Research overview: caracal conflict with farmers around Cape Town

Beyond the city edge, caracals occupy farmland and vineyards where predation on small livestock and game generates conflict and retaliatory killing across South Africa. This overview synthesises research on the extent of caracal livestock depredation, the drivers of farmer attitudes, and the effectiveness of non-lethal mitigation such as guarding animals, kraaling and improved husbandry versus lethal control. It examines how persecution interacts with urban-edge threats to shape caracal populations regionally, and the role of the Urban Caracal Project in shifting public perception. The synthesis frames farmer conflict as a key pressure on a felid that is both an urban ambassador and a working-landscape predator.