The poultry thief: Subsistence farmers' perceptions of depredation outside the Serengeti National Park,Tanzania

Improving the understanding of human–carnivore conflicts is fundamental for the effective management of interventions. However, earlier research has largely focused on conflicts caused by top carnivores, and there is a general lack of knowledge about the drivers behind conflicts caused by smaller carnivores. Here, we investigated the characteristics and spatial patterns of perceived predators that caused losses of poultry. We used a structured interview of 481 households across seven villages outside Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Most households kept poultry and livestock, and 48.4% of all households perceived to have lost poultry to predators, but it was unrelated to perceived livestock depredation. On average, predators killed almost one‐third of the poultry kept by each household, which is equivalent to an average annual economic loss of US $14.5 ± 18.6, or 10.4% of the cash income. Economic dependency did not influence the likelihood of perceiving depredation. The most parsimonious linear mixed‐effects model showed that the probability of claiming losses to predators increased with increasing flock sizes and distance to the nearest protected area. We discuss our findings in relation to the current interest in rural poultry production shown by conservation programmes in Africa.