A spatial approach to combatting wildlife crime

dc.contributor.authorFaulkner, S.C.
dc.contributor.authorStevens, M.C.A.
dc.contributor.authorRomanach, S.S.
dc.contributor.authorLindsey, Peter Andrew
dc.contributor.authorLe Comber, S.C.
dc.date.accessioned2018-06-25T11:07:00Z
dc.date.issued2018-06
dc.description.abstractPoaching can have devastating impacts on animal and plant numbers, and in many countries has reached crisis levels, with illegal hunters employing increasingly sophisticated techniques. We used data from an 8‐year study in Savé Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe, to show how geographic profiling—a mathematical technique originally developed in criminology and recently applied to animal foraging and epidemiology—can be adapted for use in investigations of wildlife crime. The data set contained information on over 10,000 incidents of illegal hunting and the deaths of 6,454 wild animals. We used a subset of data for which the illegal hunters’ identities were known. Our model identified the illegal hunters’ home villages based on the spatial locations of the hunting incidences (e.g., snares). Identification of the villages was improved by manipulating the probability surface inside the conservancy to reflect the fact that although the illegal hunters mostly live outside the conservancy, the majority of hunting occurs inside the conservancy (in criminology terms, commuter crime). These results combined with rigorous simulations showed for the first time how geographic profiling can be combined with GIS data and applied to situations with more complex spatial patterns, for example, where landscape heterogeneity means some parts of the study area are less likely to be used (e.g., aquatic areas for terrestrial animals) or where landscape permeability differs (e.g., forest bats tend not to fly over open areas). More broadly, these results show how geographic profiling can be used to target antipoaching interventions more effectively and more efficiently and to develop management strategies and conservation plans in a range of conservation scenarios.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentMammal Research Instituteen_ZA
dc.description.departmentZoology and Entomologyen_ZA
dc.description.embargo2019-06-01
dc.description.librarianhj2018en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipTRAFFIC Southern and East Africa, the European Union, Wilderness Trust, Chicago Board of Trade, and the African Wildlife Conservation Fund.en_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1523-1739en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationFaulkner, S.C., Stevens, M.C.A., Romanach, S.S. et al. 2018, 'A spatial approach to combatting wildlife crime', Conservation Biology, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 685-693.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn0888-8892 (print)
dc.identifier.issn1523-1739 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.1111/cobi.13027
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/65236
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherWileyen_ZA
dc.rights© 2017 Society for Conservation Biology. This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article : 'A spatial approach to combatting wildlife crime', Conservation Biology, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 685-693, 2018, doi : 10.1111/cobi.13027. The definite version is available at : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.comjournal/10.1111/(ISSN)1523-1739.en_ZA
dc.subjectBayesian modelsen_ZA
dc.subjectBushmeaten_ZA
dc.subjectGeographic profilingen_ZA
dc.subjectIvoryen_ZA
dc.subjectRhino hornen_ZA
dc.subjectSnaringen_ZA
dc.subjectSpatial analysisen_ZA
dc.subjectBushmeat tradeen_ZA
dc.subjectPatternsen_ZA
dc.subjectImpacten_ZA
dc.subjectLegal tradeen_ZA
dc.subjectPoachingen_ZA
dc.subjectWildlife crimeen_ZA
dc.subjectGeographic profilingen_ZA
dc.titleA spatial approach to combatting wildlife crimeen_ZA
dc.typePostprint Articleen_ZA

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