Subsistence Hunting with Mixed-Breed Dogs Reduces Hunting Pressure on Sensitive Amazonian Game Species in Protected Areas

Abstract

Hunting is a major threat to wildlife, and the use of dogs for subsistence hunting may significantly impact wildlife. I assessed the impacts of hunting with dogs by comparing the assemblages of species hunted by the Huni Kuin with and without dogs in indigenous lands in southwestern Brazilian Amazonia. I also assessed whether Huni Kuin agreements on hunting with dogs can be effective for conservation. Huni Kuin hunters with dogs rely on a different assemblage of prey than those without dogs; the former strategy targets mainly fastreproducing, resilient species, whereas the latter method kills several sensitive or threatened species. Hunting with dogs is also limited to disturbed mixed landscapes near villages because the dogs are used to protect crops and are not allowed into forests in order to prevent them from becoming lost. Additionally, compared to hunting without dogs, hunting with dogs results in an equivalent amount of meat with the use of less effort and ammunition. Moreover, hunting with dogs is not associated with an increase in the distance of prey from villages. Therefore, there is no conservation-related reason to prohibit hunting with mixedbreed dogs in subsistence communities. Nevertheless, community agreements mediate local conflicts caused by the social inequalities related to hunting with dogs.

Ethnography, ethnobiology and natural history: narratives on hunting and ecology of mammals among quilombolas from Southeast Brazil

“…The effectiveness of hunting deer with trained dogs [65,66] is evident in the passage above. In this same interview, Mauro and Duda said that when hunters sight deer tracks and release their dogs to chase it, they already know which direction the deer will flee, based on the "spine" [hillslope] in that location.…”

“…This passage, in particular, indicates the great complexity involved in the interaction and communication between a hunter and his dog. This intimate and ancient bond between man and dog [62][63][64] is an element without which the local praxis of hunting cannot be well understood, nor its impact on the local fauna [65,66]. The man-dog-deer relationship in the context of hunting will be explored in detail below.…”

“…It is worth noting that the use of water courses by cervids is known in both the zoological and ethnographic literature [65,66,69,70]. The search for rivers or streams during flight seems to be relatively effective at interrupting the chemical cue left by their tracks (given the presence of the interdigital glands mentioned above).…”

Hunting in a community of waste pickers of recyclable materials in Rondônia, Brazil

“…The presence of these dogs is very serious given the possibility of declining natural populations of various animals, as well as being a gateway to many contagious diseases for wild species (Vilela & Guedes, 2017). On the other hand, a study evaluating the impact of hunting dogs on indigenous lands in the southwestern Brazilian Amazon concluded that, in terms of conservation, there is no reason to ban hunting with dogs (Constantino, 2018).…”

Frameworks Regulating Hunting for Meat in Tropical Countries Leave the Sector in the Limbo

“…However, lessons learnt from practical experience show that this has limited impact, and particularly when it only focuses on militarization (Duffy et al, 2019). The reasons for failure are numerous and include corruption, lack of resources from the government to exercise sovereignty in remote locations where hunting takes place, lack of political will to prioritize law enforcement regarding wildlife crimes, lack of alternatives to replace supply, high level of dependency on wildmeat for households living in extreme poverty, and a demand which is difficult to downsize due to the high value that consumers are ready to pay (Bennett, 2011;Wellsmith, 2011;Challender and MacMillan, 2014;Cooney et al, 2017;Swan, 2017;Constantino, 2019b). In addition, the intrinsic nature of laws and regulations on hunting is also at the heart of the failure, but little is said about the urgency to reform and adapt the regulatory framework, particularly with regards to hunting for food.…”