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Livestock Losses Varied Strongly Among Households and Carnivores in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley

Two cattle standing in a dry riverbed in Ethiopia's Omo Valley
Conservation · Human–wildlife conflict

A household study from southern Ethiopia found that reported livestock losses to carnivores were common but very unevenly distributed around Omo National Park and the neighbouring Tama Community Conservation Area. The study examined both which predators households blamed for losses and which household circumstances were most strongly associated with reporting depredation.

Map of the Omo Valley study area showing Omo National Park and Tama Community Conservation Area
Omo National Park, Tama Community Conservation Area and the study area in southern Ethiopia. Figure 1 from Maru et al. (2026), CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Spotted hyenas were blamed most often in predator-specific reports

The researchers interviewed 147 households using a structured questionnaire. During the study’s 12-month reference period, 36.1 percent reported losing livestock to carnivores. In a separate predator-specific summary, which should not be read as the same 12-month measure, spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) were blamed most often, by 66.7% of households, followed by leopards (Panthera pardus) at 37.4% and lions (Panthera leo) at 36.7%. Jackals were reported by 30.6% of households, cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) by 28.6% and African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) by 21.1%.

The researchers deliberately recruited accessible households near the protected areas rather than drawing a random sample from the whole Omo Valley. The 36.1% figure therefore describes the households that were interviewed and cannot be assumed to be the proportion for the valley as a whole.

Species-specific loss figures were reported, not verified kill rates

The number of animals reportedly lost also varied between predators. This produced a different pattern from how often each predator was blamed. Spotted hyenas were implicated by far more households, but among the lifetime species-specific reports, cheetahs had the highest average number of livestock lost per household, at 5.14 animals, while spotted hyenas averaged 2.64. However, these figures are based on people’s recollections over their lifetimes rather than verified predation events and should therefore not be treated as direct measurements of each predator’s actual impact.

The study itself highlights another important limitation: livestock owners can sometimes misidentify the carnivore responsible for an attack, particularly when several similar-sized predators occur in the same area. The species-level results are therefore best read as reported patterns of conflict rather than precise kill rates.

The burden was unevenly distributed among households

Reported livestock loss was also associated with household circumstances. After the measured household factors were considered together, pastoralist households were much more likely to report losses than agro-pastoralists, although the size of that difference was imprecisely estimated. Poor households also had a clearly higher reported risk than rich households, while households more than 20 km from the national park had far lower reported risk than households within 10 km. Because the study was cross-sectional, these relationships identify risk patterns rather than proving that the household factors caused depredation. This shows that the burden of living alongside large carnivores is distributed unevenly.

The findings point towards targeted measures rather than treating every household or predator in the same way. Better livestock protection near high-risk areas, support for households that are especially dependent on livestock, and ecological monitoring of carnivore movements could help reduce losses while maintaining the Omo Valley’s diverse predator community.

Sources and image credit

  1. Maru, A. W., Asfaw, T., Yirga, G., Kidane, D., & Bauer, H. (2026). Socioeconomic determinants of livestock depredation by carnivores in the Omo Valley, Southern Ethiopia. BMC Ecology and Evolution, 26(1), 60. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-026-02560-6Primary peer-reviewed open-access study, published 17 July 2026

Image: Appleslerp — cattle in an Omo Valley riverbed, Ethiopia; contextual image from the study region. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

Human–wildlife conflict

SPECIES IN THIS STORY

Species in this story

Spotted Hyena Crocuta crocuta Explore species Leopard Panthera pardus Explore species Lion Panthera leo Explore species Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus Explore species African Wild Dog Lycaon pictus Explore species

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