The most dangerous threat to lions and other carnivores is man.

In the ‘70s there were 200 000 lions in the world. Now, there are only in the region of 25 000 of them left. That means the lion population has decreased by 90% within a few decades. The situation is worse with the African wild dog. This amazing predator is one of the most threatened with extinction on the African continent. There are only 3500-5000 of them in in Africa.

Dead lion, dead cheetah.
Many predators end up like them, shot or poisoned by farmers.

The worst tragedy is that we are mainly responsible for their rapid decline. Countless wild animals fall prey to the conflict between farmers and predators. When a predator leaves the protected area and moves into agricultural lands, a farmer is in many situations allowed to shoot it, legally.

Financial losses suffered because of killed cattle are the main argument to support the farmers’ case. A lion or a wild dog can simply be hungry and not notice the difference between “legal” and “illegal” trophies. The researchers from SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund, a German nature protection organization, which support several species protected in Botswana, can confirm that the conflict has largely escalated over the last few years. That is not only because of the increasing numbers of cattle – at present, there is 3 million within a country of only 2 million people. There are only few buffer zones between protected areas and farms. Therefore, the chances are increasing that predators will encounter cattle during their search for food.

The researchers from SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund suspect, that presently an unknown but significantly high percentage of lions and wild dogs are not dying from natural causes rather, they are shot and poisoned.
It was only recently that SAVE researchers found several farmers who has shot many lions and wild dogs in only a couple of weeks. These are horrific numbers considering the fact that the farmers have destroyed maybe as much as 15% of the regions total number of wild dogs in such a short time. It is a catastrophe not only for biological diversity, but also for the rapidly developing safari tourism. The value of one lion on safari has been estimated to be worth about 20 000 Euros. The mean value of a cow is just EUR 500. In some cases the damage the predator attacks have inflicted on cattle are relatively minor and yes predators still get wipped out.

SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund wishes to take control of this issue by introducing immediate assistance. The members of the SAVE research team in Botswana have been communicating with farmers and some are willing to look at solutions other than killing predators immediately and on sight. Other of course are not but SAVE wants to work with farmers looking for solutions.
A bit of hope is offered by those farmers who are ready to negotiate on developing new methods and reaching new solutions to substitute shooting the animals. In those conversations, the researchers from SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund become a partner who offers to help farmers find solutions to live with predators and as a last resort even move wild dogs to compensate for their damage done.

However, it is generally a race against time. If even only a few farmers work with the SAVE, many carnivores can be saved.

SAVE documents violation of a temporary injunction

In recent months, various environmental organizations such as the SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund have fought in defence of an old, particularly species-rich rain forest in Cameroon. According to the plans of the American company Farm Hercules,70,000 hectares of rainforest should be cleared in one of the most important ecosystems on Earth, in order to build a plantation of oil palm tree..

Conservationists’ efforts: international protest petitions, the Rainforest Conference held in August last year and legal action taken by an international environmental advocate turned out to be successful: on 31 August 2011 the court ordered the cessation of clearing a section of the area and prohibited all activities on the planned oil palm plantations.

Despite a court order, SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund kept receiving again and again information from our observers in Cameroon about violations against the temporary injunction by Farm Hercules.

Now, for the first time, the violations can be proved by providing documentary evidence: SAVE is in possession of photographs which show that employees of the company continue to work and, according to eyewitnesses, the plantation was sizeably enlarged. These pictures were taken on January 5, 2012 by employees of a local conservation organization, who are partners of SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund in Cameroon.

Furthermore, these pictures show the before and after comparison of the plantation area that is now larger. In addition, another new deforested area is visible. Other images show wooden huts that were built for the company workers, which were prohibited by the court as well.

As punishment for each day, when violations of the court order take place in the oil palm plantations, the company must pay EUR 760 per day. The total amount of the fine to date is almost EUR 100,000. But so far, the company has refused to pay and lodged a complaint on 23.11.2011 to a higher court against arranged penalty payments.

SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund is highly concerned about violating the temporary Injunction and avoidance of responsibility by the oil palm company. SAVE hopes for further legal action, as well as a turn of the company policy. Environmentalists say: "Man and nature must be equally respected and should not be ignored".

Success after more than six months of field research

SAVE researcher Torsten Bohm has spent many months in the remote areas of Gabon in search for spotted hyenas, which had been considered extinct but thought to possibly return to the area one day.

Tenacity and patience paid off for this biologist with sightings of many other animals, but the scientist found no trace of the spotted hyenas. They seem to be sharing the fate of other African predators: their populations are shrinking dramatically, due to habitat destruction and hunting, until the animals will disappear one day forever. Sadly, it appears that the spotted hyenas in Gabon are already gone.

SAVE aims to stop the increasing destruction of these animals by any means.

But there is still some silver lining: A few weeks ago Torsten Bohm left his area of research in Gabon and continues his research in the neighbouring Congo.

Here the biologist has finally attained his long-desired success! After examining the pictures, he counted 29 spotted hyenas! It is possible, that there are even more animals, as further evaluation of these images will follow.

The images taken at night with the use of camera traps are considered to be the real deal not only by the biologist and behavioural scientists, but also by people fascinated with animals. Two hyenas greet each other in a special ceremony, while the third one moves around in the sand to get comfortable. Moreover, a leopard, a chimpanzee, a blue duiker and a very rare small-spotted serval also gather right in front of a camera trap.

The analysis of these images provides important information on animals’ habits, as well as on population sizes.

Only sufficient information regarding predators and their prey will allow SAVE to develop and implement effective conservation measures to ensure the survival of the spotted hyena in the Congo. In addition, SAVE, in cooperation with local wildlife authorities, explores the possibility of bringing back lions into the area.

SAVE continues the struggle for the Korup National Park

For the last few months SAVE has been attempting to fight against the cutting down of 70 thousand hectares of rainforest. The American investor, Heracles Capital, plans to set up an oil palm plantation there, which would at the same time destroy one of the Earth’s most important ecosystems. We celebrated our crucial success in August when the Cameroonian Court stopped the rainforest clearing with a temporary court order.

Unfortunately, the palm oil producers did not abide by the provisions of the court order because they did not consider the verdict valid. We are not aware on what grounds they based their decision but they continued to keep clearing the rainforests. Although some arrests have already been made, Heracles Capital keeps on fighting with the Cameroonian authorities. The American palm oil company is putting unbearable pressure on the judge who is responsible for the order. They feel he is biased since he is the local attorney for environmental issues and the legal representative for the Cameroonian partnership organization SEFE.

At the same time, SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund has information that the SG-SOC company is massively lobbying the locals, who have also been protesting against the loss and destruction of their environment. The company representatives visit one village after another and are responsible for the negative propaganda against nature protection organizations, which – as they say – protect nature at the expense of people’s backwardness.

But we know that the inhabitants of the Korup National Park have been coexisting peacefully with the rainforests since their earliest generations. The planned oil palm plantation would in a couple of dozen years destroy the soil with pesticides and herbicides and the locals, with a spot of luck, would get a job at the plants for starvation wages, not to mention the complete loss of rainforest biodiversity. SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund has serious doubts as to whether the plantation is going to truly benefit the locals and introduce their intended progress. Many inhabitants of the rainforest share these doubts and rely on the temporary court order to stop the company, but Heracles Capital is doing everything they can to manoeuver around the order no matter the means involved. 

SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund will keep supporting human rights, protecting the diversity of plant and animal species, and doing everything we can to ensure the rainforests are around for our future generations. For that, we need your help. It is only with you on our side that we can wage this difficult fight. Please, donate today to save this unique environment, which forms the Earth’s green lungs!

SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund

Stadtsparkasse Wuppertal
account number: 509 588
BLZ: 330 500 00
IBAN: DE02 3305 0000 0000 5095 88
BIC: WUPSDE33