Environmental Management (2013) 52:1334–1340 DOI 10.1007/s00267-013-0192-8
Patterns of Livestock Predation by Carnivores: Human–Wildlife Conflict in Northwest Yunnan, China Xueyou Li • Paul Buzzard • Yongchun Chen Xuelong Jiang
•
Received: 25 November 2012 / Accepted: 13 October 2013 / Published online: 8 November 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Alleviating human–carnivore conflict is central to large carnivore conservation and is often of economic importance, where people coexist with carnivores. In this article, we report on the patterns of predation and economic losses from wild carnivores preying on livestock in three villages of northern Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan during a 2-year period between January 2010 and December 2011. We analyzed claims from 149 households that 258 head of livestock were predated. Wolves (Canis lupus) were responsible for 79.1 % of livestock predation; Asiatic black bears (Selenarctos thibetanus) and dholes (Cuon alpinus) were the other predators responsible. Predation frequency varied between livestock species. The majority of livestock killed were yak–cattle hybrids or dzo (40.3 %). Wolves killed fewer cattle than expected, and more donkeys and horses than expected. Wolves and bears killed more adult female and fewer adult male livestock than expected. Intensified predation in wet season coincided with livestock being left to X. Li X. Jiang (&) State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32 Jiaochang Donglu, Kunming 650223, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China e-mail: [email protected] X. Li University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China P. Buzzard China Exploration and Research Society (CERS), Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China Y. Chen Benzilan Management Office, Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, Deqin, People’s Republic of China
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graze unattended in alpine meadows far away from villages. On average, carnivore attacks claimed 2.1 % of range stock annually. This predation represented an economic loss of 17 % (SD = 14 %) of the annual household income. Despite this loss and a perceived increase in carnivore conflict, a majority of the herders (66 %) still supported the reserve. This support is primarily due to the benefits from the collection of nontimber resources such as mushrooms and medicinal plants. Our study also suggested that improvement of husbandry techniques and facilities will reduce conflicts and contribute to improved conservation of these threatened predators. Keywords Livestock Predator Conflicts Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve Northwest Yunnan
Introduction Human–wildlife conflict can be defined as any direct or indirect interaction between humans and wildlife that results in negative impacts on humans and/or wildlife involved (Pettigrew et al. 2012), and the conflict will continue to get worse as human populations increase and encroach more into wildlife habitat (Woodroffe and Ginsberg 1998). Human–carnivore conflict is an important aspect of human–wildlife conflict, and it occurs when carnivores prey on livestock as well as cause human injuries, and in extreme cases, human deaths (Treves and Karanth 2003; Inskip and Zimmermann 2009; Thorn et al. 2012). For example, in the mountainous areas of central Asia, snow leopards (Panthera uncia) often prey on livestock (Bagchi and Mishra 2006), and in Africa, hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) and lions (Panthera leo) are responsible for substantial livestock predation (Patterson et al. 2004;
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Kolowski and Holekamp 2006; Kissui 2008). Brown bear (Ursus arctos) attacks on humans in Tibetan Plateau of northwest China lead to much conflict (Tsering et al. 2006; Worthy and Foggin 2008). Conflict between carnivores and humans is a threat to local carnivore populations, a factor limiting carnivore meta-population viability and a cause of anti-wildlife/conservation sentiment that can undermine other, potentially unrelated conservation initiatives (Hemson et al. 2009). Most large mammalian carnivores are in global decline, largely because of conflict with humans, and alleviating conflict is essential for effective carnivore conservation (Kolowski and Holekamp 2006). Human–carnivore conflict can be serious for both humans and carnivores especially when people live adjacent to or within protected areas (Mishra 1997; Conforti and de Azevedo 2003). Livestock often form a majority of the ungulate biomass in protected areas, and they are an integral part of the local pastoral and agricultural economy (Bagchi and Mishra 2006). Predation of livestock is thus very likely and can lead to losses of up to half of the yearly income (Oli et al. 1994; Jackson et al. 1996; Mishra 1997). This can lead to reduced tolerance and retaliatory killings of carnivores which can also negatively impact the conservation of nonconflict species (Dar et al. 2009). For example, wolves (Canis