Nature & Environment
Guard Dogs can Help Reduce the Killing of Threatened Species
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Nov 26, 2013 09:42 PM EST
Guard dogs may not have always received the best reputation, but a recent study shows that these guys may actually help prevent the deaths of threatened species.
According to researchers from the University of Kent, he revealed that guarding dogs can significantly reduce conflict between livestock and large carnivores, including both cheetahs and leopards.
Their findings showed that livestock guarding dogs in particular helped to eliminate livestock losses from predators by up to 91 percent of the farms involved in the study. For farmers, this resulted in a $3,000 a year savings due to the reduction of killings in livestock.
Researchers also examined the tolerance farmers had towards roaming cheetahs and the interaction of guard dogs. They found that many were noticeably more tolerant of predators if a guard dog was present as they felt their land could still be protected.
"This research has shown for the first time that livestock guarding dogs can successfully be used in South Africa to protect livestock from attack by predators as large as leopards or small jackals," Nikki Rust said, via a press release, of the University's Durell Institute of Conservartion and Ecology (DICE). "This is a true win-win solution to reduce conflict between livestock and predators because it almost eliminates livestock losses to predators, saving the farmer a lot of money, whilst increasing the tolerance of predators from the farmers, therby reducing the change of using lethal control on threatened carnivores."
What do you think?
More information regarding the study can be found here.
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First Posted: Nov 26, 2013 09:42 PM EST
Guard dogs may not have always received the best reputation, but a recent study shows that these guys may actually help prevent the deaths of threatened species.
According to researchers from the University of Kent, he revealed that guarding dogs can significantly reduce conflict between livestock and large carnivores, including both cheetahs and leopards.
Their findings showed that livestock guarding dogs in particular helped to eliminate livestock losses from predators by up to 91 percent of the farms involved in the study. For farmers, this resulted in a $3,000 a year savings due to the reduction of killings in livestock.
Researchers also examined the tolerance farmers had towards roaming cheetahs and the interaction of guard dogs. They found that many were noticeably more tolerant of predators if a guard dog was present as they felt their land could still be protected.
"This research has shown for the first time that livestock guarding dogs can successfully be used in South Africa to protect livestock from attack by predators as large as leopards or small jackals," Nikki Rust said, via a press release, of the University's Durell Institute of Conservartion and Ecology (DICE). "This is a true win-win solution to reduce conflict between livestock and predators because it almost eliminates livestock losses to predators, saving the farmer a lot of money, whilst increasing the tolerance of predators from the farmers, therby reducing the change of using lethal control on threatened carnivores."
What do you think?
More information regarding the study can be found here.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone