Poultry farmers’ knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding poultry predation by African wildcats (Felis lybica) in Chiawa Game Management Area, Zambia

Abstract

African wildcats (Felis lybica) cause considerable poultry losses to poultry farmers in African rural areas through predation, and contribute to human food insecurity, loss of income and livelihood, and social well-being. Unable to manage poultry farmer-wildcat conflicts, the affected poultry farmers reduce their support to wildlife conservation and resort to retaliatory killings of African wildcats and other wildlife, mainly by secretly using poisons and traps. Such a human-carnivore conflict becomes protracted due to poor anti-predator responses implemented by the poultry farmers and wildlife management authorities. In this study, we used 101 semi-structured questionnaires to evaluate poultry predation by African wildcats occurring adjacent (approximately between 7 and 68 km) to Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park in Chiawa Game Management Area by focusing on local poultry farmer knowledge, attitudes and practices. The study’s Generalized Linear Model showed that season (i.e., hot-wet season), time (i.e., night) and countermeasures (i.e., absence of wire fences) were the primary predictors of poultry predation by African wildcats, while low tree cover and education attained by the poultry farmers were the secondary factors. The rate of chicken loss per year/poultry farmer was 19.1 ± 1.3 SE. We suggest strengthening farmer-based countermeasures, such as small-mesh fencing to protect poultry from African wildcats, and sensitisation programmes by wildlife managers for poultry farmer transformation towards supporting conservation alongside conservation planning in these human-dominated-wildlife landscapes for improved farmer-African wildcat co-existence, particularly in the hot-wet season and night-time when the poultry losses from attacks by African wildcats spike.