The greater respondents' awareness of dog-wildlife interaction, the more concerned they were about dog attacks and the less they agreed with allowing dogs access to protected areas. We found that free-roaming dogs are widespread throughout Argentina: they are present in at least 78.5 % of the protected areas visited by respondents. We also sought to map the potential threat of dogs to wildlife. Through an online survey we evaluated the relationship between four aspects that link society with dogs, wildlife and protected areas: i) awareness of dog-wildlife interaction, ii) appreciation of protected areas and wildlife, iii) level of concern about aggressive events on the part of dogs towards wildlife and people, and iv) level of agreement with measures to regulate dog access to protected areas. In particular, a non-native species, the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris), has become one of the main threats to wildlife in anthropized areas and their surroundings. In recent years, the extent of protected areas has increased along with the human population, and this has led to negative anthropic impacts within and along the edges of these areas. Mitigating the impacts of dogs on wildlife requires a multi-pronged approach of responsible dog ownership, restriction in free-ranging behaviour, and strong population control measures, especially around sensitive conservation areas.Įffective management of non-native species in protected areas is fundamental for biodiversity conservation on a global level. For Critically Endangered species that are already suffering from serious population declines due to other causes, the impact of dogs may seriously impede population recovery efforts. Nearly 48% of the incidents were reported in and around wildlife protected areas, suggesting that dogs are an important large-scale edge effect around protected areas in India. Most of the attacks were carried out by packs of dogs with 45% of these attacks leading to the death of the prey. Approximately 68% of the attacks were carried out by dogs unaccompanied by humans. Larger bodied mammals such as ungulates and carnivores, were most commonly reported to be attacked, although this may be an observation bias. Dogs reportedly attacked 80 species, of which 31 were IUCN Red list threatened species, including four Critically Endangered species. We conducted the first ever sub-continent scale assessment of the impacts of dogs on native species in India using an online key informant survey and reports from national print media. In many places, their impacts may be as severe as other invasive predators such as cats and rats. Domestic dogs are increasingly being recognized as a conservation threat for native species.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |