2011

Sorry that I have not been communicating but things are really hotting up here at PPP.

It’s been super busy since the beginning of the year, Will Fox and his team are putting the final touches to the survey we have been running with the farmers over the last 6 months and as soon as we have the final document we will let you have a look.

Oom Gert and some of his neighbors have decided to stop cattle farming and are looking at fencing in their conservancy and dropping the fences between them and Thaba Tholo. This is the most exciting news and it has major ramifications for the predators in the area. This shows the dedication that most farmers have to conservation.

From a funding point of view we have been trying to find a steady stream of income and thanks to Mr Brian Mdluli it looks like that is going to become a reality. His new venture called My Service will donate 20% for every sms they receive via this business to PPP. This has huge potential although it will grow slowly at first I believe that this business can supply a large chunk of the money we need to fund this initiative.

The best news (although all of the above is great) is that we are seeing a lot of leopard activity due to the fact that no leopards were shot last season in our immediate research area (that we know of) and the leopards seem to be really calm at the moment. In fact they are being seen very regularly on Thaba Tholo and in the surrounding area. In particular a female with a cub that seem very at ease with the game viewing vehicles from Black Leopard Camp (on Thaba Tholo) and guests have been sighting them often.

One truly amazing picture of 2 male leopards was captured on a camera trap that the Ingwe Leopard Project set up on Thaba Tholo. This picture is amazing and this behavior is unheard of. (see attached)

Exciting stuff all around and I promise to update more regularly, although with being so short handed we all have to jump in and help out so please forgive me if the updates are a little slow.

Keep Well

Alan Watson

Gert Stoltz

In the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to speak to a couple of stock farmers who are farming in the same area as I am. I have carefully sounded them out on their views of the predator problem, trying to establish whether anybody  has changed his attitude to the problem or at least have thought of some possible solution. Even I was surprized at the extent to which attitudes have hardened against predators in general. As this is the calving season, most of the farmers have experienced recent losses to a lesser or greater degree. Nobody could even remotely think of a solution to the problem, except to get rid of the predators. As one said to me,”If there had been a solution, we would have applied it by now, because this problem is as old as the farming industry in this country.”

To make matters worse, a very encouraging article (from a conservation point of view) appeared in the local newspaper about the number of new leopards that have been observed in this area, and how well this reflected on the healthy state of the local ecology. The stock farmers’ reaction to this article was a dumbfounded shake of the head followed by the question,  “Now how many leopards do these people (presumably the PPP group) want in the area before the population is regarded as large enough? And what happens to us in the mean time?” Which is a valid point, since nowhere in the article is there even a remote reference to or recognition of the other side of the equation.

As far as solutions to this prickly issue are concerned, I think I have heard them all: from the absurd to the wholly impracticable. The one solution which offers the greatest possibility of successful execution, is the one of compensation for losses caused by predators. “Pay me for my losses, and I won’t kill the predators,” say the farmers. On the face of it, it sounds as if this option might justify another look at it. But the following issues will first have to be addressed before the plan can be implemented:

1. Stock losses to predators in the RSA  amount to billions of Rand. Someone with a very fat purse will have to back up the plan.
2. Quite rightly farmers will have to prove that the calf/lamb/kid was actually killed by a predator before compensation can be considered. For this you need an expert on the killing strategies and styles of predators There are not toomany of those guys around and they may not always be available.
3. If you are lucky, you may discover only a small percentage of the carcases of calves killed by predators, as most predators have the habit of removing the carcase quite a distance from the site of the kill. In heavily wooded areas it becomes even more difficult. Unless you find the carcase on the day after the kill, you won’t find it at all the day after that. And if you do succeed in locating say 60% of the kills, and you do find the expert who does the investigation soon enough to confirm it, will the farmers be satisfied with compensation for 60% of their losses?
4. At what price will the farmer be compensated? For a 1 month old calf (value R800) or for the price the farmer would have got had the calf reached the weight at which they are normally sold at 8 months. (R3700)
5. Will there be a call centre which farmers can contact any time of the day, (24/7) and which will be able to respond promptly to all calls?
6. What if the call centre receives 5 or 6 calls a day? Will the expert/investigator be able to cope with all of them? (cf 3 above). Which case gets priority treatment?

These are just a few of the issues that will have to be overcome before any plan of action can be activated. So far as I am concerned, the solution to the predator vs stock farmer problem at this stage still very much lies in the inscrutable realm of the future.

