Dogs kill more livestock in upper Himalayas than wolves, snow

Dogs are among the top predators of livestock in the upper Himalayas, killing more farm animals than snow leopards and wolves do, a study has said.

The spurt in tourism and ensuing improper disposal of waste have led to increase of dog population, endangering livestocks and undermining conservation efforts that involve local communities, it said.

For the fiscal 2013-2014, the total economic cost of livestock loss was over Rs 31 lakh, of which dog depredation accounted for nearly Rs 12 lakh.

Snow leopard depredation accounted for over Rs 10 lakh, disease around Rs 8 lakh and wolves around Rs 1.54 lakh, the study noted, adding in the last five years, there has been a decline in the population of small bodied livestock (sheep and goat) in the area.

"Domestic dogs kill more livestock than snow leopards and wolves combined. This is also one of the main reasons why locals no longer maintain herds of sheep and goats.

"With the decline in smaller bodied livestock, dogs have now started targeting yaks calves," Chandrima Home, a PhD scholar at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), who studied patterns of livestock killing by feral dogs, said.

A recent study by a team of leading international researchers, including Abi Vanak from ATREE in Bengaluru, has revealed that dogs have contributed to extinction of 11 vertebrates and are a known or potential threat to at least 188 threatened species worldwide, including 96 mammals, 78 birds, 22 reptiles and three amphibian species.

This includes 30 critically endangered species, two of which are classed as "possibly extinct". These numbers place dogs as the world's third most damaging invasive mammalian predators, behind rodents and cats, the study, published in the journal Ambio, said.

The study noted that residents of the trans-Himalayan landscape are agro-pastoralists who grow barley and green peas in the summer (April to September) and herd livestock in neighbouring pastures.

Noting that with the Spiti valley becoming an increasingly popular area for adventure tourism, the study said recent years have seen an increase in the number of restaurants and hotels in the area.

"Absence of a proper waste-management system has led to the accumulation of garbage on the roads and along the rivers, providing a much-needed resource for the free-ranging dog population.

"Because of this resource boost, the once small dog population has exploded and has become a major threat for the livestock. Over time, these dogs have spread to several remote villages and high altitude pastures, threatening not only livestock but also other wildlife such the blue sheep, snow leopard, and red fox," it said.

Abi Tamim Vanak, a fellow with ATREE, said free-ranging domestic dogs are emerging as a major threat to wildlife with reports of dogs killing large and small mammals, birds and reptiles emerging from all across India.

"In this study, we have highlighted that dogs can also have serious economic costs for local communities who already face financial hardships due to human-wildlife conflict.

"In such circumstances, it is possible that local people's tolerance towards livestock depredation by wildlife may decrease, jeopardising hard-fought successes in conservation efforts," Vanak said.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)