Impact of livestock guardian dogs on livestock predation in rural Mongolia

Abstract

Much like subsistence farmers the world over, Mongolian herders depend directly on their herds for food, materials, and income. Consequently, any loss of livestock through predation from wild carnivores (including wolves, foxes, snow leopards, and birds of prey) is a major challenge. With a lack of non‐lethal mitigation methods currently available to them, herders in Mongolia frequently manage conflict with predators with retaliatory hunting, negatively impacting populations of wild predators. Livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) are an increasingly popular non‐lethal means worldwide for discouraging livestock predation. However, empirical evaluations of the efficacy of using LGDs in contemporary landscapes are rare throughout Asia. Evaluating these human–wildlife conflict prevention strategies are especially important in areas used to produce globally traded commodities, such as cashmere in the case of Mongolia. We implemented longitudinal structured interview‐based surveys to evaluate the use and effectiveness of LGDs as a conflict mitigation strategy for semi‐nomadic herders in three locations across Mongolia. Sixteen herders in Nomgon, Ömnögovi, Undur‐Ulaan, Arkhangai, Khustain Nuruu National Park area, and Gorkhi Terelj National Park area were surveyed between 2015 and 2019, throughout the process of receiving and training LGDs. Our analysis suggested herders experienced a significant reduction in the annual losses of livestock to predation after receiving LGDs (Wilcoxon signed‐rank test, Z = −3.329, p = .001, n = 16), including when accounting for background predation rates. Consequently, we consider LGDs likely to be a viable method for livestock protection alongside the conservation of predators in Mongolia, and potentially elsewhere in Asia. We finish by exploring important considerations should this approach be used more intensively throughout the country and beyond.

Spatiotemporal Variations of Human Pressure on Key Biodiversity Areas in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau: A Comparative Analysis

“…As mentioned in section "Study Area, " many ecological conservation policies have been implemented in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau since 2010. Therefore, this study compared whether the human pressure within KBAs and NNRs before and after 2010 had a statistically significant variation through a Wilcoxon signed-rank test, which has been widely used in ecological conservation research (Lieb et al, 2021). The Wilcoxon signedrank test is a nonparametric approach to test whether two groups of values are significantly different.…”

Management and Behavior of Livestock Guarding Dogs in a Multiuse Rural Landscape in Northern Israel

“…2018 ). Several studies have evaluated their behavior and effectiveness after integration into the herd ( Coppinger et al 1988 ;Andelt 1992 ;Espuno et al 2004 ;Gehring et al 2010b ;Rigg et al 2011 ;van Bommel and Johnson 2012 ;Marker et al 2021 ;Lieb et al 2021 ). Of these, most studies support their efficacy in reducing losses caused by various predators, both solitary ( Woodroffe et al 2007 ;Marker et al 2021 ) and social predator species ( van Bommel and Johnson 2012 ;Lieb et al 2021 ), to livestock, although the values may vary ( Miller et al 2016 ).…”

“…Several studies have evaluated their behavior and effectiveness after integration into the herd ( Coppinger et al 1988 ;Andelt 1992 ;Espuno et al 2004 ;Gehring et al 2010b ;Rigg et al 2011 ;van Bommel and Johnson 2012 ;Marker et al 2021 ;Lieb et al 2021 ). Of these, most studies support their efficacy in reducing losses caused by various predators, both solitary ( Woodroffe et al 2007 ;Marker et al 2021 ) and social predator species ( van Bommel and Johnson 2012 ;Lieb et al 2021 ), to livestock, although the values may vary ( Miller et al 2016 ). Bruns et al (2020) , on the basis of a review of 30 studies (7 focused on LGDs), found they had the highest variation in effectiveness when compared with other measures (calving control, deterrents, fencing, herding, lethal control, mixed measures, and translocation), ranging from an increase of depredation by 23.3% to a decrease by 100%.…”

“…Often, land managers no longer have the experience to cohabitate with large carnivores and may have erroneous and negative perceptions concerning these species (Dickman 2010; Behr et al 2017). Damage to livestock has a consequent social and economic cost that drives ranchers to use lethal control methods that can contribute to the decline of many threatened predator and nonpredator species (Treves and Naughton-Treves 2005; Gehring et al 2010a; Lieb et al 2021).…”

Hotspots in a cold land‐reported cases of rabies in wildlife and livestock in Mongolia from 2012–2018

“…Although wolves have been less commonly reported as having rabies within Mongolia, they are estimated to be the source of rabies infection in 73.1% of small ruminant cases, 12.6% of equine cases and 32.4% domestic canine cases (Odontsetseg et al, 2009). The enhanced contribution of rabies cases despite lower amounts of rabies reports may reflect both the reported higher frequency with which wolves prey on domestic animals and their widespread distribution across the country (Augugliaro et al, 2020; Lieb et al, 2021; Salvatori et al, 2021).…”