Botswana is home to numerous researchers and conservationists whose goal is to help promote the preservation of Africa’s most threatened large carnivore species. Unfortunately, due to Botswana’s remoteness and the sheer number of conservationists, it is often difficult to facilitate communication and coordination between all the stakeholders that work towards conserving these species. In March 2016, CCB hosted Botswana’s first ever Large Carnivore Workshop, bringing together all of Botswana’s large mammalian carnivore experts together in one place. Over two days, these experts consolidated all their data and knowledge to develop updated and accurate distribution maps for each species and discussed the future activities necessary to help conserve these species. Moving forward we will use these maps and the combined research efforts of these professionals to develop population estimates for the entire large carnivore guild (lions, leopards, cheetahs, African wild dogs, spotted hyenas and brown hyenas) which will in turn be used to help the Botswana government make informed decisions about wildlife and land use at a policy level. Thank you to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, KAZA and SAVE for their assistance in organising and funding this workshop. We would also like to thank the researchers and conservationists who travelled many miles to attend the workshop – without your willingness to share your information this workshop would not have been possible. The dedication and hard work shown by these wildlife professionals gives us hope that we may still be able to secure a bright future for Botswana’s many threatened species.
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