My pronouns are she/her
I am interested in the ecology and conservation of large carnivores and their interactions with humans. Human-carnivore conflict is a global challenge, accelerated by human population expansion into regions of high carnivore density. Livestock depredation by large carnivores is one form of conflict that has become increasingly prevalent, often resulting in retaliatory killings of carnivores by humans. This has become one of the leading threats to conserving these important species (Hoffmann et al., 2019).
My 4th year Master’s project will use camera trap footage recorded in Central Kenya to analyse the effect of different environmental variables on the rate of carnivore encounters with livestock. Identifying the variables that influence depredation risk could enable the development of targeted and species-specific mitigation strategies, to reduce livestock depredation and human-carnivore conflict. This is vital both for the livelihoods of local people and the conservation of these carnivore species.
