Hyena Reflection

 

Contemporary issues that affect the hyenas stem from the negative interactions between humans, which also branches to problems with the hyenas decreasing size of habitat. Difficulty in finding food and starving, especially during the wet season, is a huge problem that spotlights my personal, but unpopular stance: the idea that expediting the breeding of hyenas just for the sake of numbers, is not a justifiable strategy for efficient conservation of hyenas. This is because these hyenas, exhausted from the problems of proliferation, are forced to encroach upon African communities for food. When they do, they see livestock, a plentiful, but most importantly, a reliable food source, that is easier to kill, often to the dismay of African farmers. These events can develop into a series, often ending with African farmers to shooting any hyena on sight.

One way that we can fix the negative interactions between humans and hyenas is to study the land they use. First and foremost, I believe that GPS and tracking devices are on the top priority. Technology allows us to map the locations of the hyenas, allowing us to create models that can predict what hyenas might do next, such as a risky attempt to abscond with a calf. From this information, we would also know where their dens are, any trends in feeding or hunting, as well as their current location if we need to find them. In addition, by proactively examining past, current, and future economic trends, we might be able to create models that can predict areas of future infrastructural development. This allows us to calculate more accurate values for the population carrying capacity of the land, a useful number in justifying the culling of hyenas. These strategies can ultimately help us predict locations that are more likely to have another negative human and hyena interaction, and prevent them from happening.