the need for us to reduce human-carnivore conflict in the villages, as carnivore killings in that area are likely to affect carnivores in the Park as well. Map predicting priority (red) areas for large carnivores around Ruaha (c) Leandro Abade Page 8

10 REDUCING HUMAN-CARNIVORE CONFLICT There is intense conflict between humans and large carnivores around the Park, caused mainly by attacks on livestock, as well as a lack of tangible benefits from carnivore presence for local people and little understanding of conservation. To address these issues, RCP employs three main strategies: (i) reducing the costs of carnivore presence; (ii) improving the benefits associated with carnivores; and (iii) providing education and outreach. Reducing the costs of carnivore presence More than 60% of carnivore attacks on stock occur at livestock enclosures, which are often poorly constructed due to a lack of good materials. To address this, RCP works with villagers to reinforce their bomas using chain-link fencing and tall posts made of, when available, living trees that will fill out over time and become truly impenetrable. The livestock owner pays half the cost and shares the labour with RCP, who brings in the necessary materials and expertise. Not a single head of livestock has been lost while inside one of our reinforced bomas. Thanks to grants, including from National Geographic Big Cats Initiative, the Columbus Zoo and Zoos and Aquariums Committing to Conservation (ZACC), we have now reinforced over 50 bomas in 14 villages surrounding Ruaha National Park. While the Barabaig experience the highest levels of livestock depredation - and kill the most lions in retaliation - they were hesitant to try these bomas. However, in 2012 we convinced a Barabaig man to work with us to reinforce his boma, and since then 10 more Barabaig households have followed. We now have a waiting list of Barabaig households wanting reinforced bomas. Locations of RCP reinforced bomas, colour-coded by village (c) Msafiri Mgumba Page 9

11 Reducing carnivore attacks upon villagers livestock economically benefits local people and also has a valuable conservation impact by reducing retaliatory killing, which can have devastating effects on carnivores and other wildlife. Providing benefits linked to carnivore presence Preventing livestock loss is only part of the battle. Since villagers derive few if any benefits from carnivore presence, one of RCP s priorities is to develop relevant, community-based initiatives so that villagers can see real benefits from carnivore presence. The most-desired benefits selected by villagers included education, human health and veterinary health. We have already worked with villagers to equip a local healthcare clinic, and our progress on education and veterinary health is detailed below. Education To address educational needs, RCP s Kids 4 Cats sister school scheme pairs schools in more developed countries such as England and the United States with schools in the villages around Ruaha, with the goal of raising money to buy much-needed supplies. One of the latest schools to join up the Kids 4 Cats programme is Longney Church of England Primary School in Gloucestershire, England. Longney School has been twinned with Makifu Primary School, which has 246 students and only six teachers. We have delivered over Tsh 4,000,000 (US$2,400) in books and supplies to our twinned schools and are continually expanding this. Students at Idodi Secondary School display the books received from RCP s Kids 4 Cats Programme. Page 10

12 Many other local schools would love to have an international sister school through Kids 4 Cats, so if you know of a school that might be interested, please contact us via our Facebook page or amy.dickman@zoo.ox.ac.uk. As mentioned earlier, we awarded our first six Simba Scholarships this year to secondary school-age children from poor pastoralist families - those who traditionally suffer the most from carnivore presence yet receive the fewest benefits. Because pastoralists live in the outlying areas of a community, move around and often have few financial resources, their children either don t attend school at all or only attend primary school, which is free in Tanzania. Our ultimate goal is to provide at least one secondary school scholarship for each of the 22 local villages, so if you are interested in helping a child receive a secondary-school education as a benefit of coexisting with carnivores, please contact us. Veterinary Medicine Programme Our surveys revealed that villagers lose nine times as many livestock to disease than to predators, and if we can help lower that number, people should be better able to tolerate the occasional loss due to predators. Thanks to a grant from the BBC Wildlife Fund, we launched a pilot project that provides access for pastoralists to partially subsidised veterinary medicines. Due to intense demand, we make the medicines available to people who have invested in predator-proofing their bomas, which has caused demand for our bomas to skyrocket. The medicines are another direct, tangible benefit to local people from the presence of the project and therefore carnivores on village land, and these benefits are highlighted and discussed during community meetings. Our veterinary medicines programme provides commonly used livestock medicines to pastoralists at a much-reduced price. Page 11

13 OUTREACH AND EDUCATION With so few nongovernmental organizations working in the Ruaha area, local people often have little awareness of conservation issues or the fact that carnivore presence can bring significant economic revenue to the area. They are also often hostile towards the Park and its wildlife, as they are unsure of its role and whether it provides any community benefits. There is also often confusion about the causes of livestock loss; for instance, it can be difficult to determine whether an animal died from an illness or injury and was then scavenged or was killed by a predator. Improving local knowledge of these issues is a very important part of RCP s work. We are very pleased to say that we have now surpassed the 10,000 DVD night participant mark. DVDs about wildlife conservation are shown at village centres, schools and subvillages throughout the area and attract large crowds, providing RCP staff an excellent opportunity to talk about wildlife, carnivores, and RCP s programmes. To date, 2,418 students and 8,118 other villagers (2,405 men, 1,954 women and 3,759 children) have attended DVD shows. Local people hugely enjoy the nature programmes, despite being narrated in English, and we are very keen to work with our partners to eventually develop Swahili versions so if you could help with that, please let us know! Villagers watching an educational DVD night, conducted by Ayubu Msago Page 12

