Research overview: predator-proof bomas and livestock enclosure fortification in East Africa

This overview surveys evidence on reinforcing nighttime livestock enclosures (bomas, kraals) to prevent attacks by lions, leopards, hyenas, and cheetahs across East African rangelands. It covers the progression from traditional acacia-thorn fences to chain-link, woven-wire, and living fences of thorny vegetation, and the role of NGO subsidy programs that cost-share fortified enclosures with pastoralist families. Studies broadly report large reductions in nighttime depredation and associated retaliatory killing after fortification, alongside questions about maintenance, displacement of attacks to daytime grazing, durability, and equitable access. The synthesis frames boma reinforcement as among the most cost-effective, widely adopted nonlethal conflict tools.