Spatial correlates of livestock depredation by Amur tigers in Hunchun, China: Relevance of prey density and implications for protected area management

Soh, Yi Hui; Carrasco, L. Román; Miquelle, Dale G.; Jiang, Jinsong; Yang, Jun; Stokes, Emma J.; Tang, Jirong; Kang, Aili; Liu, Peiqi; Rao, Madhu

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2013.10.011

Cited by 64 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…The predation risk model found that threats from both carnivores combined were highest for cattle near dense forests and lowest near agricultural fields, villages, and roads. These results are comparable to previous conflict studies on tigers that likewise observed most attacks on livestock in forest and away from roads (Wang and Macdonald 2006;Soh et al 2014). The risk map for cattle closely resembles general tiger risk for all livestock (Miller et al 2015), likely because cattle are the most frequent species killed by tiger and thus most strongly represented in the tiger risk model.…”

Section: Spatial Patternssupporting

confidence: 90%

“…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%

“…Notable villages are shown for orientation (not all villages are marked). The study area was designated within 4 km of village centers and did not include white areas shown on the map (see 'Materials and methods' for details) Livestock losses and hotspots of attack from tigers and leopards in Kanha Tiger Reserve… (12:00-16:00 hour), likely because this was when livestock were farthest from the village and in dense vegetation where tigers often attack livestock (Soh et al 2014;Malviya and Ramesh 2015;Miller et al 2015). Furthermore, tigers (and leopards) are most active and hunting in the early morning, late afternoon, evening, and night and avoid much activity mid-day (Karanth and Sunquist 2000).…”

Section: Temporal Patternsmentioning

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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Section: Spatial Patternssupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Landscape Attributesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Temporal Patternsmentioning

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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“…Many of these studies have focused on environmental factors influencing depredation, such as distance to protected areas (Holmern, Nyahongo, & Røskaft, 2007), season (Michalski, Boulhosa, Faria, & Peres, 2006), prey density (Soh et al, 2014) and vegetation cover (Bradley & Pletscher, 2005). Although the results from these studies aid our understanding of the ecological drivers related to why carnivores predate upon livestock, they alone often cannot solve conservation conflicts because much of this conflict is based upon people's perceived rather than actual risk to damage caused by carnivores Marker et al, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Associated with the complex social and psychological factors influencing humanwildlife conflict is the management of the farm and its natural resources, which can alter the extent of livestock depredation. For instance, killing game animals in the local area will decrease the availability of wild prey for carnivores, which can then lead to greater livestock depredation (Soh et al, 2014). Poaching of game is an important factor when understanding the ways in which farmer-worker relations affect livestock depredation because employees are often involved in poaching (Lindsey et al, 2011;Warchol & Johnson, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the human dimensions of coexistence between carnivores and people: A case study in Namibia

Rust¹

2018

Preprint

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Many carnivore populations were in decline throughout much of the 20 th century, but due to recent conservation policies, their numbers are stabilising or even increasing in some areas of the world. This, compounded with human population growth, has caused increased livestock depredation by carnivores, which threatens farmer livelihoods, particularly those in developing countries such as Namibia. How to resolve this so-called "conflict" between carnivores and livestock farmers remains challenging, in part because some mitigation strategies have proven somewhat ineffective or unacceptable. By using a case-study approach on the commercial farmlands of northcentral Namibia, I aimed to understand the complexity of the human dimensions affecting coexistence between carnivores and people in an unprotected working landscape. Specifically, my objectives were to 1) develop a participatory decisionmaking exercise to analyse the views of stakeholders on how they would like carnivores to be managed in unprotected lands, 2) understand how the media framed financial incentives to improve human-carnivore coexistence, and 3) determine if there were any underlying social, economic or political causes of negative human-carnivore interactions on commercial livestock farms.To answer objective 1, I developed a new decision-making exercise that combined Q-methodology and the Delphi technique to determine whether a diverse group of stakeholders could agree on how to manage carnivores on commercial farmland. A strong agreement was reached by participants: providing conservation education and training on livestock husbandry were acceptable and effective ways to improve coexistence with carnivores. This new also method highlighted areas of disagreement between stakeholders and showed that there were two different narratives on how carnivores should be managed. This method could be used by policy makers to help with participatory decision-making for resolving other conservation conflicts.To answer objective 2, I undertook content analysis of national newspapers to determine how the media framed articles on financial incentives to mitigate this conservation conflict. The most common (30%) financial incentive discussed was compensation -many (61%) of these articles framed compensation positively. Niki Rust © 2015However, upon categorising these articles into those where respondents were enrolled in compensation schemes compared with those who were not, a clear pattern emerged: articles were more likely (89%) to be framed ambivalently or negatively when respondents had experience of this financial incentive compared with respondents that did not. These results can help conservationists plan more effective communication interventions and anticipate issues that can affect the success of mitigation strategies.To answer objective 3, I undertook eight months of participant observation on livestock farms and interviewed 69 respondents and found that reported livestock depredation was associated with increased instances of poaching of wildl...

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Landscape‐scale accessibility of livestock to tigers: implications of spatial grain for modeling predation risk to mitigate human–carnivore conflict

Miller

Jhala

Jena

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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Innovative conservation tools are greatly needed to reduce livelihood losses and wildlife declines resulting from human–carnivore conflict. Spatial risk modeling is an emerging method for assessing the spatial patterns of predator–prey interactions, with applications for mitigating carnivore attacks on livestock. Large carnivores that ambush prey attack and kill over small areas, requiring models at fine spatial grains to predict livestock depredation hot spots. To detect the best resolution for predicting where carnivores access livestock, we examined the spatial attributes associated with livestock killed by tigers in Kanha Tiger Reserve, India, using risk models generated at 20, 100, and 200-m spatial grains. We analyzed land-use, human presence, and vegetation structure variables at 138 kill sites and 439 random sites to identify key landscape attributes where livestock were vulnerable to tigers. Land-use and human presence variables contributed strongly to predation risk models, with most variables showing high relative importance (≥0.85) at all spatial grains. The risk of a tiger killing livestock increased near dense forests and near the boundary of the park core zone where human presence is restricted. Risk was nonlinearly related to human infrastructure and open vegetation, with the greatest risk occurring 1.2 km from roads, 1.1 km from villages, and 8.0 km from scrubland. Kill sites were characterized by denser, patchier, and more complex vegetation with lower visibility than random sites. Risk maps revealed high-risk hot spots inside of the core zone boundary and in several patches in the human-dominated buffer zone. Validation against known kills revealed predictive accuracy for only the 20 m model, the resolution best representing the kill stage of hunting for large carnivores that ambush prey, like the tiger. Results demonstrate that risk models developed at fine spatial grains can offer accurate guidance on landscape attributes livestock should avoid to minimize human–carnivore conflict.

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Spatial correlates of livestock depredation by Amur tigers in Hunchun, China: Relevance of prey density and implications for protected area management

Cited by 64 publications

References 45 publications

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

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

Understanding the human dimensions of coexistence between carnivores and people: A case study in Namibia

Landscape‐scale accessibility of livestock to tigers: implications of spatial grain for modeling predation risk to mitigate human–carnivore conflict

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