Trophy Hunting of Elephants Close to the Park Boundary of Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe, Deters Elephants From Using Adjacent Hunting Areas

Abstract

Trophy hunting of elephants may influence their habitat utilisation, which might have cascading impacts on resource availability and their dynamics. The effects of elephant trophy hunting were investigated in hunting areas in the proximity of Gonarezhou National Park between 2017 and 2023. It was investigated whether elephants were being hunted close to the park boundary and, if so, whether such ‘periphery hunting’ had created a barrier of fear which restricted elephants' movement into, and use of, hunting areas. Utilisation of hunting areas was studied by tracking the movements of 11 bull elephants fitted with GPS collars, and by counting elephant dung along 20 belt transects and in 60 plots distributed across a non-hunting area and an adjacent hunting area. A total of 70 bull elephants were hunted, with more elephants killed in 2021 than in 2020, most likely owing to the effects of the COVID pandemic on international travel. Elephants were hunted at distances from the park boundary of between 0.02 and 7.50 km, with 51% of the kills occurring within less than 1 km. Movement of bull elephants suggested that a ‘barrier of fear’ along the park boundary reduced their movement into, and use of the hunting areas. Dung distribution further indicated that elephants used the non-hunting area more than the hunting area. Periphery hunting was confirmed as an appropriate descriptor of the spatial pattern of hunting.