Provoked poachers? Applying a situational precipitator framework to examine the nexus between human-wildlife conflict, retaliatory killings, and poaching

ABSTRACT

The poaching of wildlife has received substantial interest from criminologists in recent years. In particular, prior research has attempted to better understand the factors that drive individuals to engage in such behavior. One driver that has been acknowledged is human-wildlife conflict. To date, however, there has been little research examining the situational factors that link human-wildlife conflict, retaliatory killings, and poaching. Moreover, there are few studies that have attempted to theoretically explain such convergence. Based on fieldwork in Uganda, and drawn from data collected from formal interviews, participant observation, and informal conversations with rangers, the present study demonstrates the utility of viewing the intersection between human-wildlife conflict, retaliatory killings, and poaching from a situational precipitator framework. Findings suggest that human-wildlife conflict can prompt, pressure, permit, and provoke individuals to engage in both retaliatory killings and poaching. Additionally, it was found that human-wildlife conflict directly influences community-ranger relations in Uganda.

Implications for theory, practice, and prevention are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Human-wildlife conflict
• poaching
• qualitative methods
• situational precipitators
• Uganda
• wildlife crime

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William D. Moreto

William D. Moreto is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida. He received his Ph.D. from the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice in 2013. His research centers on the study of wildlife crime, wildlife law enforcement, environmental criminology and crime science, situational crime prevention, policing, and conservation social science. He has conducted fieldwork in Kenya, Nepal, the Philippines, Uganda, and the United States. His research can be found in leading journals, including Justice Quarterly, British Journal of Criminology, Qualitative Research, and Oryx: The International Journal of Conservation. He is the lead author of Wildlife Crime: An Environmental Criminology and Crime Science Perspective (Carolina Academic Press) and editor of Wildlife Crime: From Theory to Practice (Temple University Press).