hat elephants do not destroy crops solely by eating them, but can also cause considerable damage by trampling crops while in transit.On the other side, farming and ranching have had a dramatic impact on Africa’s wildlife. Some 90 percent of the herbivore biomass is now domestic livestock (Child, 1997). Land that was once open range for elephants and rhinos is now used for agriculture and livestock. In addition to poaching, these factors put great strain on animal populations. Ranchers often construct fences to contain their livestock, but wildlife needs aren’t taken into consideration (Lee, 2001). For example, a fence may keep cattle from wandering, but it also prevents wild animals from reaching watering holes or food. Economics of PoachingMany poachers are driven to do so because of poverty. Often times, their only source of income is farming or ranching on mediocre lands. These lands are only “productive” when the weather agrees and if no animals come to enjoy the crops. If crops fail, people are left with no money or food to live off of. To alleviate this suffering, some people turn to poaching animals either for their ivory or for meat to sell at market. The prevalent conflicts between humans and animals attempting to inhabit the same regions made apparent the need for a new approach to wildlife conservation. Instead of looking at wildlife as a non-resource, animals were instead treated as a normal renewable natural resource. This involved mainly valuing the direct use of the wildlife for commercial uses that could take place on public, private, and communal lands. It involves a wide range of activities or potential activities, including wildlife viewing tourism, safari hunting tourism, community wildlife use, game ranching, intensive ostrich or crocodile production, elephant culling, animal relocation, and product processing (Child, 1997). In Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa, recent ...
