Snares, poison, trenches and guards'the artillery of an ongoing war in Africa. Farmers working the land near a national park in western Uganda are fighting a constant battle to prevent animals from raiding their property, a situation to which a growing number of Wisconsin farmers can relate. A UW-Madison scientist has uncovered which animals are raiding what and where as wel as how local people feel about unwillingly sharing their food with wildlife.
Lisa Naughton-Treves, an UW-Madison assistant professor of geography, traveled to Kibale National Park in Uganda to study the events of this great conflict between humans and wildlife in the region.
Kibale National Park is a 296-square-mile tropical forest remnant established as a protected area to conserve the wealth of wildlife inhabiting the region during a time of rapid deforestation. The densely forested park is home to a diverse group of large animals including elephants, chimpanzees, baboons, monkeys and bushpigs. All have well-known reputations as crop raiders.
Immediately surrounding the forest's edge are small-scale farms of various crops and livestock, which serve as both food and an income source for farmers and their families. There are no fences to keep animals out of the fields, given the large cost. Therefore, farmers resort to setting traps, putting out poison and standing watch over their crops, day and night, to prevent losses from predation.
Naughton-Treves systematically surveyed crop damage for two years and interviewed local farmers to determine where the damage was occurring, what animals were causing the most damage and what crops were most affected. She found considerable differences between her survey results and the accounts of farmers.
In her survey, Naughton-Treves found almost all of the crop damage occurred within 200 meters of the park's edge. However, all farmers complained of the severity of the damage, even those who farmed as far as a kilometer from the park.
Farmers accused a variety of wildlife of raiding and said baboons, bushpigs and elephants were the worst. Not one farmer mentioned livestock as culprits. Naughton-Treves' studies showed that local livestock were the second most frequent crop raiders.
She also looked at which crops were most often raided. Bananas were most preferred by the animals, with maize coming in a distant second. Conversely, farmers stated maize as the No. 1-preferred crop followed by bananas.
Naughton-Treves attributed the differences between her findings and the accounts of farmers to human perception.
'Local perception reflects the extreme of damage, not the average losses,' Naughton-Treves said.
An elephant raid, which can decimate an entire crop in one night, has greater impact than the steady, small thefts of baboons, she said
Naughton-Treves also said issues involving the park are highly politicized.
'Farmers are angry at the park service in general,' Naughton-Treves said. 'They often refer to the wildlife as 'government's animals.''
Farmers cannot legally hunt the wildlife or use the park's resources, such as fuel wood. They do not feel they should go hungry so that baboons and elephants can eat.
The situation at Kibale is difficult, and a solution does not prove to be any easier. One might think simply putting a fence around the park is the answer.
However, doing so is not so simple. The cost of electrical fences is high, and maintaining working fences in the tropics is no easy task. The fences would have to be kept clear of all vegetation, which is time consuming and difficult in an area where vegetation is fast growing and dense.
Compensation by the government for crop losses has also been discussed, but logistical problems with such a system are abundant.
How does one define what is adequate evidence of wildlife crop damage? What standards should
be used for determining the amount of compensation? How is the government going to generate funds for such a program?
Action has been taken 'to tip thescale more towards profit instead of losses,' according to Naughton-Treves. The Ugandan government now allows legal access to certain park products such as wild coffee and medicinal plants. Tourism revenues are also being shared by local communities for use in projects such as building schools.
There has also been some recent success in keeping wildlifewithin the park without the use of costly fences. Thorn bushes have been planted around the park's edge and are doing a good job of preventing animals from leaving the forest.
Conflicts between humans and wildlife are not problems that occur only in foreign lands.
Naughton-Treves is currently working with the state Department of Natural Resources and several livestock producer organizations to find where in northern Wisconsin livestock killed by wolves are most numerous and why. She is also looking how farmers in the area are coping with the loss of calves to growing wolf populations.
Just as Ugandan farmers refer to elephants as 'the government's animals,' she hears these ranchers refer to the wolves as 'the DNR's animals.' The DNR does provide monetary compensation for the loss of calves if evidence is found that a wolf caused the death. However, finding the needed evidence is not always an easy task, and ranchers are often left with the loss.
'Something I have seen about people all over the world is that they don't want to risk losing what is theirs,' Naughton-Treves said. Yet animals do not recognize the claim of ownership made by humans, and therefore, the wars continue.