Many organizations like ours rush out into the market place and make promises just to create an impact. This however inevitably backfires on them and they end up with egg on their face!

Our approach is different; yes we are telling people what we would like to do but not promising anything straight away. How can we? We are trying to grow a sustainable fund that will hopefully enable us to achieve our goals in the near future. What we HAVE done though is make sure we have our ducks in a row by spending the last 6 months conducting exhaustive interviews with the very people impacted on by Predators, namely the farmers! One cannot just rush a product to market without market research into your target demographic.

Our research division of PPP will continue to conduct interviews with stake holders and will also continue researching predators and their behavior, movements and impact. This is probably the most important division of PPP, without it we could never get the academic credibility we require. It will be through this division that we develop the model of reimbursement (systems, product, livestock replacement or money) etc. A model that works and is as free from fraudulent claims as possible, because do not think for one minute that some people will not try to defraud the system for all losses associated with stock farming.

If you saw the blog on ‘Working with Data’ posted by Handre, you will see that we will be presenting this data soon (we hope by end January 2011 the latest) which I am hoping will show us a near-as-accurate picture of the area in farming terms as well as what the numbers of stock losses are associated with predation. We will make this information available in due course.

I am sure there are many people who are having problems with predators and that cannot wait for us to be able to impact on these losses. I can’t wait either but the fund is no where near big enough yet and all our efforts currently are focused on the research and fund raising.

We really need to get into the Corporates in a big way in the New Year and I really need everyone’s help in spreading the PPP word.

Keep Well and Chat Soon

Alan

Over the last few weeks we had a lot of challenges regarding the database we are using to capture the data we are collecting during the interviews.

One of the biggest was finding ways to capture the ideas and feelings of the farmers as quantifiable data. Sometimes there is just too much information to reduce it to a scale from 1 to 10, or to specific values. But on the other side, if you leave the input too open, it becomes very hard to analyse.

Another big challenge was exporting the data to a GIS program to generate maps. At the end we decided to use DIVA GIS and Quantum GIS for getting the information into the database and Google Earth for displaying the results.

After a lot of discussions with the researcher, and many revisions later, I am happy to say we are very close to a final version.

Written by Handre Williams

Conservation is not about a specific group or profession, one or two animal species, it’s about all people and all animals.  Even the people living in towns and the animals we are not researching.

I am reminded of that every time I come in contact with people outside of the farming and conservation communities.  So it happened that while we were in town for supplies over the weekend, we got a few enquiries about our research.

In the one shop I picked up the local newspaper to see the article I contributed and got asked why I write for the newspaper and what I do.  It was an opportunity to create awareness and spark interest in the cause.  In another shop we got talking about the current Rhino situation in South Africa.

Everyone, people and animals alike, are dependant on nature as a resource to stay alive.  Thus creating awareness and involving every individual is important.

Written by Karin van Rooyen

It is really wonderful to see how many Corporates are willing to help out with initiatives like the Predator Protection Plan. We have not been turned away by any of the businesses we have ear-marked as partners in this venture.

Our main contributor thus far has been the SMART Group of Companies, who unfailing every month fund our Operations Department, without them we would still be just an idea. In fact their dedication is such that the directors of SMART are also now board members of PPP, truer partners one could not wish for.

I have also been meeting with a few other sponsors:

1. Garmin South Africa. I spent a wonderful weekend at Black Leopard Camp with Walter Mech and his lovely bride to be a couple of weeks ago. We invited the Ops team of PPP to join our discussions as we were in the heart of the PPP Operational launch area. Garmin as a company help many other conservation groups and their hearts are as big as their market share (huge!), no wonder they are number 1 in their game. Our discussions revolved around developing a new advanced GPS collar for tracking leopards and other large predators. The current systems available are archaic, cumbersome and very expensive (+/-R20000.00). Garmin has the technology and the know how to make this happen. We are still in the early stages but when we start to test these units I am sure we are going to be impressed. Walter and his team are also going to be providing us with GPS units to use in the field. www.garmin.co.za
2. Nikon South Africa. I met with two wonderful ladies from Nikon SA, Romy Jacobs and Chantal Hauptfleisch. I think we could have chatted for hours and their passion for conservation is without end. Chantal in fact closes her ears when I have to talk about some of the horror stories regarding Leopards (she is very sweet). Romy has agreed to help us out by providing us with some of our camera and binocular needs. Those of you who know cameras will agree that Nikon has the most unbelievable equipment available in the world. www.nikon.co.za
3. Contact Media. Sean Press has been the man who introduced PPP to the above 2 sponsors and who is also helping to build the PPP brand through his excellent media publications. He really loves PPP and tells everyone who will listen. Thanks Sean. www.contactmedia.co.za