14 The vast majority of people who live in the villages surrounding Ruaha National Park have never had the chance to visit it. Because many of the Park lodges guests fly directly into the Park, most villagers do not realize how popular a destination it is for tourists. To help them understand the value of the Park, and to see wildlife in non-threatening circumstances and improve their understanding of both the Park and wildlife, RCP takes villagers into the Park. Ruaha National Park staff have played a key role in this, and their community outreach team meets with the villagers to explain the local role of the Park and answer questions. Maasai villagers and Suleiman (one of RCP s conflict officers) on an educational Park trip Villagers are fascinated not only by the wildlife but also by the carloads of foreign tourists and the planes landing at the Park airstrip. Everyone reports greatly enjoying seeing wildlife and learning about conservation and the role of the Park, and we have a long waiting list for future trips. More importantly, these trips are changing people s perceptions about the Park and carnivores: 82% of Park trip participants said the trip made them feel more positively about potentially dangerous animals such as lions, 99% said the visit improved their attitude towards the Park, and 100% said the visit made them feel more positively towards the Ruaha Carnivore Project. Thanks to various grants, including from the Angel Fund at the Cincinnati Zoo, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and the BBC, to date RCP has taken 296 people (116 men, 75 women, 57 boys and 48 girls) on educational Park visits, and we intend to continue and expand this initiative. Page 13

15 LOOKING FORWARD We will be launching two new programmes and one exciting research project later in The first programme is the livestock guarding dog (LGD) trial, which is being funded by the Taronga Conservation Society of Australia. LGDs have been used very successfully by the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) to protect goats and sheep from cheetahs and leopards in Namibia, so we are keen to see if they will help reduce attacks and human-carnivore conflict in Tanzania. We are working on permits and transport of the dogs at present and are aiming to bring them from CCF to Tanzania in June. As soon as everything is in place, Msago will travel to Namibia to bring back our first livestock guarding dogs. Secondly, to prevent diseases being passed from domestic dogs to Ruaha s African wild dogs a key threat to this endangered canid we will be working with veterinary officers and partners to develop a domestic dog vaccination initiative. Thanks to a grant from the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, we will vaccinate local dogs in the three villages closest to wild dog territories for rabies and distemper. This will also provide another valuable benefit to villagers, as rabies is a major human health threat in this area will be the year of the dog in terms of RCP plans! Very excitingly, RCP recently received permission from the Tanzanian authorities to begin satellite-collaring lions, in order to better understand patterns of movement and conflict across the landscape. This will be exceptionally valuable as it will provide the first detailed data on lion ecology for the Ruaha landscape and also will be linked to the Lion Guardians programme, as the Guardians will help collar and track the lions on village land. We plan to collar five to 10 lions, depending on available funds stay tuned for more information! We are grateful to everyone who has supported and helped us, and thanks for your interest in the Ruaha Carnivore Project. Our next report will be published in autumn 2013, and until then check our website and Facebook page for updates. For more information about RCP, please contact Amy Dickman on amy.dickman@zoo.ox.ac.uk. Page 14

16 Project partners Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), Department of Zoology, University of Oxford Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) and the Tanzania Carnivore Centre Major sponsors (> $20,000) during May 2012 April 2013 University of Oxford Kaplan Fellowship Panthera National Geographic Big Cats Initiative Peoples Trust for Endangered Species Roger Fry Taronga Conservation Society of Australia Additional sponsors (> $1000) during May 2012 April 2013 Angel Fund, Cincinnati Zoo* AZA Conservation Endowment Fund BBC Wildlife Fund Blank Park Zoo Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Columbus Zoo and Aquarium Conservation and Research Foundation Dallas Zoo Feline Conservation Federation Handsel Foundation* Houston Zoo John and Sheila Compton Jonathan and Meg Ratner Family Foundation Leiden Conservation Foundation Scott Satterfield & Laura Brown SeaWorld Busch Gardens Conservation Fund* Steven and Florence Goldby Tom and Heather Sturgess Woodland Park Zoo Zoo Atlanta Zoo Heidelberg *Represents supporters who have given over $20,000 cumulatively over time Page 15

17 Fieldwork and education partners David, Pat and Jon Erickson Exmouth Community College Clayton Middle School Foxes African Safaris and Ruaha River Lodge Honiton Community College Jongomero Camp Justin Brashares, Clinton Epps and Chantal Stoner Kwihala Camp Leo Sooter Lion Guardians and Living with Lions Longney C of E Primary School Mdonya Old River Camp Mwagusi Safari Camp Steuart Weller Elementary School Tandala Tented Camp TwoMoors Primary School Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN) Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Ruaha Landscape Programme Other supporters British Airways Exmouth Rotary Club & Exmouth Raleigh Rotary Club John Wilkes, Bearcreek and Sandcrab Trading Peter Jones and the Big Picture, Oxford Ro Dickman WildCRU, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford The Recanati-Kaplan Centre, Tubney House Abingdon Road, Tubney, Oxfordshire OX13 5QL, U.K. Tel: +44 (0) amy.dickman@zoo.ox.ac.uk Web: Donate (tax-free US donations): All other donations: Page 16