The law of unintended consequences manifests itself in many different ways. I recently came across this article in New Scientist which describes how fencing much of the Kalahari in Botswana to "protect" cattle from foot and mouth and other supposed wildlife-borne diseases has resulted in the complete ceasing of some mass animal migrations, massive die-offs, and in one case, the quagga, extinction. And why my headline about big cats? Obvious, really - they predate the migrating ungulates so a fall in the availability of the latter badly impacts the former (who, of course, always grab the "endangered" headlines).
Hopefully you will be able to see the article but please accept my apologies if you find that it is behind a pay-wall. Perhaps a few startling numbers will help. "Die-offs along fence lines in the order of 300,000 wildebeest carcasses, 10,000 hartebeest and 60,000 zebra from a handful of incidental surveys carried out [have been reported]". "The Kalahari wildebeest, once said to rival the millions in the Serengeti, were reduced to an aerial count of 260 animals in 1987".
Ironically, it now appears that foot and mouth is endemic in the livestock population and wildlife doe not provide a reservoir of the disease. Also, in 2015, tourism in Botswana - much of it centered around its wildlife - accounted for 16% of the county's GDP while the livestock industry provided just 2.5%. One problem is that rich cattle owners make up a disproportionate number of high-level decision makers.
A few fewer fences are required!
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