Bonus Seminar: Exploring the Effects of Wire Snare Poaching on Animal Populations
Dr. Robert Montgomery & Dr. Herbert Kasozi
University of Oxford, UK & Makerere University, Uganda
Topic: Exploring the Effects of Wire Snare Poaching on Animal Populations
Talk Description: This talk will explore the implications of wire snare poaching on the behavior and population persistence of non-target species of conservation concern. Used as a tool to hunt bushmeat for local consumption, wire snares are a conservation concern globally because of their indiscriminate nature and ability to capture target and non-target species alike. This talk will discuss the consumptive and non-consumptive implications of wire snare poaching with special reference to two species of conservation concern (the giraffe and the lion) inhabiting Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda. Murchison Falls NP has some of the highest rates of snaring globally. Concurrent work to uplift local community members via implementing conservation practices will also be highlighted. These will involve the Snares to Wares Initiative and the Innovation for Conservation (ICON) Programme within which Iowa State University is an integral partner. Dr. Herbert Kasozi and Dr. Robert Montgomery will deliver the talk.
Speaker Background:
Dr. Herbert Kasozi
Dr. Herbert Kasozi is a Lecturer in the Department of Zoology, Entomology, and Fisheries Sciences at Makerere University, Uganda. His current work focuses on studying information dynamics in the giraffe social system. Concurrently, Dr. Kasozi implements a country- wide population monitoring program for giraffes in Uganda, focusing on estimating vital rates and quantifying threats to their population persistence. Dr. Kasozi holds a BS in Conservation Biology, an MS in Zoology from Makerere University, and a PhD in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University. For his Master’s, Dr. Kasozi studied the ranging behavior of the Hero Shrew in Mabira Forest in Central Uganda. For the PhD, Dr. Kasozi studied giraffe communication and threats to giraffe population persistence.
Dr. Robert Montgomery
Dr. Montgomery is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford. There he runs the Biodiversity and Sustainability
Research Group which conducts translational research across four continents. Dr. Montgomery holds degrees in Anthropology from the University of Minnesota – where he studied the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park, in wildlife science from the University of Washington – where he studied seal population dynamics along the coastlines of Alaska, and in wildlife ecology from Michigan State University – where he studied emergent technologies in conservation science with a particular focus on the interactions of wolves and moose in Isle Royale National Park.
After conducting his postdoctoral research at the University of Missouri, Dr. Montgomery was hired as a professor at Michigan State University where he built his laboratory to conduct research the ecology of carnivores and their prey around the world. Moving to Oxford in 2021, Dr. Montgomery has grown his global research programme and this talk will highlight the work that he has implemented in Uganda in collaboration with Dr. Kasozi.