The use of poison by farmers to control livestock predators is a major threat to vulture populations across
Africa. In Namibia, there is now some understanding of poison use on commercial farms, but the situation in
the communal farmlands is still poorly understood. Using a series of 36 questions, I interviewed 367
communal farmers to assess the prevalence of poison use across the north-west, north and eastern communal
land. I found that 18% (SE 2.8) of farmers had killed a predator in the last year and 1.7% (SE 2.1) used
poison to do so. I mapped the probability of poison use across the communal regions surveyed and found
that poison use is predicted to be higher (up to 7% of farmers using poison) in some areas of the upper
north-west. In contrast to previous research, those living adjacent to protected areas did not experience
greater losses to predators and as a result were not more inclined to use poison. I found that those using
poison are more likely to own greater numbers of livestock, particularly large livestock. Overall, my study
suggests that poison use is approximately 12 times lower in the communal areas than on commercial farms.
A number of farmers expressed that it is dangerous to use poison on communal land as the risk of non-target
impacts is much higher where the land is not fenced and is communally used. Nonetheless there are
communal farmers who are using poison and this poses a risk to already threatened vulture populations.
Lastly, I did a survey to look at the farmers’ local knowledge about vultures, their attitudes towards them
and any cultural value that vultures hold. Overall vultures were viewed positively by farmers. The cultural
use of vulture parts appeared fairly uncommon, with 9.5% of farmers reporting that they knew of uses.
Many farmers indicated that the cultural use of vulture parts was something practiced by previous
generations. Feathers were the most commonly used part, mainly for decorations and making arrows. From
my assessment, it appears that anthropogenic threats to vultures in communal areas are fairly low. The
cultural use of vulture body parts is rare. In addition, poison is used but this practice is not nearly as
common as it is on commercial farms. Since poison can have such devastating impacts on vulture
populations, I nonetheless advise that reactive and preventative measures are put in place to reduce
poisoning and minimise the impact when poison is used. The identified ‘hotspots’ of poison use will assist
local authorities to focus their poison mitigation efforts.