Foxes, people and hens: human dimensions of a conflict in a rural area of southern Chile

Silva‐Rodríguez, Eduardo A.; Soto‐Gamboa, Mauricio; Ortega‐Solís, Gabriel; Jiménez, Jaime E.

doi:10.4067/s0716-078x2009000300005

Cited by 26 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…that cover approximately 35% of the study area. Prairies are used by local people for raising small stock (mostly sheep and some goats) and some dairy and beef cattle (see details in Silva‐Rodríguez et al. 2009a).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Conservation and ecological implications of the use of space by chilla foxes and free‐ranging dogs in a human‐dominated landscape in southern Chile

2010

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We investigated whether domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) influenced the use of space by chilla foxes (Lycalopex griseus) in southern Chile and tested the hypothesis that dogs interfere with chillas. We used scent stations and occurrence of scats within systematically placed plots to assess habitat use by both species and to test whether dogs were associated to the use of space by chillas. Activity data were obtained from captures for both species, and telemetry for foxes. Diet of both species was analysed in order to tease out the potential existence of exploitation competition.We found that, when active, chillas used prairies more and native forest less than expected according to availability, whereas inactive chillas (during the day) preferred native forest, the only habitat type that dogs did not use. The odds of dog occurrence increased at shorter distance to human houses, whereas the inverse pattern was observed for chillas. Poisson models showed that the number of chilla visits to scent stations was negatively correlated with the number of dog visits. We observed dogs persecuting and/or killing chillas which was also corroborated by local people that used dogs to prevent chilla-related poultry losses, supporting the idea that dogs harass foxes actively. The analysis of scats showed that dogs fed mainly on house food and domestic ruminant carcasses whereas foxes fed on hare, hens, mice and wild birds, thus suggesting that exploitation competition is not a strong alternative hypothesis as a proximate cause for the patterns observed. We conclude that dogs seem to constrain the use of space by wild carnivores via interference.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The presence of sheep or cattle bones with evidence of saw marks was identified as human‐provided food, otherwise such bones were considered as eaten from a carcass (no domestic ruminant were killed by predators in the area). During the study, poultry losses affected some houses (Silva‐Rodríguez et al. 2009a).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation and ecological implications of the use of space by chilla foxes and free‐ranging dogs in a human‐dominated landscape in southern Chile

2010

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“…The few studies on the topic mainly focus on carnivores and their interactions with people. For instance, researchers have argued that peasants have reported conflicts with cougars (Puma concolor), kodkods (Leopardus guigna), and foxes (Lycalopex culpaeus and Lycalopex griseus), species that attack livestock (Franklin et al 1999;Sanderson et al 2002;Silva-Rodríguez et al 2009). Differently, visitors of Chilean protected areas have reported positive willingness to conserve species, including carnivores (Cerda and Losada 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation of biodiversity in private lands: are Chilean landowners willing to keep threatened species in their lands?

Zorondo-Rodríguez

Reyes‐García

Simonetti

2014

Rev. Chil. de Hist. Nat.

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Background: The biological conservation in private lands largely depends upon landowners' willingness to keep populations of wild species on them, an issue highlighted by the Convention on Biological Diversity. In this study, we aim (i) to understand small landowners' behavioural intentions, or relative intensity to adopt a given behaviour, towards threatened wildlife and (ii) to assess the role of local ecological knowledge, awareness of protected area, and forest ownership on landowners' behavioural intentions towards threatened biodiversity. We interviewed peasants living around Los Queules National Reserve in Central Chile. Results: Interview results showed that behavioural intentions towards threatened species were species-dependant. Results also showed that higher ecological knowledge and awareness of a protected area were associated with positive behavioural intentions towards wildlife. Peasants who owned land with larger forest cover reported positive behavioural intentions towards wildlife more frequently than peasants with less forest cover on their lands, although associations were not consistent across species. Conclusions: We conclude that (i) opportunities for getting peasants to support species conservation depend on the particular species and vary across peasants and (ii) there is a relevant social heterogeneity among peasants in terms of behavioural intentions towards species. As both factors likely influence conservation outcomes, they should be considered in the design of biodiversity conservation efforts.

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“…Negative perceptions of certain species of wildlife may be explained by: (a) they are considered pests, like Puma concolor (Linnaeus, 1771) (Verdade & Campos 2004;Lucherini & Merino 2008); Lycalopex culpaeus (Travaini et al 2000;Lucherini & Merino 2008;García et al 2010), Lycalopex griseus (Silva-Rodríguez et al 2009), Leopardus jacobitus (Lucherini & Merino, 2008), Canis lupus (Treves et al 2004); (b) superstitious fear because they are considered to be of ill omen (Waag 1982); and (c) fear of animals either perceived as potentially dangerous, like bats (Davey et al 1998, Prokop & Tunnicliffe 2008, or because of their repulsive appearance, like snakes and worms (Prokop et al 2009), or because of association with dirt and disease, like spiders.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge and perceptions of birds of prey among local inhabitants in Chile: implications for the biological control of rodent pests

2018

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The aim of this study was to understand the level of knowledge and the perceptions of a local population with a high indigenous component (38.5%) towards birds of prey in order to address wildlife conservation strategies. We determined knowledge of birds of prey and biological control of rodent pests by applying a closed questionnaire; and perceptions of these species by applying a perception survey. Our study subjects were rural and urban residents in southern Chile. The results indicate low levels of knowledge about birds of prey and mainly positive perceptions, despite the presence of superstitions about raptors. These fi ndings show the importance of socio-cultural dimensions and their implications for environmental education-which should be oriented towards changing attitudes to target species and particularly belief systems which determine attitudes. These changes are very important for raptor conservation programmes and reliance on raptors for the biological control of rodent pests.

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Foxes, people and hens: human dimensions of a conflict in a rural area of southern Chile

Cited by 26 publications

References 19 publications

Conservation and ecological implications of the use of space by chilla foxes and free‐ranging dogs in a human‐dominated landscape in southern Chile

Conservation and ecological implications of the use of space by chilla foxes and free‐ranging dogs in a human‐dominated landscape in southern Chile

Conservation of biodiversity in private lands: are Chilean landowners willing to keep threatened species in their lands?

Knowledge and perceptions of birds of prey among local inhabitants in Chile: implications for the biological control of rodent pests

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