lupus) were exterminated from most of the United States in response to predation on livestock (Treves et al. 2004), and dholes (Cuon alpinus) were nearly exterminated from Bhutan for the same reason (Wang and Macdonald 2006). There have been several approaches to reduce human– carnivore conflict. These include preventive measures (Treves and Karanth 2003; Goodrich 2010), compensation (Treves et al. 2009; Agarwala et al. 2010; Dickman et al. 2011), insurance programs (Hussain 2000; Mishra et al. 2003), and incentive programs (Mishra et al. 2003; Jackson et al. 2010). Effective conflict reduction is only possible when conservation is aligned with local socioeconomic interests (Mishra et al. 2003). Consequently, the reduction strategies should be based on an explicit understanding of the complex biological and environmental factors associated with the predation of livestock including herd size and kind, guarding and herding patterns, predator species involved, and the effect of human settlements (Jackson et al. 1996; Dar et al. 2009). In this study, we provide biological and environmental data for human–carnivore conflict at Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve (BXNR), Yunnan China. BXNR presents an excellent opportunity for investigating conflict because it has a unique predator guild including wolves, Asiatic black bears (Selenarctos thibetanus), and dholes which share the reserve with Tibetan herders and their livestock. Over a 2-year period we analyzed patterns of livestock that were killed by predators in the nomadic Tibetan area of BXNR and economic losses due to perceived predation on
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livestock. In this context, the objectives of this study were to investigate (1) livestock kills by different carnivores; (2) seasonality of predation; (3) financial losses because of the predation; and (4) ways to reduce conflict. Study Area Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve (BXNR, 98°570 –99°250 E and 27°240 –28°360 ) of southwest China is one of the world’s 25 hotspots of biodiversity (Myers et al. 2000), and it was recently designated a World Natural Heritage Site (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1083). At BXNR, mountains range in altitude from 1,950 m to over 5,429 m leading to a wide diversity of forests and meadows that range from arid to sub-tropical to alpine. BXNR has a diverse assemblage of native ungulates and their predators. The principal ungulates include musk deer (Moschus spp.), Chinese goral (Naemorhedus griseus), Chinese serow (Capricornis milneedwardsii), and tufted deer (Elaphodus cephalophus), and the primary large predators are wolves, black bears, and dholes (Li et al. 2013). The north of BXNR is culturally Tibetan and sparsely inhabited by semi-nomadic livestock herders who consider Baima Xueshan sacred so it is a social taboo to hunt there. In this area, the villages Yeri, Dari, and Shusong support a total human population of 3,438 in 642 households (2011 census). For their primary sources of income, herders raise livestock such as goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, cattle, yak, and dzo (hybrids of cattle and yak) and collect nontimber forest resources such as mushrooms and medicinal plants. Herding patterns in BXNR vary according to the season and agricultural practices. During the primary growing season (May–October), livestock are herded to alpine meadows, and at the end of October the livestock are herded down to the fallow cropland around villages. At the alpine meadows young livestock (0–12 month old) are mostly enclosed near the campsite all day, but some are allowed to range nearby. Adult livestock are seldom enclosed in the alpine meadow, even at night. Normally, livestock in alpine meadows are gathered around the settlement every day in the morning and dusk for hand milking and salt feeding. After that, they are left to graze freely. Livestock around villages are always penned overnight in stalls or tied to trees within human settlements to prevent them from foraging in cultivated fields.
Methods Data Collection Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve (BXNR) Management Office has a program to compensate herders for livestock killed by predators, and from this compensation data we
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There were too few records of predation by dholes (n = 15) for analysis. For wolves and bears, the Chisquared goodness of fit test statistic was used to examine the degree of correspondence between the observed livestock loss in the villages and the expected loss, given the livestock totals (Mishra 1997). We performed additional analyses of predation by wolves and bears on the different age/sex classes within each livestock type using Chi-square tests of independence, and thus sought to determine whether there was preference for a livestock class within each livestock type. We performed all statistical tests with the program SPSS v.16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, USA) using a level of 0.05 for statistical significance.