Fund Raising

Unlike other conservation initiatives we are not only looking for upfront sponsorship, but also long term sustainability. Yes we need money and support upfront to get the ball rolling and to build a fund quickly whereby we can actually start to help farmers out instead of just talking to them. But in the long term we believe that we have a business model that could help other environmental groups.

Our model is to get the Corporates to add a monthly PPP subscription to their product range and register their client with PPP automatically. I foresee that these tiny amounts of money will be added to all monthly subscriptions like home mortgages, cellular accounts, short term insurance, and vehicle installments and so on. Customers would not feel the small monthly deductions when they are added to existing or new debit order agreements. If I was paying off something through a monthly debit order and would hardly feel the change from $600 to $610, and yet it would be hassle free as I did not have to fill in any additional forms etc, and I would know that I was helping out for as long as that debit order ran. The only thing with this type of model is that it requires large volumes of people to be involved only then does that small monthly donation start to mean something. We have been running a test case through a small call centre and the response from customers has been excellent! Most people opt to be part of PPP and we are currently running on a 80% conversion rate, which is truly phenomenal for a value added product.

Business too could gain from this by using the PPP subscription in a customer retention strategy. Businesses also gain valuable CSI and ‘Green Points’ by being involved with an organization like PPP.

So if you work for or run a corporation please help get us into these businesses as this support will go an extremely long way in helping us achieve our goals.

We have had a good start to PPP, but we now have to pick up the pace and take this to a new level. My aim is to see the fund start to grow exponentially, but I can only do this with your help.

All the best

Alan

Next: PPP The future….

Well I can honestly say that we have had a very interesting start to PPP.

On the Operational front Will Fox and his team has made great headway in trying to form relationships with our farmer friends. The information we are gleaning from our farmers is invaluable and previous misguided conceptions are being thrown out the window.

Our South African farmers are not the blood thirsty killers they are portrayed to be, but honest hard working conservation minded people with a HUGE problem – predators!

I for one did not fully realize the full extent of the devastation and the millions of rands lost to the jaws of our beloved predators.

I am sure you have all eagerly awaited our reports from Oom Gert (by the way Oom means Uncle in Afrikaans – Uncle Gert) and his ‘Views from the other side’. It is heart wrenching to witness the struggle faced by this man who has an absolute passion for nature yet is faced with untold devastation to his livelihood. In the first articles we hear about a man who helped rehabilitate a waste land into a wildlife preserve. After this we start to see the absolute frustration of a man ‘caught in the middle’ between his love for nature and putting food on the table for his family.

I take my hat off to him and the thousands of other farmers out there putting food on OUR tables daily and the issues they have to deal with.

When/if our farmers ever get a chance to take a vacation where do you think they go? They go visit places like the Kruger National Park and other wildlife reserves, because they love the bush! And don’t think for one minute that all farmers have never been educated in the ways of the world! Many of these gentlemen are extremely well read and have more letters after their names than I will ever have. Our Oom Gert was at a time a professor of English at a well known South African University and will astound you with his written works even though English is his second language. I have learnt a valuable lesson over this period that it is very wrong to tar a group of people with the same brush! I learn every time I interact with a man like Oom Gert – we all can!

With the help and guidance from wise people like Oom Gert PPP can only become a success!

NEXT… ‘The business side of PPP’

Alan Watson

CEO

Stats:

Shoulder height – 38 to 40 cm

Head to toe length – 100 to 115 cm

Weight – 7-9 kg

Colour – Reddish-brown body with white underside.  Prominent black ‘saddle’ on back,

dotted with white specks.  Distinct black-tipped tail that is bushy.  Pointed snout

and erect, pointy ears.

Sound/Call – High, drawn out “njaaa-aa-aa-aa” whine

Diet – Opportunist.  Carrion, small animals such as hares, small and young antelope,

insects, birds and fruits.

