The collected musings of WildCRU’s Founder and Director, Professor David Macdonald, Professor of Wildlife Conservation, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. David Macdonald explains how the WildCRU’s long-term study of lions and the people living alongside them in Hwange NP, and the team led by Andrew Loveridge, has revealed how predator ecology and animal husbandry […]
I am an interdisciplinary researcher working to approach conservation questions using innovative methods. In addition to the use of analyses of people’s attitudes, I use economic valuation techniques and wellbeing economics to understand the relationship between communities, wildlife and conservation efforts. Current projects include: a study of farmers’ attitudes to reintroduction of lynx in the […]
David Macdonald explains how WildCRU’s research in the Hwange Lion Project runs hand-in-hand with an education programme for village children: around the borders of Hwange National Park, where Dr Andrew Loveridge and I set up wildCRU’s lion project in 1999, there are numerous villages. Historically, many villagers have viewed lions, and other large predators, with […]
A newsflash from David Macdonald who, together with Andy Loveridge, continues to explain the practical successes of WildCRU’s work with a focus on: Lions and local people Rural Africans living on the boundaries of protected areas are a frequently ignored component of the lion conservation equation. Subsistence farmers in on the boundary of Hwange National […]
The photo of Cecil, projected onto the Empire State Building is deeply evocative. Of course, for Andy Loveridge and me, and our dedicated team at Hwange it leaves us reeling with emotion, and deep gratitude to the more than 11,000 people who have donated to our project. But more personally, I think back to the […]
In countless interviews we have repeated that lion society is very complicated, and that it takes endless work, lots of skill and many years to understand it. We thought it would help you understand this if we provided a biography of Cecil – and Andy has written this as of 2nd August. When you read […]
Last night we were surprised so see rumours of the death of a second lion, Jericho, circulating in the media – we had no evidence for this. The rumours claimed he too had been hunted illegally. The WildCRU field research team and a National Parks ranger set out at daybreak to attempt to find him. […]
We continue to be in awe of the up-welling of concern globally following the illegal shooting of Cecil, and inspired by the interest that millions of people are taking in the conservation research that Dr Andy Loveridge and I direct in Hwange, in collaboration with Zimbabwe’s National Parks Authority. We are humbled by your support […]