Promoting co-existence between local people, carnivores and biodiversity conservation by conflict and poaching mitigation
Final Report Abstract
Evidence based conservation science answers questions on the efficiency of measures to mitigate biodiversity loss. Large predators are globally threatened due to increasing conflicts with humans over land, wild prey and livestock losses. In this project, we analyzed conflicts between livestock breeders and the conservation of a main predator of livestock, the leopard, in an important conservation region in the Middle East. The main conservation target in that region is the Persian leopard which is Critically Endangered and suffers from retaliatory killing. We furthermore modified and successfully tested the use of protective collars to protect cattle from leopards. We found surprising shortcomings in current herding practices, especially the lack of well-trained herding dogs, and make recommendations to improve herding. We also found a surprising pattern of preferences of leopards for naturally colored cattle which could also be considered in mitigation measures. We were able to show the efficiency of the protective collars we advocated to livestock keepers and suggest that these can be of immense help to increase acceptance of leopards and help local economy due to the integration of these items in the production. In a series of review articles we also summed up what is known globally on mitigating conflicts between people and large carnivores. We did this focusing on predators in general, as well as for big cats, wolves and bears separately. The study leads to more, very interesting questions: why do we find rather poor herding practices in a region which is presumably one of the most important regions for livestock breeding in the world? When were there changes in herding practices and why? Why do leopards prefer naturally coloured livestock and how can that be used to further mitigate depredation? Would livestock collars also work on different livestock than cattle? Would they also work against other big cats in other regions? Besides the publication of our results in international journals, these were also published in social media (internet blogs), as well as in local, German national and international press releases.
Publications
- 2017. Effects of shepherds and dogs on livestock depredation by leopards (Panthera pardus) in north-eastern Iran. PeerJ 5: e3049
Khorozyan I., Soofi M., Soufi M., Hamidi A. Kh., Ghoddousi A. and Waltert M.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3049) - 2018. Cattle selectivity by leopards suggests ways to mitigate human-leopard conflict. Ecology and Evolution 8: 8011–8018
Khorozyan I., Ghoddousi S., Soufi M., Soofi M. and Waltert M.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4351) - 2019. A framework of most effective practices in protecting human assets from predators. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 24: 380-394
Khorozyan I. and Waltert M.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2019.1619883) - 2019. How long do anti-predator interventions remain effective? Patterns, thresholds and uncertainty. Royal Society Open Science 6: 190826
Khorozyan I. and Waltert M.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.190826) - 2020. Studded leather collars are very effective in protecting cattle from leopard (Panthera pardus) attacks. Ecological Solutions and Evidence 1:e12013
Khorozyan I., Ghoddousi S., Soufi M., Soofi M. and Waltert M.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/2688-8319.12013) - 2020. The effectiveness of livestock protection measures against wolves (Canis lupus) and implications for their co-existence with humans. Global Ecology and Conservation 21: e00868
Bruns A., Waltert M. and Khorozyan I.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00868)