Enemy – Humans. Leopard and lion

Conservation status – Least concern

Brake down:

It goes for small prey.  Rodents, small buck, the young of some bigger buck.

And livestock.

They’re being pushed to extremes, evolving, adapting and changing.  They are mainly diurnal, living in the day, but also show nocturnal behaviour, being active at night.  And being noticed more and more all the time, even in the midst of a flock of sheep in the confines of a kraal.

The Black-backed Jackal is one of the predators in biggest conflict with farmers everywhere.  Being hunted and pushed out of habitat, they fight for survival.  Jackals may be solitary, territorial when living in pairs or family groups.  Their home range is about 18 km².  Pups are born between July and October in litters of one to six on average.

One of the things creating conflict with the farmers is that they changed their habits from searching for food in ones and two to hunting in family packs of five to even seven.  This might be due to habitat loss forcing the older offspring to stay with the parents, helping to  rear the new young pups.  This means more mouths to feed in one area.  Another reason might be safety in numbers, because there is constant competition for territory from animals taking up the space left by the ones that were shot, poisoned or the likes.  And also competing for survival not be shot or poisoned themselves.

There is also a difference in habit between jackals living in reserves and ones living close to settlements of any kind.  The ones in reserves are heard regularly and even close to where humans are.  But the ones outside of reserves has become silent, not making a sound.  They’ve become even more sly.

Rundown:

Jackals do have benefits.  They keep the insect and rodent population in check.  This will minimise crop losses for farmers.  They also help to clean up carrion, minimising the chance of disease spreading.

Unfortunately the Black-backed Jackal is not protected by law or occur on any red data species list such as CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) or IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). The main reason is because there is not enough research done on any aspect of the species.  This will be very unfortunate when the jackal one day suddenly cease to exist.  Probably creating bigger problems because there is a missing link in the natural ecology.

Hopefully through the PPP initiative the Black-backed Jackal will be protected and keep its place as a predator in the natural order of things.  With the help of everyone out there, protecting all our predators will be possible.

[Two pictures here side by side]

Written by Karin van Rooyen

More news about GPS tracking collars for predators. PPP scientist Karin van Rooyen held a meeting with Walter Mech of Garmin.  We talked about working with Garmin to develop a new generation of tracking collars that has virtually unlimited battery life and is much lighter in weight than the current prototypes.  If the battery life can be extended, then it will reduce the stress put on an animal by being captured and take away the cost of recapture to replace the batteries.  And reducing the weight will allow us to collar younger animals that are still growing.

The Predator Protection Plan will be able to provide the testing facilities for these collars to be tested on live animals both wild and domestic.  And the Ingwe Leopard Project will be able to use it in their studies of leopards once the final product can be fitted on the animals.  Other institutions will also benefit from the Garmin developed collars in the future.

A good week all in all.

[Photo: Blog16Oct.jpg]

Anton van Loggerenberg, Walter Mech and Karin van Rooyen

Written by Karin van Rooyen

PPP Research Coordinator

Previously we have reported that the general consensus from the farmers we have surveyed is one of support for conservation.  But a few extreme opinions are starting to make their appearance.

The interesting part of our interview is always the last section when I ask the farmer for his attitude towards predators. And many times it is here where the discussion lasts the longest.

It is also where conflicting attitudes emerge, two faces if you will.  Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not by choice that farmers are in two minds.  On the one hand farmers want to conserve nature and all it entails, and on the other hand the predators are a threat to their livelihood and they want to get rid of them.

A reality check from the farmers’ side was explained in this way by one farmer.  “Take your salary, say R10 000.  And at the end of the month I come and take R8 000.  You can’t do any thing about it because that is just the way it is.  And next month I come and take R8 000 again.  And the month after that.  You will get upset about this because it’s unfair, right?  So now you start to look at ways to stop the taking of your livelihood.”

I agree with doing something, but in this situation I disagree to eliminate the threat.  Gert put it well (http://bit.ly/anCLZD), shooting every jackal doesn’t work the jackals just adapt to survive and thrive.  Doing something constitutes finding alternative ways to manage livestock.  WE need to eliminate the conflict and not the threat and make it possible for both farmer and predator to survive for every ones future generations.

And that is what PPP is about; we want to establish satellite offices in a high conflict areas, working together with the farmers to find the ways to eliminate the conflict and not the threat.

Written by Karin van Rooyen

Stage 1 Team Leader