Influence of social media on human-carnivore conflict in Namibia

Feral Namib horses (Equus caballus) and spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) co-occur in the south-eastern corner of the Namib Naukluft Park in Namibia. The current drought and predation on horses has contributed to their drastic... [ view full abstract ]

Feral Namib horses (Equus caballus) and spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) co-occur in the south-eastern corner of the Namib Naukluft Park in Namibia. The current drought and predation on horses has contributed to their drastic decline in numbers and public concern for the horses survival, raised through social media, has led to the start of a diversionary feeding programme for spotted hyaenas. Predation on horses continued and there are indications that the sudden, significant overabundance of supplemented food increased overall spotted hyaena density and reproductive rate and that the localised feeding of spotted hyaenas and horses close to each other caused shifts in activity centres towards the eastern boundary of the National Park. Conflict related killing of spotted hyaenas on farms has been recorded since, and border crossings, attacks on livestock and increased spotted hyaena activity on farmland have been observed. This study highlights that any feeding programmes should be well structured, planned in detail and specialists should be consulted to avoid unintended shifts of conflict.