compiled complaints about predation over the period from January 2010 to December 2011. Then, from February through September 2012 we interviewed livestock owners that suffered losses from predation during 2010 and 2011 and asked more detailed questions about the losses with the help of a BXNR ranger who knew most of the herders. We interviewed a total of 149 herder households in the three villages (67 households in Yeri, 48 in Shusong and 34 in Dari). At least one member from each household in the three villages was interviewed, and other people in the household usually helped in the recall of predation. For every case of predation from 2010 and 2011, we recorded the month, location, predator species, livestock type and age/sex class of livestock. Herders distinguished between different predators by the location of bite marks on kills, tracks around kills and at times direct observation of predation. We corroborated answers by cross-checking loss data from the local compensation program data documented by the BXNR Management Office. We gathered data on the total population for each livestock type from the local farming and animal husbandry station, which maintains records for livestock in the three villages. Economic loss to predators was estimated using average price established by compensation scheme by the reserve management office. The monetary value of livestock was assigned on the basis of an animal’s worth, as assessed by applicants filing compensation claims with BXNR management. Predated livestock were considered young if 0–2 years old according to the standard value of the compensation scheme. The monetary value in Chinese currency (‘RMB’) of each livestock killed was converted into American dollars (1 US$ = 6.5 RMB, 2010–2011) to estimate the economic loss resulting from predatory losses.
Results Livestock Holding and Livelihood Strategies 526 Households (82 %) in the three study villages owned a total of 6,139 livestock in October 2011 (Table 1). The average number of livestock held by a household was 9 (SD = ±8.5). Dzo and cattle were the dominant livestock species in the villages at 40 and 38 % respectively, while yak (10 %), donkeys (7 %), and horses (5 %) constituted the remainder (Table 1). The main sources of cash income for the villages were the sale of nontimber forest resources (54 %, n = 80); livestock/livestock products (32 %, n = 48); and agricultural products (14 %, n = 41). Annual cash income per households was approximately RMB 12,000 (*US$ 1,850; range US$ 600–4,600, n = 149). Livestock Losses and Predators
Data Analysis During 2010 and 2011, 258 livestock kills were reported and verified as having been made by wolves, Asiatic black bears, and dholes. Of these, 204 (79.1 %) livestock were killed by wolves, 39 (15.1 %) by bears, and 15 (5.8 %) by dholes (Fig. 1).
We classified livestock into young (YgL), adult female (AdF), and adult male (AdM) following the compensation scheme. Data involving livestock strategies and characteristics of attacks were summarized using proportions.
Table 1 Livestock holding in the villages in northern part of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China (2011) Villages
Number of households
Yak
Dzo
AdM
AdF
YgL
AdM
Yeri
256
193
169
152
Dari
153
10
7
1
Shusong
233
30
58
0
Cattle AdM
AdF
Othera
Stock holding per familyb 12.5
AdF
YgL
YgL
433
399
335
403
397
332
387
16
162
69
139
162
102
179
5.5
342
420
306
132
547
113
143
9.0
AdM adult male, AdF adult female, YgL young livestock a
Includes donkey and horse
b
Eighty-two percent (n = 526) of households kept livestock; stock holding per household calculated from all households, including those that kept none
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Fig. 1 Percentage of attacks by wolves, bears, and dholes on yak, dzo, cattle, donkeys, and horses in 2010 and 2011 at three villages of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China
Fig. 2 Predator attacks on livestock (n = 258) relative to livestock abundance (n = 6,139) at three villages of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China
Predation frequency varied between livestock species (Fig. 2, df = 4, v2 = 88.94, P = 0.000). The majority of livestock killed were dzo (40.3 %, n = 104), followed by cattle (25.6 %, n = 66), donkey (14.3 %, n = 37), and horses (12.0 %, n = 31) with yak (7.8 %, n = 20) being infrequently taken. Livestock were killed by bears with a frequency proportional to their relative abundance (Fig. 3, df = 4, v2 = 3.65, P = 0.46). Wolves killed fewer cattle than expected, and more donkeys and horses than expected (Fig. 3, df = 4, v2 = 61.19, P = 0.000). Dholes mostly killed dzo (53 %, n = 8), donkey, and horses (each accounted for 20 %, both n = 3), and cattle (6 %, n = 1); dholes did not prey on yak. Detailed examination of livestock predation revealed that there were no significant differences between bears and wolves in the livestock classes they killed (df = 2, v2 = 0.247, P = 0.884). Compared with the expected predation frequencies calculated from livestock census data, both predators killed young livestock proportional to their relative abundance, but more adult female and fewer adult male than expected (bears: df = 2, v2 = 12.03, P = 0.002; wolves: df = 2, v2 = 76.39, P = 0.000). Seasonality The frequency of kills by bears and wolves varied seasonally (Fig. 4, both df = 3; for bears, v2 = 7.98, P = 0.031; for wolves, v2 = 7.63, P = 0.022). Bears
