Jackal Narratives: Predator Control and Contested Ecologies in the Karoo, South Africa

Abstract

This article considers the historical roots of, and scientific evidence for, rival 'jackal narratives' about the ecology and control of the black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) in the Karoo, South Africa. During the mid 20th century, state-supported co-operative hunting and jackal-proof fences largely contained jackal predation. But as South Africa moved towards democracy in the 1990s, in a context of falling on-farm employment and the ending of subsidised fences and state-supported predator control, jackal predation re-emerged as a problem for economically and politically marginalised commercial sheep farmers in the Karoo. When CapeNature (the government body responsible for maintaining biodiversity on agricultural lands in the Western Cape province) sought to restrict the trapping and shooting of predators by farmers, an emotive battle with political ramifications erupted over the science of predator ecology. A rival 'citizen science' from farmers and hunters emerged to...