Hyene brune

Outside protected areas, the Brown Hyaena may come into conflict with humans, and they are often shot, poisoned, trapped and hunted with dogs in predator eradication or control programmes, or inadvertently killed in non-selective control programs (Mills 1998). Brown Hyaena body parts are used in traditional medicine and Brown Hyaenas are also often unintentional victims of lethal problem animal control through poisons and poaching through snares (I. Wiesel, C. Edwards, L. Boast and R. Yarnell pers. comms. 2014). Lethal control remains the most predominant form of conflict resolution. The Brown Hyaena is regarded as a threat to livestock in some areas, and over 72% of livestock owners in Namibia believe that the Brown Hyaena is responsible for losses (Lindsey et al. 2013), despite the finding that Brown Hyaenas very seldom prey on livestock (Maude and Mills 2005). In South Africa's North West Province 40% of livestock owners regard the Brown Hyaena as a problem animal (Thorn 2008), but in the North West Province, only 6% of surveyed farmers admit to having killed Brown Hyaenas on their property (St John et al. 2011). Persecution in small stock areas in Namibia has lead to the local extinction of Brown Hyaenas in the southeastern parts of that country, where increasing conflict may lead to further population decline.

Brown Hyaenas occur in a number of large conservation areas, including: Namib-Naukluft, Skeleton Coast, Tsau//Khaeb (Sperrgebiet) and Etosha National Parks (Namibia), Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (South Africa, Botswana), Makgadikgadi National Park (Botswana), Pilanesberg National Park (South Africa), Shamwari Game Reserve (Eastern Cape, South Africa), and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (Botswana). A recent study from Botswana suggested that a significant proportion of the global Brown Hyaena population is found in non-protected areas, and that these animals can also tolerate land-use changes under some circumstances (Kent and Hill 2013). Boast and Houser (2012) found that Brown Hyaenas occurred evenly on game and cattle farms in Botswana, and in Namibia 54.5% of farm owners reported Brown Hyaena presence (Lindsey et al. 2013). Increased efforts to educate farmers and pastoralists about the fact that Brown Hyenas pose very little risk to livestock is likely to enhance conservation of these animals.