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Fig. 3 Percentages of different livestock that made up the total kills by wolves, bears, and dholes in 2010 and 2011 at three villages of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China. The black bar for each livestock type indicates the expected percentage based on livestock census data
Fig. 4 Total number of monthly livestock kills by bears, dholes, and wolves, in 2010 and 2011 at three villages of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China
mainly predated livestock the beginning of autumn, peaking in September (Fig. 4). No kills were attributed to bears from January to March. The frequency of kills by wolves was most intense from the beginning of summer (June) to the middle of autumn (October; Fig. 4). Economic Evaluation of Losses The average annual percentage of total livestock lost to predation was 2.1 %. The economic loss due to predators from January 2010 to December 2011 was US$ 98,707. Average annual losses for households that reported livestock loss was US$ 162. This represented an economic loss of 17 % relative to the households annual cash income (n = 149, range 6–84 %, SD = ±14 %). Dzo and cattle made up the majority of livestock losses, accounting for 48 and 30 % of the total monetary losses (Table 2).
Discussion Conflicts between humans and carnivores in China are escalating due to increasing human population and intensifying encroachment on wild lands as well as reduction of wild prey density (Pettigrew et al. 2012). In fact, at our study site, BXNR, China all the respondents (n = 149) felt that conflict with wolves had increased since the formation
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Table 2 Economic valuation of livestock kills (n) by wild predator in the villages in northern part of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China from January 2010 to December 2011 Unit value (RMB)*
Total loss (US$)
Adult male
Adult female
Young livestock
Yak
4,500 (5)
3,000 (11)
1,000 (4)
9,153.85
Dzo
4,500 (14)
3,500 (63)
1,000 (27)
47,769.23
Cattle
3,500 (8)
3,500 (42)
1,000 (16)
29,384.62
Horses
2,000 (3)
1,500 (21)
Donkeys
1,200 (29)
500 (7)
6,307.69
600 (8)
6,092.31
* Average evaluation price for predated livestock established by the compensation scheme; 1 US$ = 6.5 RMB. Numbers in parenthesis represent numbers of individual killed
of BXNR. Despite this increase, the majority of herders (66 %, n = 98) were supportive of BXNR, and the findings of this study suggest that better conflict reduction and conservation can be achieved through co-management of conflicts at the local level. Patterns of Human–Carnivore Conflict At BXNR, the perceived annual predation rate (2.1 % of total livestock) was within the range reported for a large subset of human–carnivore studies around the globe (0.02–2.6 % of livestock, (Graham et al. 2005). In another study, China Schaller et al. (1987) determined that 7.6 % of livestock were taken in Taxkorgan Reserve Xinjiang Province, compared with 9.6 % in southern Tibet (Jackson 1991) and 0.6 % in regions of Qinghai and Gansu (Schaller et al. 1988). The average annual financial loss per household because of predation (*US$ 162) represented 17 % of the household’s annual cash income. Similar levels of livestock loss were reported from other countries in Asia (19.8 % in Pakistan, Dar et al. 2009); 17 % in central Bhutan, (Wang and Macdonald 2006); and 11 % in India (Mishra 1997). Wolves were responsible for most livestock kills at BXNR which is similar to that from Trans-Himalayan region (Namgail et al. 2007). Our results showed that predations by wolves peaked in June, August, September, and October. This mirrors patterns in other regions with wolves and other large carnivores (Oli et al. 1994; Treves et al. 2002; Sangay and Vernes 2008). These data suggest that the livestock in the study area had been vulnerable to wolves over a long period. Predation by bears also peaked in June and September, and at BXNR, the livestock predation by bear (15.1 %) was higher than that previously recorded in Bhutan (8 %, (Sangay and Vernes 2008) and Pakistan (6 %, (Dar et al. 2009). Because bears are omnivorous and known to scavenge kills from other
