Caprivi Spotted Hyaena Project

Researcher: Lise Hanssen

Background
Spotted hyaena are the most abundant of all large carnivores in sub-Saharan Africa, occurring in a wide variety of habitats. However, their range was drastically reduced during the 20th century, continuing into the current one. The reduction in numbers and distribution has been accelerating as the human population grows, resulting in an increase in conflict between hyaena and human development. This problem is accentuated in areas of high human density. The future for spotted hyaena outside protected areas remains precarious. It is difficult to reconcile the presence of spotted hyaena in agricultural areas, as they are formidable livestock killers and are actively persecuted. Because the spotted hyaena is unable to inhabit agricultural areas successfully its future is tied to the long-term future of conservation areas.

The Caprivi has three National Parks: Bwabwata National Park (BNP) in the west, and Mudumu and Mamili National Parks in the east. High-density human settlements and related livestock farming practices on the periphery of these protected areas result in the highest Human Wildlife Conflict area in Namibia. 

In some conservancies in the eastern Caprivi, spotted hyaena are thought to be responsible for over 50% of all livestock losses to large carnivores. Next to elephant they are considered the biggest problem animal in all conservancies throughout Namibia.

Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC) is a threat to conservation and the goals and objectives of the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programme that is practiced within the Caprivi conservancies. At the same time spotted hyaena are considered conservation-dependent and much of their range in Namibia is data deficient. The Caprivi Spotted Hyaena Project is the first attempt to study their ecology and related Human Wildlife Conflict in the north-east region of Namibia.

Methodology
The project will focus on conservancies falling within the Mudumu North Complex (MNC), a human and livestock settlement area that falls between two national parks, BNP and Mudumu National Park. As large scale poisoning of problem animals is no longer practised spotted hyaena have become significant predators of livestock in this area. It is perceived that problem animals originate from the adjacent protected areas rather than within the conservancies themselves. 

A hyaena clan originating in the Mudumu National Park will be studied intensively to monitor their movements both within the park and in the livestock farming areas on the park boundary. In addition, data on diet through scat analysis will be collected to determine whether livestock is a significant food source for spotted hyaena in the Caprivi.

In the communal conservancies, attempts have been made to offset the financial losses of conflict by introducing trophy hunting, which targets and eliminates problem animals. Hunting quotas are set intentionally low as there have been no intensive population studies or long-term monitoring. Some large carnivore species are robust in the face of lethal control; however, spotted hyaena are known to be extremely sensitive to persecution. The clan structure is based on a dominance hierarchy and the removal of only a few key individuals will result in the destruction of the entire clan in the long term.

In addition to the removal of animals through trophy hunting, problem hyaena are killed by community rangers. The effects of this compounded removal on the stability and long-term conservation of spotted hyaena is unknown. Human-related mortality among large carnivores in other studies in hyaena ranges has been known to create population 'sinks' around protected areas; the resulting edge effect appears strong enough to cause local extinction. This project will thus study the size and structure of a clan of spotted hyaena in the eastern Caprivi and monitor this over time to determine whether off-take through trophy hunting is a suitable and sustainable practice.

Benefits
The overall aim of the project is to determine the demography, land use characteristics and limiting factors of spotted hyaena in the Caprivi, including protected areas, with a view to assisting with conservation and conservancy management strategies.

The project will produce an overall management plan for spotted hyaena within Protected Areas and the surrounding human settlement areas of the Caprivi Region. This management strategy will be relevant to policies for the greater Kavango Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) of which the Caprivi forms a significant part.

Conservancies and livestock farmers will benefit from the study of spotted hyaena and their interaction with livestock and the effectiveness of farming methods presently used in human settlement areas. 

Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism will benefit through a spotted hyaena management plan that will pertain not only to the Caprivi Protected Areas, but to other parks that fall within spotted hyaena distribution in Namibia. Research results will be most relevant in indicating whether consumptive use practices are sustainable.

Community Development NGOs  play a significant role in assisting communities in setting trophy hunting quotas every year. These quotas are based on number of conflict incidents as well as numbers of a particular species to be hunted, and are obtained from regular and ongoing wildlife census work, but are not relevant to carnivore species. For the first time information on a carnivore population estimate as well as the makeup of the social group will be available to guide these management decisions.