Chat-tigre

The major threat to Serval is wetland habitat loss and degradation (Thiel 2011). Wetlands harbour comparatively high rodent densities compared with other habitat types, and form the core areas of Serval home ranges. Of secondary importance is degradation of grasslands through annual burning followed by over-grazing by domestic livestock, leading to reduced abundance of small mammals (Nowell and Jackson 1996, Ray et al. 2005).

International legal commercial trade is generally declining (Nowell and Jackson 1996), although skins are still traded in large quantities in some countries, such as Senegal, Gambia and Benin (Burnham and Di Silvestre in Hunter and Bowland 2013), and exported to North Africa (K. de Smet and F. Cuzin pers. comm. 2007). Serval pelts seen in trade in Morocco could come from elsewhere, or could indicate the species continued existence in that country (Arce and Prunier 2006). In Zambia pelts are rarely used for traditional clothing, often it is used as substitute for Leopard skins (C. Thiel pers. comm.) Trade in West Africa appears to be primarily for ceremonial or medicinal purposes. For example, they are highly valued for traditional medicine in Nigeria, where, among markets surveyed in five south-west Nigerian towns in 1994, Servals were the second most commonly offered mammalian species (Sodeinde and Soewu 1999 in Hunter and Bowland 2013). Gadsby (1991) proved the occurrence of Serval in Nigeria based on furs of this species being commonly traded on local markets. Trade evidence is used by Maisels et al. (2001) for occurrence in Cameroon and by Sayer and Green (1984) for occurrence in Benin.

Although Serval very rarely prey upon livestock (and indeed may even be beneficial to crop farmers due to their predilection for rodents), in rural areas throughout Africa, they are sometimes persecuted for taking poultry and indiscriminate predator control methods practised by pastoralists frequently kill them (L. Hunter and J. Bowland pers. comms.).

Sometimes other predators, such as leopards, hyaenas or lions, kill young and even adult Serval (Thiel 2011).

The Serval is listed on CITES Appendix II. Hunting is prohibited in Algeria, Botswana, Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa (Cape province only), and Tunisia, and hunting regulations apply in Angola, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo and Zambia (Nowell and Jackson 1996).

Servals occur in a number of protected areas across their range, including: El Kala National Park (N.P.) (Algeria), Feidja N.P. (Tunisia), Ifrane N.P. (Morocco), Comoé N.P. (Côte d’Ivoire), WAPO complex (Burkina Faso, Benin, Niger, Togo), Zakouma N.P. (Chad), Simien and Bale Mountains National Parks (Ethiopia), Odzala N.P. (Congo Republic), Virunga N.P. (DR Congo), Queen Elizabeth N.P. and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (Uganda), Aberdare Mountains N.P. (Kenya), Serengeti and Selous National Parks (Tanzania), Moremi G.R. and Chobe N.P. (Botswana), and Kruger N.P. and Ukhahlamba-Drakensberg Park (South Africa). Odzala N.P. in Congo Republic could be a key site for protecting serval as it is the only currently known protected population in the Gabon-Congolian savanna region, which are isolated from the Miombo woodlands south of the Congo River (P. Henschel pers. comm.).

As Geertsema (1985) and Bowland (1990) mentioned the key to Serval conservation is Wetland conservation. For these reasons it is crucial to investigate the Serval’s habitat requirements and to create an updated action plan for this species (Thiel 2011). The Serval can be used as an umbrella species for savanna biotopes; and as an indicator for the heavily endangered humid savanna biotope.