Ladies and Gentlemen,

Here is another article sent to me by Bwanamich.

Effects Of Trophy Hunting On Lion And Leopard Population In Tanzania

Saeed

You beat me to it again!

I was battling to get Photoshop working so thanks for saving me a job!

Steve,

Well, I had a bit of a problem with the first article Bwanamich sent.

Then I just put up on our server with a link, without doing anything apart from re-naming the file.

And it works.

Very interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing the discussion that stems from this. So based off their reccomendations most Selous blocks would have 1 lion on quota per year. How about the other blocks around the country. 1 lion per 2000sq km block, 2 lions per 4000sq km block, and 3 lions per 6000sq km block. Interesting.

Since a lot of the data for this study came from the time period where taking of younger male lions was not discouraged I wonder if these figures hold the same validity with today's harvest trends? So if 1 lion per 1000sq km Selous and 1 lion per 2000sq km other block is sustainable with the taking of immature lions then wouldn't it be reasonable to assume the sustainable harvest rate would be higher with ONLY the taking of mature male lions? So as long as only mature males are taken the harvest rates should be higher. Maybe 1 lion per 500-750sq km of Selous block? Maybe 1 lion per 1000-1500sq km of other block? Just a thought.

Brett

IMHO, what CP is recommending has no scientific basis. You can't paint every area with the same broad brush.

In another paper (Whittman et alia), they maintain that so long as one shoots only >5 year old lions, one does not need a quota (much more plausible)! I have photos of at least 5-6 male lions from one concession that would qualify under this statement but now we would be restricted to NIL lions because the blocks is only 600 odd sq km!!!

He also fails to mention that one of the resons for recent declines in harvested lions can be attributred to PHs being more selective as that would lower success rate.

Anyway, his intention is to stop the relentless taking of young, immature male lions and this is one way of achieving it. Thereafter one has time to look at it more thouroughly and come up with a better regulated strategy. At least this is what I think he is trying to achieve......

I can hardly fathom that they made this study without predetermined conclusions.

And how is it they know what effect a greater or lesser kill/km^2 would have? I sort of doubt that lions are killed at a greater rate than 1/1000 km^2 in the Selous anyway. You might try but the male lions get too smart to get whacked.

Since they don't know any data other than from hunting, of course hunting is the only "significant impact" on lion populations. Or do poachers turn in their kill numbers to the gov't?

If you want more lions quit shooting them. But don't shoot them just because they are eating the locals, in or out of the Selous.

And they admit that they have no idea of how many leopards are there in any area. And admit there is no way to judge leopard age in the field. But they prescribe what quotas should be!

And they on guess at all the retaliatory and ritual killings.

Currently shooting more lions than leopards (Tanz. quotas) makes no sense at all, to me.

Like any other game, more lions means killing fewer from sport hunting and all other means.

I have seen photos of animals shot by "local" hunters in Tanzania.

And in at least two occasions, I have seen several lion cups which have been killed by them.

I am not sure what sort of policing the Tanzania game department follows on local hunters.

So, Will, your alternative is "Kill 'em all"? As I recollect the fishermen in the North East USA and Canada used the same arguments as you have. The results are now well known. We do not have an inexhaustible supply of lions and leopards. The habitat will not support them. Perhaps your solution is to deport the "locals" so that they won't interfere with hunting?
Peter.

Will before you go off half cocked perhaps you should read the other article. It sheds some light on some of the things you mentioned including lion take density across the country.

Brett

Will:

Leopard are extremely difficult (if not impossible) to monitor due to their habits and as far as Tanzania is concerned, there is neither a shortage nor are they anywhere near being regarded as endangered - they just happen to be a nocturnal species and therefore unlikely to be encountered during the day (except for sporadic sightings) which to the armchair experts in Switzerland could be interpreted differently.

I have not heard of them being poached for medicinal purposes like the Lion or the Albino (the human variety) and the demand for their skins has dramatically fallen as a result of CITES intervention in listing them as 'endangered'.

The current allocated quota of Leopard legally taken in Tanzania would not put a dent in the existing population.