IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Richmond-Coggan, L. | |
| The Namibian leopard: National Census and Sustainable Hunting Practices | |
| 2019 Full Book | |
"The Namibian Leopard: National Census and Sustainable Hunting Practices study in partnership with the Namibia Professional Hunting Association and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism" ran from September 2017 to March 2019. The study undertook three field work phases, two camera trapping surveys and one questionnaire survey. However, respondents were given the opportunity to complete and return questionnaires throughout the study period but attendance at farmer association meetings was during a specific timeframe. In conjunction with the field work the study collated additional leopard presence and density data from multiple organisations across Namibia. Sustainable use and human-leopard conflict data, collected in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, was also obtained throughout the study. The results of this study were then compared to the Stein _et al., _(2011b) study to determine if there had been any change to the leopard population during that time. The study results identified that leopard densities across Namibia varied significantly. The central and northern camera trap surveys revealed a 40 % and 16 % higher density than the 2011 study. However, in the south of Namibia, the density estimate from this study is 38 % lower. The highest leopard densities were found in areas that had the highest density of game compared with livestock. Based upon current known leopard densities the study has highlighted that leopard densities in Namibia are higher in some areas of the freehold farmland when compared to National Parks. However, in comparison to other leopard densities recorded in South Africa, both inside and outside National Parks, Namibia's densities overall are still very low. Density data collected has shown that the 'high density' category assigned to the north-east of Namibia was miscategorised, the densities now recorded in the region are the lowest in Namibia to date. As part of this study the number of areas categorised as 'No known occurrence' in 2011 have significantly decreased by increasing the presence records, particularly in the east, south and south-east of Namibia. A proportion of these new presence records for the south-east are also outside the current IUCN Red List distribution for leopard in Namibia (Stein _et al., _2016). In relation to human-leopard conflict the study confirms that problem leopard removal and the subsequent lack of reporting to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism is one of the greatest threats to the Namibian leopard population. Over the duration of the study respondents reported removing 342 leopards compared to 196 leopards recorded by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the 183 reported in 2011. In the communal conservancies an average of 336 leopard conflict incidents were logged per year. Since 2011 the reporting rate of problem leopard removal by freehold farmers has declined by 5 % to just 45 %. Ensuring that livestock and game losses were off-set by economic incentives such as, tourism and trophy hunting, was shown to have a direct link to increased tolerance to leopard presence and lower conflict levels. |
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