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predators (Wang and Xie 2004), the similarity with wolves in the selection of livestock classes and peaks in predation may support Sangay and Vernes’ (2008) viewpoint that some attacks attributed to bears were actually mistaken reports of bears scavenging on the carcasses of animals that had been stolen or met death due to other causes. At BXNR, dholes were responsible for a few kills (5.8 %, n = 15), and this predation figure was less than that in Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, Bhutan (13 %, n = 10, (Wang and Macdonald 2006). Hybrids of yak and cattle or dzo suffered the highest level of predation (40.3 %) at BXNR. This was likely related to the higher availability and more widespread distribution of dzo. Prey availability has been commonly identified as an important factor determining levels of human–carnivore conflict in previous studies (Jorgenson and Redford 1993; Cozza et al. 1996; Kunkel and Pletscher 1999; Redpath and Thirgood 1999), and in our study, dzo were killed proportionally to their relative abundance. Cattle were killed significantly less than expected likely because they range at lower altitudes than dzo (2,100–3,400 m) in areas with more human presence. The selective predation of donkeys and horses is likely because of their low value, both species are largely left unattended in the forest or pasture and used for occasional draft work. Horses have low economic value, roam freely, and are also preyed upon significantly more than would be expected from their abundance in the Trans-Himalaya (Mishra et al. 1997; Namgail et al. 2007) and Bhutan (Sangay and Vernes 2008). Our results showed that while both wolves and bears killed more female livestock than expected, they killed young livestock proportional to their relative abundance. Young ungulates form an important fraction of wolf diets (Okarma 1991; Mattioli et al. 1995; Gazzola et al. 2005), and carnivores prefer to kill juvenile and female ungulates rather than adult males (Peterson et al. 1984; Ballard et al. 1987; Fuller 1989; Oli 1991; Okarma 1995; Gazzola et al. 2005; Nowak et al. 2005). The BXNR compensation scheme categorized livestock up to two years of age as young,and so finer grained analyses and potential differences between un-weaned livestock and juveniles could not be determined. Predation of livestock usually follows seasonal patterns (Oli et al. 1994; Dar et al. 2009; Sogbohossou et al. 2011). In our study kills were most common in autumn (37.2 %) and summer (36 %), which corresponds with livestock being moved to higher elevation to graze pasture in this period (middle May to early October). This period is also very important for local residents because they earn substantial money from the collection of mushrooms and expensive Chinese medicines like caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis). Most of the herders (83 %, n = 124)
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engaged in this collection and left their livestock unattended in meadows near the forest edge at this time, thereby increasing their vulnerability to predators. Livestock losses to predation declined from the middle of autumn (October) to the beginning of spring (March; Fig. 4), coinciding with livestock being returned to winter pastures at lower elevations adjacent to the villages. Livestock are always penned at night in stalls at this time and thus were less susceptible to predators. Reducing Human–Carnivore Conflict Poor husbandry is often invoked to explain high levels of predation on livestock (Sangay and Vernes 2008; Dar et al. 2009; Sogbohossou et al. 2011). Our data showed that predation was the most common in seasons when livestock were free-ranging and not in villages. The livestock in the study area were moved seasonally between alpine meadow in summer and low altitude pastures adjacent to the villages in winter. Due to the nomadic lifestyle, there are few structures available for livestock protection in alpine pastures. Our analyses suggest that measures should be taken to protect livestock in alpine pastures, and financial compensation could be used in an alternative way to support building more fixed infrastructure in alpine pasture for livestock protection. An alternative option for protecting livestock involves the use of shepherd dogs (Khan 2009), but in the study area, herding dogs were the focus of many conflicts, including attacks on wild ungulates. According to the director of the reserve office, two goral and one serow were killed by herding dogs in 2009. In addition, according a local patrolman, seven nuisance herding dogs that had chased goral in the reserve were killed by the reserve office in August 2012 (Lu, personal communication). Similar problems have been reported in the Trans-Himalaya (Namgail et al. 2007). The snow mountain called Baima Xueshan is considered sacred by the local Tibetans, and this may help regarding the positive perception of BXNR. The most important reason, however, for this perception is the collection and sale of mushrooms and medicinal plants from the forests of BXNR. In the household survey, 66 % (n = 98) of the respondents supported the reserve due to tangible benefits from the reserve. BXNR management keeps people from outside the reserve from collecting resources inside the forest and has built a market for selling the products. Thus, most herders have considerable income besides livestock husbandry. Alternative benefits from sustainable harvesting of nontimber forest products should be explored in other areas because such benefits could generate more favorable attitudes toward conservation (Sekhar 1998; Conforti and de Azevedo 2003).
