Human–wildlife conflicts in a fragmented Amazonian forest landscape: determinants of large felid depredation on livestock

Abstract

Most large carnivore species are in global decline. Conflicts with people, particularly over depredation on small and large livestock, is one of the major causes of this decline. Along tropical deforestation frontiers, large felids often shift from natural to livestock prey because of their increased proximity to human agriculture, thus increasing the likelihood of conflicts with humans. On the basis of data from 236 cattle ranches, we describe levels of depredation by jaguars Panthera onca and pumas Puma concolor on bovine herd stocks and examine the effects of both landscape structure and cattle management on the spatial patterns and levels of predation in a highly fragmented forest landscape of southern Brazilian Amazonia. Generalized linear models showed that landscape variables, including proportion of forest area remaining and distance to the nearest riparian forest corridor, were key positive and negative determinants of predation events, respectively. We detected clear peaks of depredation during the peak calving period at the end of the dry season. Bovine herd size and proportion of forest area had positive effects on predation rates in 60 cattle ranches investigated in more detail. On the other hand, distance from the nearest riparian forest corridor was negatively correlated with the number of cattle predated. The mean proportion of cattle lost to large felids in 24 months for the region varied according to the herd class size (o500: 0.82%; 500-1500: 1.24%; 41500: 0.26%) but was never greater than 1.24%. The highest annual monetary costs were detected in large cattle ranches (41500 head of cattle), reaching US$ 885.40. Patterns of depredation can be explained by a combination of landscape and livestock management variables such as proportion of forest area, distance to the nearest riparian corridor, annual calving peak and bovine herd size.

The impacts, characterisation and management of human–leopard conflict in a multi-use land system in South Africa

“…Similar findings have been observed by jaguars in the Amazon (Michalski et al 2006;Palmeira et al 2008). The number of game attacks occurring during the dry season was significantly higher than during the wet season.…”

“…The absolute number of game and livestock attacks occurring over the 24 month period was pooled together and categorised as occurring in the wet or dry season and analysed using a v 2 test. Count data was used in the temporal analysis to allow comparable results with other studies using a similar approach (Holmern et al 2007;Michalski et al 2006;Mponzi et al 2014;Teichman et al 2013). Furthermore, it was not possible to represent monthly losses as a proportion of total game and livestock holdings as accurate data on game numbers were not available and the number of livestock owned was calculated over annual rather than month long periods.…”

“…The majority of studies worldwide apply quantitative analyses of human-wildlife conflict patterns and rarely consider the application of qualitative methods (Michalski et al 2006;Soto-Shoender and Giuliano 2011;Thorn et al 2012Thorn et al , 2013. Qualitative studies concentrate on the data quality associated with relations between people and do not make broad claims about a population; instead they seek an in-depth understanding of individuals or subgroups and the processes influencing values and behaviours (Drury et al 2011).…”

“…Proximity to streams was an important predictor for game and livestock depredation in the Blouberg and other studies have shown that distance to water is an important criterion for leopard habitat selection (Simcharoen et al 2008). Such landscape features may provide adequate hunting grounds or attract a high abundance of prey species for leopards (Karanth and Sunquist 2000;Stephens and Krebs 1986) and higher rates of predation on livestock have been reported by jaguars in the Amazon closer to riparian waterways (Michalski et al 2006). The perennial Brak River and river channels flowing through the Blouberg Mountain may thus be attractive for leopards and their prey because they offer drinking water, are interspersed by forest providing cover for leopards to stalk their prey.…”

Do attacks by jaguars Panthera onca and pumas Puma concolor (Carnivora: Felidae) on livestock correlate with species richness and relative abundance of wild prey?

“…Since top predators require large territories and a relatively high and diverse abundance of prey species (Linnell, Swenson, & Andersen, 2001;Macdonald & Sillero-Zubiri, 2002), they are especially sensitive to landscape changes, and most of their populations are already restricted to protected areas (Michalski, Boulhosa, Faria, & Peres, 2006). increased interaction between people and big cats, like the jaguar (Panthera onca) and the puma (Puma concolor) tends to escalate conflicts (Saberwal, Gibbs, Chellam, & Johnsingh, 1994;Treves & Karanth, 2003;Kissling, Fernández, & Paruelo, 2009).…”