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The Durrell Trust for Conservation Biology
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CV
PhD thesis entitled "Hunting for sustainability: lion conservation in Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania".
Baldus (2004) states in his study of lion conservation in Tanzania, “More practical lion research and monitoring is needed in Tanzania including lion numbers, illegal killings, human-lion conflict and hunting of lions.” This project aims to address all these issues.
Funding Panthera National Geographic SIDA IdeaWild
Publications Brink, H., Topp-Jørgensen, J.E., Marshall, A.R., Fanning, E. (2002). First record in 68 years of Lowe’s servaline genet. Oryx, 36, 234. Marshall, A.R., Topp-Jørgensen, J.E., Brink, H., Fanning, E. (2005). Monkey abundance and social structure in two high-elevation forest reserves in the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania. International Journal of Primatology, 26, 127-145. Packer, C., Brink, H., Kissui, B.M., Maliti, H., Kushnir, H., & Caro, T. (2010) Effects of trophy hunting on lion and leopard populations in Tanzania. Conservation Biology, in press. Packer, C., Kosmala, M., Cooley., Brink, H., Pintea, L. et al. (2009) Sport hunting, predator control and conservation of large carnivores. PLoS One 4(6): e5941. Topp-Jørgensen, J. E., Marshall, A. R.., Brink, H. and Pedersen, U. B. (2008). Quantifying the response of tree hyraxes (Dendrohyrax validus) to human disturbance in the Udzungwa Mountains, Tanzania. Tropical Conservation Science, 1, 63-74.
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Lion population numbers are difficult to estimate accurately. The current estimate for free-ranging lions in the world is only 16,500 to 50,000. Tanzania supports between a quarter to a half of the world’s lion population. The Selous Game Reserve is Africa’s largest protected area, and may potentially support the continent’s largest lion population. However, these numbers are largely based on ‘best guesses.’ A more accurate estimate of lion numbers is clearly needed, but even more urgent is a detailed study on the impact of human activity on lion populations. Trophy hunting occurs in the Selous, and the Reserve is surrounded by a rapidly growing human population. 
Legal lion trophy hunting generates millions of dollars in revenue for Tanzania and for wildlife protection. Buffalo, lions and leopard are the main attraction for trophy hunting in Tanzania, with these three key species responsible for generating 25% of the total income. In 2001, the Tanzanian government accrued US$ 10 million from hunting, and the Tanzanian hunting industry as a whole generated approximately US$ 27 million (Baldus & Cauldwell, 2004).