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Wildlife poaching is a serious and growing problem in many developing countries (Fa & Brown, 2009; Harrison, 2011). Different approaches to tackling the problem exist, but one common strategy is to identify those locations at which poaching appears to be most likely so that rangers can be deployed to them to either prevent or detect poaching activity. Much of the research (e.g. Haines et al., 2012; Maingi et al., 2012; Nyirenda & Chomba, 2012) on spatial patterns of poaching – and why they form – conducted hitherto has used so-called top-down approaches that are commonly used in the social and natural sciences. These include the statistical analysis of observation data and the mapping of spatial concentrations of poaching incidents. Agent-based modelling (ABM) is an alternative method currently gaining traction in the social sciences. This employs a bottom-up or generative approach, whereby the researcher …