1339 Acknowledgments The study was supported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China for biodiversity survey in northwest Yunnan (Y001261051) and partly funded by China Exploration & Research Society (CERS), and the Symrise Corporation. The authors thank the Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve Management Office for their kind support. The authors are also grateful to Jin Lu, Yongsheng Zhang, Qingtao Li, Ji Du, and Bu A for their assistance in the field, and further like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their suggestions that helped in improving the manuscript.
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Patterns of Livestock Predation by Carnivores: Human–Wildlife Conflict in Northwest Yunnan, China Xueyou Li • Paul Buzzard • Yongchun Chen Xuelong Jiang
•
Received: 25 November 2012 / Accepted: 13 October 2013 / Published online: 8 November 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Alleviating human–carnivore conflict is central to large carnivore conservation and is often of economic importance, where people coexist with carnivores. In this article, we report on the patterns of predation and economic losses from wild carnivores preying on livestock in three villages of northern Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan during a 2-year period between January 2010 and December 2011. We analyzed claims from 149 households that 258 head of livestock were predated. Wolves (Canis lupus) were responsible for 79.1 % of livestock predation; Asiatic black bears (Selenarctos thibetanus) and dholes (Cuon alpinus) were the other predators responsible. Predation frequency varied between livestock species. The majority of livestock killed were yak–cattle hybrids or dzo (40.3 %). Wolves killed fewer cattle than expected, and more donkeys and horses than expected. Wolves and bears killed more adult female and fewer adult male livestock than expected. Intensified predation in wet season coincided with livestock being left to X. Li X. Jiang (&) State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 32 Jiaochang Donglu, Kunming 650223, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China e-mail: [email protected] X. Li University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China P. Buzzard China Exploration and Research Society (CERS), Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China Y. Chen Benzilan Management Office, Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, Deqin, People’s Republic of China
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graze unattended in alpine meadows far away from villages. On average, carnivore attacks claimed 2.1 % of range stock annually. This predation represented an economic loss of 17 % (SD = 14 %) of the annual household income. Despite this loss and a perceived increase in carnivore conflict, a majority of the herders (66 %) still supported the reserve. This support is primarily due to the benefits from the collection of nontimber resources such as mushrooms and medicinal plants. Our study also suggested that improvement of husbandry techniques and facilities will reduce conflicts and contribute to improved conservation of these threatened predators. Keywords Livestock Predator Conflicts Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve Northwest Yunnan
Introduction Human–wildlife conflict can be defined as any direct or indirect interaction between humans and wildlife that results in negative impacts on humans and/or wildlife involved (Pettigrew et al. 2012), and the conflict will continue to get worse as human populations increase and encroach more into wildlife habitat (Woodroffe and Ginsberg 1998). Human–carnivore conflict is an important aspect of human–wildlife conflict, and it occurs when carnivores prey on livestock as well as cause human injuries, and in extreme cases, human deaths (Treves and Karanth 2003; Inskip and Zimmermann 2009; Thorn et al. 2012). For example, in the mountainous areas of central Asia, snow leopards (Panthera uncia) often prey on livestock (Bagchi and Mishra 2006), and in Africa, hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) and lions (Panthera leo) are responsible for substantial livestock predation (Patterson et al. 2004;
