Humans-livestock predators conflict in the Central and Eastern Part of Bale Mountains National Park, Ethiopia.

Background: Sharing of space by humans and wildlife at a time may ignite apparent conflict. Populations of many species are declining due to the degradation of wildlife habitats caused by agricultural activities. Additionally, livestock may compete with wild herbivores for grazing and reduce the abundance of wild prey for carnivores. A reduction in populations of prey species of large predators might cause carnivores to be attracted towards livestock, ultimately provoking and aggravating the human-carnivores conflict. This study investigated the current status of the human-predators conflict in and around the Bale Mountains National Park.

Results: Most (72.75%) respondents agreed on the presence of livestock predation. Major reported predators were spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), olive baboon (Papio anubis), African wolf (Canis lupaster), aardvark (Orycteropus afer), genet (Genetta genetta), Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), lion (Panthera leo), and leopard (Panthera pardus). Cattle (54.19%), sheep (70.96%), goat (32.0%), donkey (37.72%) and horse (27.54%) were mentioned as major target of predators. Within the past ten years 1623 sheep, 741 cattle, 639 goats, 193 donkeys, and 124 horses were predated. This study found an increasing trend of livestock predation. The trend was reported to be high within the Park (68%). During the past ten years, households reported killings of 3320 livestock that cost 347,460.53 USD. Loss of 8.66 USD per month constituted 27.45% of their monthly income which is expected to have a great sustenance impact. Human settlement (41%), agricultural practices (38.6%), overgrazing (25.3%), deforestation for charcoal production (25.1%), deliberate fire to free lands for agriculture (17.3%) were noticed as major causes of livestock depredation.

Conclusions: The results of the present study show that there is strong human-livestock predator conflict in the study area. Therefore, the author suggested that conflict mitigation efforts focus on securing the livestock enclosure to protected areas and regular compensation fees for farmers that face great damage from wildlife. The foremost action should be awareness creation about the environmental, social, and economic importance of protected areas. The management staff of the Park is also expected to promote community involvement in the plan of mitigation strategies and practices.