Our Wild World

Humans and lions have coexisted for tens of thousands of years but rapid expansion of livestock farming in Africa has led to greater conflicts, with large numbers of lions killed in retaliatory and preemptive conflicts with livestock. Wild lion populations have declined 50% in the last 20 years, with an estimated 23,000 remaining. Listed by the ICUN as Vulnerable, reducing conflict between large predators, people and agriculture requires new tools with an understanding that accounts for both agricultural practices and predatory behavior. Conditioned Taste Aversion is a non-lethal, humane conservation tool that can modify large predator’s behavior powerfully and permanently dissuading them from predating upon domestic livestock, while leaving entirely unchanged their social and environmental dynamics to continue to play their essential role in the natural ecosystem, also creating the critical buffer between predators and farmers.