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Kolowski and Holekamp 2006; Kissui 2008). Brown bear (Ursus arctos) attacks on humans in Tibetan Plateau of northwest China lead to much conflict (Tsering et al. 2006; Worthy and Foggin 2008). Conflict between carnivores and humans is a threat to local carnivore populations, a factor limiting carnivore meta-population viability and a cause of anti-wildlife/conservation sentiment that can undermine other, potentially unrelated conservation initiatives (Hemson et al. 2009). Most large mammalian carnivores are in global decline, largely because of conflict with humans, and alleviating conflict is essential for effective carnivore conservation (Kolowski and Holekamp 2006). Human–carnivore conflict can be serious for both humans and carnivores especially when people live adjacent to or within protected areas (Mishra 1997; Conforti and de Azevedo 2003). Livestock often form a majority of the ungulate biomass in protected areas, and they are an integral part of the local pastoral and agricultural economy (Bagchi and Mishra 2006). Predation of livestock is thus very likely and can lead to losses of up to half of the yearly income (Oli et al. 1994; Jackson et al. 1996; Mishra 1997). This can lead to reduced tolerance and retaliatory killings of carnivores which can also negatively impact the conservation of nonconflict species (Dar et al. 2009). For example, wolves (Canis lupus) were exterminated from most of the United States in response to predation on livestock (Treves et al. 2004), and dholes (Cuon alpinus) were nearly exterminated from Bhutan for the same reason (Wang and Macdonald 2006). There have been several approaches to reduce human– carnivore conflict. These include preventive measures (Treves and Karanth 2003; Goodrich 2010), compensation (Treves et al. 2009; Agarwala et al. 2010; Dickman et al. 2011), insurance programs (Hussain 2000; Mishra et al. 2003), and incentive programs (Mishra et al. 2003; Jackson et al. 2010). Effective conflict reduction is only possible when conservation is aligned with local socioeconomic interests (Mishra et al. 2003). Consequently, the reduction strategies should be based on an explicit understanding of the complex biological and environmental factors associated with the predation of livestock including herd size and kind, guarding and herding patterns, predator species involved, and the effect of human settlements (Jackson et al. 1996; Dar et al. 2009). In this study, we provide biological and environmental data for human–carnivore conflict at Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve (BXNR), Yunnan China. BXNR presents an excellent opportunity for investigating conflict because it has a unique predator guild including wolves, Asiatic black bears (Selenarctos thibetanus), and dholes which share the reserve with Tibetan herders and their livestock. Over a 2-year period we analyzed patterns of livestock that were killed by predators in the nomadic Tibetan area of BXNR and economic losses due to perceived predation on
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livestock. In this context, the objectives of this study were to investigate (1) livestock kills by different carnivores; (2) seasonality of predation; (3) financial losses because of the predation; and (4) ways to reduce conflict. Study Area Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve (BXNR, 98°570 –99°250 E and 27°240 –28°360 ) of southwest China is one of the world’s 25 hotspots of biodiversity (Myers et al. 2000), and it was recently designated a World Natural Heritage Site (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1083). At BXNR, mountains range in altitude from 1,950 m to over 5,429 m leading to a wide diversity of forests and meadows that range from arid to sub-tropical to alpine. BXNR has a diverse assemblage of native ungulates and their predators. The principal ungulates include musk deer (Moschus spp.), Chinese goral (Naemorhedus griseus), Chinese serow (Capricornis milneedwardsii), and tufted deer (Elaphodus cephalophus), and the primary large predators are wolves, black bears, and dholes (Li et al. 2013). The north of BXNR is culturally Tibetan and sparsely inhabited by semi-nomadic livestock herders who consider Baima Xueshan sacred so it is a social taboo to hunt there. In this area, the villages Yeri, Dari, and Shusong support a total human population of 3,438 in 642 households (2011 census). For their primary sources of income, herders raise livestock such as goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, cattle, yak, and dzo (hybrids of cattle and yak) and collect nontimber forest resources such as mushrooms and medicinal plants. Herding patterns in BXNR vary according to the season and agricultural practices. During the primary growing season (May–October), livestock are herded to alpine meadows, and at the end of October the livestock are herded down to the fallow cropland around villages. At the alpine meadows young livestock (0–12 month old) are mostly enclosed near the campsite all day, but some are allowed to range nearby. Adult livestock are seldom enclosed in the alpine meadow, even at night. Normally, livestock in alpine meadows are gathered around the settlement every day in the morning and dusk for hand milking and salt feeding. After that, they are left to graze freely. Livestock around villages are always penned overnight in stalls or tied to trees within human settlements to prevent them from foraging in cultivated fields.
