IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Novaro, A.J.; Gonz lez, A.; Pailacura, O.; Bolgeri, M.J.; Hertel, M.F.; Funes, M.C.; Walker, R.S. | |
| Management of the conflict between carnivores and livestock in Patagonia using mixed-breed guarding dogs | |
| 2017 Mastozoolog¡a Neotropical (24): 47-58 | |
The conflict between native carnivores and livestock in Argentina is managed principally by killing carnivores. This strategy is inefficient for mitigating livestock losses and has negative ecological consequences. In northern Patagonia, where low-income herders raise goats and sheep, conflict is widespread and is the principal threat to Andean cats (_Leopardus jacobita_). To mitigate the conflict and conserve this feline using methods sensitive to the perceptions and conditions of herders, we carried out interviews and tested the use of mixed-breed guarding dogs raised with livestock. Herders reported the greatest predation losses to be from culpeos (_Lycalopex culpaeus_) and pumas (_Puma concolor_). From 2005 to 2013, 45 herders (average herd size=379 goats, SD=184) raised 58 dogs and trained 28 successfully (48% success rate). Sixteen of 18 herders (89%) with guarding dogs reported reductions in attacks on livestock and 86% stopped hunting native carnivores. In a control group of 9 herders without guarding dogs, 8 (89%) reported similar or increased predation on livestock, and all continued to hunt native carnivores. Average annual cost of maintenance was 183 US dollars per dog, equivalent to 7% of the average annual losses of livestock per herder. Mixed-breed dogs used were smaller (15-20 kg) and were cheaper to maintain than traditional purebred guarding breeds (30-55 kg). Their success in reducing both estimated losses of livestock and hunting of native carnivores depended in part on habitat conditions, but especially on the interest and training of herders to appropriately raise the dogs, which were stimulated and facilitated respectively by sharing the experience of successful producers. |
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