Assessing Patterns of Human-Wildlife Conflicts and Compensation around a Central Indian Protected Area

Karanth, Krithi K.; Gopalaswamy, Arjun M.; DeFries, Ruth; Ballal, Natasha

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050433

Cited by 148 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Similar to other multipredator systems where felids typically killed fewer livestock than other predators (e.g., Rigg et al 2011, Karanth et al 2012, cougar livestock incidents were the lowest of all carnivores in our study despite an expanding and increasing population (Knopff et al 2014). Although cougars occasionally kill livestock, cougar diet in southwestern Alberta, like many regions of North America, is primarily deer (Anderson and Lindzey 2003, Knopff et al 2009, Bacon et al 2011, Banfield 2012.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Troublemaking carnivores: conflicts with humans in a diverse assemblage of large carnivores

Morehouse¹,

Boyce²

2017

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Human-wildlife conflicts are a global conservation and management challenge. Multipredator systems present added complexity to the resolution of human-wildlife conflicts because mitigation strategies often are species-specific. Documenting the type and distribution of such conflicts is an important first step toward ensuring that subsequent management and mitigation efforts are appropriately targeted. We reviewed 16 years of records of complaints about two species of strict carnivores, wolves (Canis lupus) and cougars (Puma concolor), and two species of omnivores, grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) and black bears (Ursus americanus) in southwestern Alberta and evaluated the temporal and spatial distribution of these complaints. Conflicts were most frequently associated with bears (68.7% of complaint records), reflecting a diversity of conflict types attributable to their omnivorous diets. Although grizzly bears killed and injured livestock, the majority of conflicts with bears were attributable to attractants (grain and dead livestock for grizzly bears, garbage for black bears). In contrast, wolf and cougar incidents were almost exclusively related to killing or injury of livestock. Complaints for both bear species have increased over the past 16 years while cougar and wolf complaints have remained relatively constant. Grizzly bear and cougar conflicts have been expanding into private lands used for agriculture. Although community driven, targeted mitigation measures have helped reduce conflicts with grizzly bears at the site level, conflicts at the broader scale have continued to increase and continued work is necessary. Long-term human-carnivore coexistence clearly is possible, facilitated by continued monitoring and local efforts to mitigate conflicts.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Troublemaking carnivores: conflicts with humans in a diverse assemblage of large carnivores

Morehouse¹,

Boyce²

2017

E&S

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“…The compensation program also offers tractable longterm data that can be used for assessing the temporal and spatial patterns and physical characteristics of livestock losses. Kill data offer exclusive fine-scale spatial information about the sites where livestock are vulnerable to livestock, offering a unique perspective not otherwise captured by household surveys, which have been the basis of many previous studies on human-carnivore conflict (e.g., Wang and Macdonald 2006;Nugraha and Sugardjito 2009;Karanth et al 2012;Katel et al 2014;Bhattarai and Fischer 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To receive compensation, a livestock owner must locate and report the livestock carcass to the Forest Department within 48 h, and an officer then visits the site to record evidence of the death. Although not all livestock owners choose to report lost livestock (Karanth et al 2012), between 400 and 600 livestock are reported for compensation each year within the tiger reserve (Negi and Shukla 2010).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We examined the landscape characteristics associated with kills by sampling environmental and anthropogenic variables known to influence livestock depredation by large Felidae predators (Seidensticker 1976;Shrader et al 2008;Valeix et al 2009;Kissling et al 2009;Karanth et al 2012;Zarco-González et al 2013;Soh et al 2014). For land use, we utilized the Forest Survey of India State of the Forests 2009 map of land cover, which included non-forest (i.e., agricultural fields), water, scrubland, open forest, moderately dense forest, and very dense forest.…”

Section: Landscape Attributesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Livestock losses and hotspots of attack from tigers and leopards in Kanha Tiger Reserve, Central India

2015

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Carnivore attacks on livestock are a primary driver of human-carnivore conflict and carnivore decline globally. Livestock depredation is particularly threatening to carnivore conservation in Central India, a priority landscape and stronghold for the endangered tiger. To strengthen the effectiveness of conflict mitigation strategies, we examined the spatial and temporal patterns and physical characteristics of livestock depredation in Kanha Tiger Reserve. We combined livestock compensation historical records (2001-2009) with ground surveys (2011)(2012) and carnivore scat to identify when and where livestock species were most vulnerable. Between 400 and 600 livestock were reported for financial compensation each year, and most (91-95 %) were successfully reimbursed. Tigers and leopards were responsible for nearly all livestock losses and most often killed in the afternoon and early evening. Cattle and buffalo were most at risk in dense forests away from villages and roads, whereas goats were most often killed in open vegetation near villages. A spatial predation risk model for cattle revealed high-risk hotspots around the core zone boundary, confirming the significant risks to livestock grazing illegally in the core. Such ecological insights on carnivore-livestock interactions may help improve species-specific livestock husbandry for minimizing livestock losses and enabling coexistence between people and carnivores.

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“…Trust is essential and can be facilitated by developing a coordinated response to immediately mitigate and resolve predator-livestock issues in the Central Indian Highlands protected areas, buffer zones, and corridors (Karanth et al 2012). Just as important is to be proactive and identify risk zones (Miller 2014).…”

Section: Priority Actions On Which To Build a Collectiveengagement Plmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity resilience in the Central Indian Highlands is contingent on maintaining and recovering landscape connectivity: the tiger as a case study

Seidensticker

2015

Reg Environ Change

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Corridors (variably called landscape linkages, connectors, and gateways) are expanses of a landscape that facilitate the flow or movement of individuals, genes, and ecological processes. Protected areas with their buffer zones and the corridors that connect them are cornerstones of modern conservation actions to maintain the biodiversity we have and restore what we have lost. Policy and governance to guide the establishment and management of protected areas and supporting buffer zones is well established in the Central Indian Highlands. A policy and governance structure to create the context and enabling conditions for corridor maintenance, creation, and recovery is emerging but is constrained by the reigning land-management paradigm that separates conservation from development rather than mainstreaming species and habitat conservation into the rural development agenda. Well-nourished, healthy human populations and healthy ecosystems are inextricably linked. The worsening ecological conditions in the Central Indian Highlands can trigger the emergence of a common agenda for an inclusive, caring, and environment-friendly mode of development. The alternative is the business-as-usual scenario: a continuation of worsening ecological conditions. Entry points through the biodiversity, agriculture production, resource extraction, and economic/social sectors to enable integrated sustainable landscape management are identified. These include deepening what it means to successfully conserve a species combined with explicit threat analysis for at-risk tigers and the landscapes that supports them; landscape scenario modeling to advance communication by synthesizing diverse forms of research and articulating and evaluating alternative socio-economic futures; and the use of the smart green infrastructure process as an approach to development rather than only as a way to mitigate environmental damage. Models are presented to scale up from isolated conservation interventions to collective impact that unites supportive government partners with individuals, NGOs, and economic interests to achieve viable long-term relationships in human and natural systems to value, maintain, and recover landscape connectivity.

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Assessing Patterns of Human-Wildlife Conflicts and Compensation around a Central Indian Protected Area

Cited by 148 publications

References 33 publications

Troublemaking carnivores: conflicts with humans in a diverse assemblage of large carnivores

Troublemaking carnivores: conflicts with humans in a diverse assemblage of large carnivores

Livestock losses and hotspots of attack from tigers and leopards in Kanha Tiger Reserve, Central India

Biodiversity resilience in the Central Indian Highlands is contingent on maintaining and recovering landscape connectivity: the tiger as a case study

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