Though this rarely makes the top news, there is a huge war that is ongoing in Africa, pitting humans against wildlife.

It’s a conflict that has been around before man fought with man.

What first started as a struggle for survival, intensified through the introduction of farming and animal husbandry – greatly increasing the scope of conflict between human and animals.

Wild animals preyed on livestock, and were a source for disease. The inevitable human reaction was to eliminate such threats to their agriculture and domesticated animals.

In addition, as humans created new methods to garner food, land was converted to agricultural and other uses and forests were cleared, all of which impacted wild animals adversely.

In reaction to this, a number of animal species were eliminated locally or displaced in other parts of their natural range. Many became extinct, others never to be the same again.

With many of Africa’s major wildlife groups under extreme threat from extinction, running parallel to an ever-expanding human population, new methods are being taken to reduce the casualty count of human-wildlife conflict.

Today, human-wildlife conflict is most concentrated and influential within agricultural regions where human population growth has begun to lapse onto animal territory.

Problems like this, as well as in a changing climate, are big in rural parts of Africa.

Human population growth, agricultural intensification and wealth creation has limited the living space and resources for both humans and animals, creating conflict.

There is a huge number of wildlife killed due to the conflict. Last year, WWF reported that up to 35,000 African elephants were killed by humans – and it is thought that around 600 lions are killed annually.

As human population continues to grow and expand, it pushes wildlife further into the corner – it is a conflict that will never fully go away. But, the consequences and casualty numbers of the conflict can be mitigated, and now governments are taking measures to educate people on how best to deal with wildlife. How to safely treat them, safely turn them away, and how to create a symbiotic relationship with these creatures so that we can peacefully co-exist side-by-side.