Vegans Love Carnivores

On this Valentine's Day, I thought I would share my love of carnivores with you. I spent the last 3 years studying carnivore conservation in Namibia and specifically the factors that affected tolerance towards these species by livestock farmers. My thesis is finally available online, so if you're mad enough to want to have a read, here's the link! More than happy to receive comments, questions, criticisms, hate mail, cookies etc. on it - please fire away!

Reposted from my article in Africa Geographic Have you ever found it hard to agree on what TV show to watch with your dearly beloved?  How about reaching consensus with your colleagues on how best to manage a project?  Conflicts are an everyday occurrence at home and work, sometimes leading to very heated arguments.  However, when each party holds polar opposite views on life, how on earth are they expected to find common ground? Arguably one of the deepest and most entrenched environmental conflicts persisting is that between carnivore conservationists and livestock farmers.  One party is trying to save the species that threatens the livelihood of the other.  In a gruesome demonstration aimed at showing anger towards the government conservationists for supposedly putting carnivores before people, Swedish Saami reindeer herders dumping dead reindeer in a Stockholm public square.  American livestock ranchers have compared wolves to terrorists and Maas...

From my latest published piece in Reforesting Scotland, Issue 51, p42. As the golden sun began to set beyond the mountain range, haunting shadows of ancient trees quivered in the autumnal wind. Suddenly, there was a commotion in the undergrowth: a lone young roe deer dashed across an opening in the forest. Closely behind him, a large felid with a short tail bounded after the ungulate in hot pursuit. A lynx. Gaining ground, the lynx tripped the deer, causing it to stumble into a pile of fallen leaves. With a swift, bone-crushing bite to the back of the neck, the lynx severed the spinal cord of the deer, killing him instantly. Scenes like this have not been witnessed in Scotland for well over a millennium. Changes in climate and habitats, combined with sustained persecution by humans, led to the extinction of British lynx around 1,300 years ago. The disappearance of this big cat has left a noticeable hole in the ecosystem. As lynx are predatory animals, high up in the food c...

Repost from my article with Diogo Verissimo on The Conversation The death of a celebrity often makes the headlines, but it is less common that the death of wild animal has the same effect. However, it appears that the entire world has mourned the loss of Cecil the lion , killed on a private game reserve bordering a national park in Zimbabwe. But is the recent barrage of attacks on trophy hunting, and the US dentist who killed Cecil , justified? Let’s be clear: Cecil was killed illegally, which we don’t condone. The landowner who allowed the hunt on his reserve without the necessary permit should face the justice system. But this one bad apple should not tarnish an entire industry. Legally hunting lions in Zimbabwe is highly regulated: it requires various permits and licenses from the client, professional hunter and hunting reserve owner. National quotas aim to ensure sustainable off-take of the species and, in western Zimbabwe, lions are only killed once they have reached a certain age...

Repost from my article in The Conversation Conservationists tend to spend their time worrying about protecting forests, catching poachers or keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. But all these things (and more) are driven by humans. Given that it’s easier and cheaper to reduce the human birth rate than it is to address these other issues, why aren’t conservationists more concerned about keeping our population down? After all, it is estimated that more than three-quarters of the world’s ice-free land has been modified by people. We are already overstepping the planet’s boundaries and our actions are causing climate change and the sixth mass extinction . By 2050 human population growth alone will threaten a further 14% of the planet’s species; this is on top of the 52% decline in numbers of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish over the past four decades. Only 13 years ago, we were 6 billion; just seven years later, we hit 7 billion and by 2100 we could be as ma...

In the summer of 2008 I spent 3 months interning at the Center for Animal Research & Education in Texas, where I got involved with the husbandry of a collection of big cats. Some people have asked why bother giving up your free time to volunteer?  Well, we made a video to show you why this is a fantastic idea.

Repost from my article featured on IFLScience March 11, 2015 | by Niki Rust photo credit: Coming to a forest near you? lynx image via www.shutterstock.co,uk  Share on facebook The lynx: a short-tailed felid weighing up to six times more than your domestic moggy. This large carnivore once roamed the British Isles 1,300 years ago but, due to habitat destruction, overhunting of its prey and purposeful killing by humans, the species was driven to extinction in the UK. Now, there are plans to reintroduce this species to three sites in England and Scotland. But what are the chances of a success? The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has strict guidelines for reintroducing species into the wild. One of the key recommendations they make is that the main causes of the historical decline must be addressed to ensure success of the reintroduction. In terms of the threats to lynx, we now have stringent land management policies in place so it is unlikely that the cat’s p...