Estimated versus actual: variation in patrol effort and estimates of number of surveys needed for efficient law enforcement in protected areas

Law enforcement is central to the objectives of managing Protected Areas for the benefit of resident species. The study sought to appraise park patrol performance against variables needed for monitoring of the species, according to the ideologies of occupancy modelling in the Kalakpa Resource Reserve (KRR), by estimating patrol effort and comparing to estimates of survey effort needed for a precise occupancy estimation. Patrol indices were obtained from ranger patrol data and used to estimate patrol effort for rangers in the KRR. The survey effort was estimated using the values provided by the occupancy analysis of key ungulate species in KRR, for all encountered ungulates treated as a single group and four species directly sighted/heard on patrols. Encounter rates were low for ungulate species during the study period. The number of species and illegal activities observed were significantly affected by the number of staff on patrol, duration of patrols, and distance patrolled. The patrolling camp had no significant effect on the observations of species and illegal activities. Patrol effort was 190 survey occasions, with the estimated survey effort ranging from 377 to 1068 survey occasions. The estimated survey effort was significantly higher than the patrol effort and necessitated an increase in the number of patrols per unit time to improve the protection of the species in the KRR.