8/14/2019 When Culture Threatens the Conservation of Biological Diversity: The Tragic Case of the Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi)
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When Culture Threatens the Conservation of Biological Diversity:
The Tragic Case of the Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi )Helle V. Goldman, Norwegian Polar Institute, [email protected] & Martin T. Walsh, University of Cambridge, [email protected]
Presented at the conference on Sustaining Cultural and Biological Diversity in a Rapidly Changing World,American Museum of Natural History, New York, 2-5 April 2008
Further reading
Goldman H.V. & Walsh M.T. 1997. A Leopard in Jeopardy: An Anthropological Survey of Perceptions and Practices Threatening the
Survival of the Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi). Zanzibar Forestry Technical Paper 63. Zanzibar: Commission forNatural Resources.
Goldman H.V. & Walsh M.T. 2002. Is the Zanzibar Leopard ( Panthera pardus adersi ) Extinct? Journal of East African Natural
History 91, 15–25.Walsh M.T. & Goldman H.V. 2003. The Zanzibar Leopard between Science and Cryptozoology. Nature East Africa 33 , 14–16.Walsh M.T. & Goldman H.V. 2007. Killing the King: The Demonization and Extermination of the Zanzibar Leopard. In E. Dounias et al.
(eds.): Le symbolisme des animaux: L’animal clef-de-voûte de la relation entre l’homme et la nature? Pp. 1133–1182. Paris: Éditions de l’IRD.
km
0 10
Kiwengwa/Pangeni/Mchangani
Ndudu
Uroa
Bungi-kerenge
Ubago
Ufufuma Forest/Jendele/Hanyegwa-mchana
Cheju Charawe
Chwaka
Ukongoroni
Mtule
Jambiani
Muyuni/Kizimkazi/Makunduchi
Muungoni
Kitogani
PeteJozani
Leopards reported
killed in officialrecords, 1990-1995
Plantations,permanent cultivation
Thicket,shifting cultivation
Jozani-Chwaka BayNational Park
1 2 4 5 63
Zanzibar Town
Chaani/Mkwajuni
T a n z a n
i a ZANZIBAR
4. Conservation plans and their cancellation
In 1995 stories of the Zanzibar leopard’s continuedsurvival were conveyed to the IUCN Cat SpecialistGroup and the following year the Jozani-Chwaka BayConservation Project asked us to undertake our studyas a precursor to a possible leopard conservation pro-gram. Local accounts of leopard keeping were so com-pelling that a number of wildli fe researchers had ac-cepted them at face value. We found no evidence forleopard domestication, though there were grounds forbelieving that a small wild population was still extant.However, in a follow-up survey, wildlife consultantscould not prove the continuing presence of leopardsand advised that it was too late to save this endemicfelid. International interest in the conservation of theZanzibar leopard fizzled out abruptly and plans for atargeted conservation program were cancelled.
5. Cultural diversity vs. biodiversity?
Most rural Zanzibaris believe there are still leopardson the island, many of them kept by witches. Not sur-prisingly, they also enthusiastically support the pros-pect of the leopard’s final elimination. In contrast,international conservationists would be delighted byevidence of a viable population of Zanzibar leopards,but the consensus among them is that there are veryfew or none left. This case raises uncomfortable ques-tions about the effectiveness of orthodox conservationinitiatives when human–wildlife conflict i s compound-ed by conflicting scientific and indigenous knowledgeabout endangered species. It underlines the importanceof bringing both natural scientific and social scientificapproaches to bear on difficult cases in which the con-servation of biological diversity and respect for cultur-al beliefs and diversity clash with one another.
1. The case of the Zanzibar leopard
Local culture and i ndigenous knowledge can threat-en as well as promote the conservation of biologi-cal diversity. This is especially so in undeveloped ru-ral communities when people believe that their livesand livelihoods are threatened by large and danger-ous predators, notwithstanding the value of such ani-mals to conservationists as “flagship species”. Here wepresent just such a case.
In 1996 we began a study of indigenous knowledgeand local practices relating to the Zanzibar leop-ard ( Panthera pardus adersi ). This is (or was) a little-known subspecies endemic to Unguja, the main islandof the Zanzibar archipelago in Tanzania. The Zanzi-bar leopard is thought to have been evolving in isola-tion from its continental African relatives since at leastthe end of the last ice age, when Unguja was cut off from the East African mainland by rising sea levels.
2. Leopards and witches
Rapid human population growth in Zanzibar andthe expansion of farming in the mid-20th century de-stroyed leopard habitat and decimated their naturalprey, bringing leopards increasingly into conflict withpeople. Several of our informants had, as chi ldren,survived leopard attacks or knew of others who hadlost their lives to leopards. Villagers explained thegrowing number of attacks on people and l ivestock by theorizing that some leopards were magically con-trolled by witches and sent by them to do harm, anidea with parallels in many African cultures. In Zan-zibar close contact or even the mere sight of such aleopard was believed to cause grave il lness. Reputedleopard-keepers were, li ke other witches, feared andrespected. These beliefs still dominate local knowledgeabout the Zanzibar leopard.
Endangered knowledge
Like the animal itself, ethnobiological and linguistic knowledge of the Zanzibar leopard is also en-
dangered. Only former hunters can now describe the leopard and its behavior in any detail. Veryfew people know any of the specialized vocabulary relating to leopards. In 1996 we recordedmore than 20 Swahili names for the Zanzibar leopard, including euphemisms used to conceal ref-erence to this much-feared animal and dialect terms for the different types of leopard that experi-
enced hunters recognized. One of the most widely used terms is kisutu , though most Zanzibarisonly know this as the name for a kind of women’s kanga or colored cotton cloth, worn ceremonial-ly by brides and also sometimes used to signal menstruation. The kisutu wrap has a central motif
of flowers and crosses that parallels the coat pattern of the leopard with its distinctive rosettes.
3. Exterminating the leopard
In the post-war period villagers in di fferent parts of the island made determined attempts to exterminateleopards and/or punish the witches believed to ownthem. After the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964, an is-land-wide leopard-eradication and witch-finding cam-paign was organized with government and widespreadpopular support. No one knows exactly how manyleopards were trapped and shot during this campaign,but according to hunters who took part in it the impactwas devastating. Zanzibar’s leopard population neverrecovered from the mass killing.
State-subsidized leopard hunting continued intothe 1990s as part of national efforts to control wildlifeclassified as “vermin”. Although some i nternationalauthorities presumed the Zanzibar leopard extinct bythe early 1970s, official statistics record that leopardswere being kil led by hunters through 1995. Leopardsightings and incidents of livestock predation are stillbeing alleged and reported to this day.
Thanksto JudithChupaskoandMarkOmuraattheHarvardMuseumofComparativeZoology,Cam-bridge,MA.
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