Perceived efficacy of livestock-guarding dogs in South Africa: Implications for cheetah conservation

Abstract

Large wild carnivore predation on domestic livestock and the associated financial losses may increase efforts toward lethal control of carnivore populations. Livestock-guarding dogs could provide an effective alternative to such lethal control by mitigating depredation losses. Although this information is available in North America, the cost-effectiveness of guarding dogs has not been studied in other areas experiencing large carnivore depredation such as South Africa, where the socio-economic context is very different from that of North America. We assessed the costs and benefits of 97 livestock-guarding dogs working on 94 farms in South Africa between 2005 and 2011 by reviewing data collected from questionnaires on perceived depredation losses prior to and during guarding dog placement, rates of guarding dog behavioral problems, removals, and pre-senile mortality. Perceived livestock depredation ceased in 91% of guarding dog placements, with gross mean annual financial savings US$ 3,189/farm. Estimated annual program costs per year of the livestock-guarding dog program were US$ 2,780. However, 16% of guarding dogs had reported behavioral problems, with inattentiveness cited as the most common problem. Twelve percent of guarding dogs were removed from the program because of behavioral problems. Premature death was observed in 22% of guarding dogs, most often due to snake bites. Participating farmer tolerance toward cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), as well as cheetah-sighting frequency, appeared to increase during participation in the livestockguarding dog program. If further corrective behavioral and snake-aversion training were implemented, guarding dogs may offer a cost-effective method of non-lethal predator control and could potentially contribute to the long-term mitigation of human-carnivore conflict in South Africa. Ó 2013 The Wildlife Society.

A Novel Application of a Cryosectioning Technique to Aid Scat Hair Microanalysis

“…Hair fibers were collected from the scat of Anatolian shepherd dogs ( Canis familiaris ) participating in a Cheetah Outreach Project on selected farms in the Northern Limpopo Province, South Africa. The Cheetah Outreach Project is focused on assessing whether Anatolian shepherd dogs that are popularly used as a nonlethal and economically viable biological control mechanism to safeguard livestock prey on farm wildlife to supplement their diet. The species is not only known to act as mitigation against predation losses, but also serves to reduce the incidences of human–wildlife conflict which can compromise important conservation priorities .…”

A framework of most effective practices in protecting human assets from predators

“…The plight is particularly evident for (critically) endangered lions (P. l. leo) in West Africa, Saharan cheetahs (A. j. hecki) in North and West Africa, Asiatic cheetahs (A. j. venaticus) in Iran, and Asiatic lions (P. l. persica) in India (Farhadinia et al, 2017;IUCN, 2018). Livestock losses to these predators can reach substantial scales in preylean areas and provoke retribution (Banerjee, Jhala, Chauhan, & Dave, 2013;Farhadinia et al, 2012;Rust et al, 2013;Tumenta et al, 2013), but depredation by cheetahs also can be overestimated as they are falsely blamed due to high visibility during the daytime (Marker, Muntifering, Dickman, Mills, & Macdonald, 2003). Thus, non-invasive interventions are urgently needed for promoting the conservation of lions and cheetahs, and their coexistence with local livelihoods.…”

“…Priority interventions should be noninvasive (i.e., excluding direct contact with predators) to address the globally threatened status of many predators and to avoid ethical, emotional, and economic constraints of invasive interventions. Invasive interventions such as lethal (e.g., shooting, poisoning, trapping) and non-lethal control (e.g., shock collars, sterilization, translocation) are often disliked by the public, expensive, destructive for predator populations, and counter-productive by triggering further conflicts (Allen, 2014;Athreya, Odden, Linnell, & Karanth, 2010;Rust, Whitehouse-Tedd, & MacMillan, 2013;Treves, Krofel, & McManus, 2016).…”

Environmental factors affect swing gates as a barrier to large carnivores entering game farms

“…Examples include land zoning, synchronized birthing, kraaling, animal 'armour', niche marketing such as 'predator-friendly meat' and different types of fencing (Shivik, 2004). Furthermore, nonlethal primary and secondary predator repellents have also been developed, which include a variety of disruptive and aversive stimuli, such as guarding animals (Shivik, 2004;Rust, Whitehouse-Tedd & Macmillan, 2013). However, many of these methods are inappropriate for game farming as game animals cannot easily be herded.…”