What Makes Carrion Unsafe for Scavengers? Considerations for Appropriate Regulatory Policies and Sound Management Practices

Ogada, Darcy; Richards, Ngaio; Behmke, Shannon

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-16501-7_9

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Culling to reduce free-roaming dog numbers has been shown to be ineffective as population density recovers rapidly through increased survival or perturbation of the remaining population [ 69 , 70 ]. Furthermore, use of poisons for population reduction can pose risks to higher endangered trophic levels of predator and scavenger populations [ 71 ], and should not be allowed on welfare grounds. For diseases like CDV that evoke prolonged (even life-long) immunity, culling in areas with high seroprevalence, such as we have demonstrated surrounding CNP, can even be counter-productive.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seroprevalence of canine distemper virus (CDV) in the free-roaming dog (Canis familiaris) population surrounding Chitwan National Park, Nepal

et al. 2023

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Canine distemper virus (CDV) is a global multi-host pathogen that is capable of causing considerable mortality in a range of species and is important in the field of conservation medicine. Nepal’s Chitwan National Park is a protected area providing habitat for 32% of the country’s mammal species including endangered carnivores such as the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) that are susceptible to CDV. The presence of free-roaming dogs around protected areas could represent a source of infectious disease for transmission to local wildlife. A cross-sectional demographic and canine distemper virus seroprevalence study of 100 free-roaming dogs from the Chitwan National Park buffer zone and surrounding area was conducted in November 2019. The overall seroprevalence indicating past exposure to canine distemper virus was 80.0% (95% CI: 70.8–87.3). Of the host variables assessed, sex and age were positively associated with seroprevalence at the univariable level, with male dogs demonstrating lower seroprevalence than females (OR = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.11–0.91) and adult dogs demonstrating higher seroprevalence than juveniles (OR = 13.94, 95% CI: 1.37–142.29). The effect of sex was no longer significant at the multivariable level, but the direction of the effect remained the same. The effect of age remained significant after multivariable analysis (OR = 9.00, 95% CI: 1.03–192.75). No spatial associations were demonstrated in relation to the buffer zone area or boundary of Chitwan National Park. Free-roaming dog neutering and vaccination programmes can provide a useful baseline for future CDV studies in the region, and a proxy to monitor disease threats to susceptible wildlife.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seroprevalence of canine distemper virus (CDV) in the free-roaming dog (Canis familiaris) population surrounding Chitwan National Park, Nepal

et al. 2023

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“…That provides a good general descriptor of anthropogenic disturbance but does not permit the identification of specific factors affecting scavenger assemblages. Such factors could include poisoning of carcasses for retaliatory killing of predators (Ogada et al 2019) or the use of veterinary drugs such as diclofenac (Green et al 2016). Thus, we recommend further studies to determine the relative importance of specific anthropic drivers affecting the structure of scavenger assemblages (Buechley and Şekercioğlu 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Network structure of vertebrate scavenger assemblages at the global scale: drivers and ecosystem functioning implications

Sebastián‐González¹,

Morales‐Reyes²,

Botella³

et al. 2020

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Network structure of vertebrate scavenger assemblages at the global scale: drivers and ecosystem functioning implications

et al. 2020

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The organization of ecological assemblages has important implications for ecosystem functioning, but little is known about how scavenger communities organize at the global scale. Here, we test four hypotheses on the factors affecting the network structure of terrestrial vertebrate scavenger assemblages and its implications on ecosystem functioning. We expect scavenger assemblages to be more nested (i.e. structured): 1) in species‐rich and productive regions, as nestedness has been linked to high competition for carrion resources, and 2) regions with low human impact, because the most efficient carrion consumers that promote nestedness are large vertebrate scavengers, which are especially sensitive to human persecution. 3) We also expect climatic conditions to affect assemblage structure, because some scavenger assemblages have been shown to be more nested in colder months. Finally, 4) we expect more organized assemblages to be more efficient in the consumption of the resource. We first analyzed the relationship between the nestedness of the scavenger assemblages and climatic variables (i.e. temperature, precipitation, temperature variability and precipitation variability), ecosystem productivity and biomass (i.e. NDVI) and degree of human impact (i.e. human footprint) using 53 study sites in 22 countries across five continents. Then, we related structure (i.e. nestedness) with its function (i.e. carrion consumption rate). We found a more nested structure for scavenger assemblages in regions with higher NDVI values and lower human footprint. Moreover, more organized assemblages were more efficient in the consumption of carrion. However, our results did not support the prediction that the structure of the scavenger assemblages is directly related to climate. Our findings suggest that the nested structure of vertebrate scavenger assemblages affects its functionality and is driven by anthropogenic disturbance and ecosystem productivity worldwide. Disarray of scavenger assemblage structure by anthropogenic disturbance may lead to decreases in functionality of the terrestrial ecosystems via loss of key species and trophic facilitation processes.

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What Makes Carrion Unsafe for Scavengers? Considerations for Appropriate Regulatory Policies and Sound Management Practices

Cited by 3 publications

References 126 publications

Seroprevalence of canine distemper virus (CDV) in the free-roaming dog (Canis familiaris) population surrounding Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Seroprevalence of canine distemper virus (CDV) in the free-roaming dog (Canis familiaris) population surrounding Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Network structure of vertebrate scavenger assemblages at the global scale: drivers and ecosystem functioning implications

Network structure of vertebrate scavenger assemblages at the global scale: drivers and ecosystem functioning implications

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