For hundreds of years young men from some ethnic groups in Tanzania,called "lion dancers" because they elaborately acted out their lionkilling for spectators, were richly rewarded for killing lions thatpreyed on livestock and people. Now when a lion dancer shows up hemight be called a rude name rather than receive a reward, accordingto a new UC Davis study.
Some villagers are snubbing the lion killers, calling them "fakers"and contemplating punishing them and those who continue to rewardthem, said Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, anthropology professor at UCDavis. That's because the lion hunters are killing lions that are nota threat to people or livestock and live in a national park.
This surprisingly rapid change in a long-standing cultural practicehas positive implications for efforts to save lions, said BorgerhoffMulder, lead author of "From avengers to hunters: Leveragingcollective action for the conservation of endangered lions." Thepaper was published in the May edition of the journal BiologicalConservation.
Traditionally, after killing a predatory lion using only a spear andshield, the hunter would travel from village to village, perform thedance and be showered with gifts including livestock and even a nightwith young women in the village.
"This change in behavior offers an intriguing solution to the problemof illegal hunting insofar as the community is policing itself,"Borgerhoff Mulder said. "It is a real opportunity to work with acommunity that is changing its customs in a way compatible with aconservation goal."
A change coming from within the community will also be morelong-lasting than rules and regulations from the outside, she said.
The study interviewed 198 households with 73 reporting being visited128 times by dancers between 2001 and 2010. The households rewarded96 dancers (75 percent) and did not reward 33 (25 percent). Althoughmost households are still rewarding the dancers, 96 percent statedthat the nature of lion killing had changed, and 72 percent said thatthe young men were killing lions just to acquire wealth.
"The hunters are going deep into the national park, the border ofwhich is 8 to 10 miles away," Borgerhoff Mulder said. "People aresaying they are cheats and are not going to give them gifts anylonger. The community has found a reason for policing itself. This isa rare instance of wildlife conservation and community actionsworking in tandem."
Source: University of California - Davis