Dog and cat-related attacks on wildlife in the Metropolitan District of Quito, Ecuador: an integrative approach to reduce the impact

Whiskers in the city: Domestic cat predation in Ecuadorian coastal cities and associated factors

“…Discrepancies in capture rates between regions underscore the importance of considering ecosystem types and biodiversity levels when evaluating these impacts, highlighting the need for targeted conservation efforts in areas like the Ecuadorian coast, to preserve unique and threatened ecosystems.No previous study has examined the impacts of cat depredation on wildlife in tropical dry ecosystems; hence, our study represents the rst contribution to lling this information gap.Cats generally hunt animals smaller than themselves, as shown by the high number of small prey found in the literature(Lepczyk et al 2004;Kutt 2012;Paul and Friend 2020). Most of the studies report that birds and small mammals predominate among the prey items and species captured by domestic cats(Morgan et al 2009;van Heezik et al 2010;Díaz et al 2023;Lepczyk et al 2023). Unexpectedly, most of the prey items and taxa captured by cats in our study consist of invertebrates.…”

“…Although cats have been identi ed as a priority management species on the mainland coast of Ecuador (Espinoza-Amen et al 2021), there is limited information available about the predation of local fauna by domestic and feral cats and their impacts (Loss et al 2022). Attacks by domestic cats on wildlife have only been described and published for the city of Quito, located in the northern Andes of Ecuador (Díaz et al 2023), while for cities located in the coastal zone, no information has been documented or published. This study provides, for the rst time, solid information about predation by domestic cats in urban areas surrounded by remnants of tropical dry forests, mangrove forests, and semi-arid shrublands in the Neotropics (Rivas et al 2020;Morocho et al 2022).…”

A Genetic Tool to Identify Predators Responsible for Livestock Attacks in South America and Recommendations for Human–Wildlife Conflict Mitigation

“…Previous studies show that domestic dogs are responsible for wildlife predation in Ecuador [ 49 , 50 ], and that attacks to wildlife are becoming more frequent, probably due to the increase in free-ranging dog densities [ 51 ]. However, until now, no data have been published on their involvement in livestock predation.…”

“…Recent field observations using transects and camera traps in the Andean region of Ecuador have shown that the presence of feral dogs alters activity patterns and reduces the abundance of native mammals [ 47 , 48 ]. There is also data from dog attacks on wild species [ 49 , 50 , 51 ], but, to date, there are no published studies that have investigated whether dogs may also be negatively interacting with livestock. The Ministerio de Ambiente, Agua y Transición Ecológica (MAATE) is making efforts to manage human–wildlife conflicts through the training of its agents and the publication of a guide that explains how to determine if an attack on livestock was from an Andean bear, a jaguar, a puma, or a domestic dog [ 52 ].…”