MAN AND BEAST CAN CO-EXIST
Satellite tracking collars reduce wildlife attacks
The lion tracker system is proving to be successful in the Okavango farming area with over 20 000 alerts recorded through its SMS system since last year. The system was introduced by CLAWS (Communities Living Among Wildlife Sustainably) Botswana, which was established in 2014. Director of Claws Botswana said that they have put satellite tracking collars on the lions and had the villagers give the lions local names to foster a connection.
“The collars transmit the locations of the lions to a cloud-based formula that calculates the distance from the lions to each of the villages, homesteads and cattle posts, then delivers an SMS to anyone that the lion is approaching. “Once the warning is received the respondent can take preventative actions like kraaling their cattle and building small fires to deter lions from attacking the cattle. Stein said they observed that with humans and wildlife living increasingly close to one another, it is important to find ways to bolster community involvement. One of the biggest concerns is their predation by free-roaming animals. Stein said that beasts such as lions taking communities’ livestock often results in the lions being killed in retaliation. “The consequences of such retaliatory killings are far-reaching, and other species such as cheetahs and vultures, also suffer,” he said. In terms of protecting livestock, Stein explained that the whole idea is to return to the traditional way of herding livestock, which saw them accompanied by herders, making it difficult for wild animals to prey on them. He also said that the project consolidates the herds in order to reduce the cost, adding that the system has many benefits. “An additional advantage is that grazing becomes better controlled, thus reducing the damage to grasslands and cutting back on land degradation,” he said.
The area lost many cattle to lions and leopards before the programme started but things have now improved. “Farmers are optimistic and many want the project spread to their areas, and are interested in joining.” Stein works alongside Andrew Mudongo who was with the Department of Wildlife prior to joining Claws Africa. Stein himself holds a PHD in Wildlife Conservation, while Mudongo has completed a PHD in ecology and climate change. Their practical experience and educational training has proved beneficial to operating conservancies in the area. Mudongo said that the plan is to have many people from the area taking on the community conservancies and the interest and enthusiasm to the conservation programme are also quite encouraging, as they also get to learn eco-literacy, rangeland restoration from overgrazing, and techniques for reducing lion conflict. Stein explained that the herding system can contribute to or solve the problem of predator attacks and environmental protection.
“Initially we brought together 20 people from each area around the Okavango area and facilitated workshops and training to teach them on protection of ecosystems and how to complement the traditional herding system with modern holistic management.” Paul Dube, foreman of herders at the Eretsha communal cattle farm said that cattle in the area were easily attacked before the programme but that installing predator proof bomas has helped. “Before we introduced this new system, locals used to poison and kill lions, hyenas and vultures to push them away, which was not good as it led to high deaths of wildlife. They are now more educated on low impact options that they can implement and appreciating that it is possible for humans and wildlife to co-exist,” he said.
Through the support of Claws Botswana, three eco-rangers Tlotlang Motsheko, Kelebogile Motshoi and Obonye Maphane were trained on herding at the Southern Africa Wildlife College. “We grew up herding cattle in the traditional manner, but upskilling has allowed us to be more innovative as we strive to protect animals from
predators,” Motshoi said. Monnaaleso Sanga, farmer and community cattle herder leader in Eretsha, is the chairperson of Ipopeng, a community conservancy programme that watches over cattle and tries to mitigate predator attacks. He said that since working with Claws Botswana, they have observed an improvement as they have better knowledge and improved skills.
“Claws Botswana has helped us find ways to heal
sick animals and also introduce different ways to create co-existence between animals and humans. We also implement conservation projects to protect the environment and engage the community,” he said. Setiwa Mojoo, who is also chairperson of the community herding group said they have benefitted from training on spotting animals and co-existence. “Attacks happen anyhow in predator mode or just on its own way,” she said.