Why are we really killing iconic wildlife mass migrations with fences?
Summary
Land conversion is accelerating collapse of ungulate (hooved mammals) mass migrations. Moreover, settlements, roads, railway lines and gas pipelines are expanding in wildlife ranges, blocking migratory routes.
This accelerates extinction of mass migrations. Fences obstruct wildlife movements and largely caused the collapse of the last three ungulate mass migrations in the Kenya Kajiado and Narok Counties. Removing and regulating fences and building underpasses or overpasses along barriers crossing migration routes and land use planning may help save ungulate migrations.
Researcher Profile
Dr. Joseph O. Ogutu is a Senior Statistician at the Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany. He has been studying wildlife population dynamics and their undrerlying drivers in Kenya from 1880-2020 for many years.
Dr. Hans-Peter Piepho is Professor of Biostatistics and Chair of the Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.
Dr. Han Olff is Professor of Community and Conservation Ecology at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Dr. Mohammed Y. Said is an Ecologist and Geospatial analyst affiliated with the Center fo Climate Change at the University of Nairobi and Agakhan University, Nairobi.
Mr. Gordon Ojwang is Assistant Director at the Directorate of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing of Kenya (DRSRS), a natural resource scientist, and a doctoral candidate in conservation ecology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Mr. Shem Kifugo is a doctoral candidate in Community and Conservation Ecology Ecology at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
Ms. Jully S. Senteu is the Coordinator of the One Mara Research Hub program under Kenya Wildlife Trust. She has a background in water sciences, has a passion for conservation, and is a doctoral candidate in conservation ecology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