Methods Data Collection Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve (BXNR) Management Office has a program to compensate herders for livestock killed by predators, and from this compensation data we
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There were too few records of predation by dholes (n = 15) for analysis. For wolves and bears, the Chisquared goodness of fit test statistic was used to examine the degree of correspondence between the observed livestock loss in the villages and the expected loss, given the livestock totals (Mishra 1997). We performed additional analyses of predation by wolves and bears on the different age/sex classes within each livestock type using Chi-square tests of independence, and thus sought to determine whether there was preference for a livestock class within each livestock type. We performed all statistical tests with the program SPSS v.16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, USA) using a level of 0.05 for statistical significance.
compiled complaints about predation over the period from January 2010 to December 2011. Then, from February through September 2012 we interviewed livestock owners that suffered losses from predation during 2010 and 2011 and asked more detailed questions about the losses with the help of a BXNR ranger who knew most of the herders. We interviewed a total of 149 herder households in the three villages (67 households in Yeri, 48 in Shusong and 34 in Dari). At least one member from each household in the three villages was interviewed, and other people in the household usually helped in the recall of predation. For every case of predation from 2010 and 2011, we recorded the month, location, predator species, livestock type and age/sex class of livestock. Herders distinguished between different predators by the location of bite marks on kills, tracks around kills and at times direct observation of predation. We corroborated answers by cross-checking loss data from the local compensation program data documented by the BXNR Management Office. We gathered data on the total population for each livestock type from the local farming and animal husbandry station, which maintains records for livestock in the three villages. Economic loss to predators was estimated using average price established by compensation scheme by the reserve management office. The monetary value of livestock was assigned on the basis of an animal’s worth, as assessed by applicants filing compensation claims with BXNR management. Predated livestock were considered young if 0–2 years old according to the standard value of the compensation scheme. The monetary value in Chinese currency (‘RMB’) of each livestock killed was converted into American dollars (1 US$ = 6.5 RMB, 2010–2011) to estimate the economic loss resulting from predatory losses.
Results Livestock Holding and Livelihood Strategies 526 Households (82 %) in the three study villages owned a total of 6,139 livestock in October 2011 (Table 1). The average number of livestock held by a household was 9 (SD = ±8.5). Dzo and cattle were the dominant livestock species in the villages at 40 and 38 % respectively, while yak (10 %), donkeys (7 %), and horses (5 %) constituted the remainder (Table 1). The main sources of cash income for the villages were the sale of nontimber forest resources (54 %, n = 80); livestock/livestock products (32 %, n = 48); and agricultural products (14 %, n = 41). Annual cash income per households was approximately RMB 12,000 (*US$ 1,850; range US$ 600–4,600, n = 149). Livestock Losses and Predators
Data Analysis During 2010 and 2011, 258 livestock kills were reported and verified as having been made by wolves, Asiatic black bears, and dholes. Of these, 204 (79.1 %) livestock were killed by wolves, 39 (15.1 %) by bears, and 15 (5.8 %) by dholes (Fig. 1).
We classified livestock into young (YgL), adult female (AdF), and adult male (AdM) following the compensation scheme. Data involving livestock strategies and characteristics of attacks were summarized using proportions.
Table 1 Livestock holding in the villages in northern part of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China (2011) Villages
Number of households
Yak
Dzo
AdM
AdF
YgL
AdM
Yeri
256
193
169
152
Dari
153
10
7
1
Shusong
233
30
58
0
Cattle AdM
AdF
Othera
Stock holding per familyb 12.5
AdF
YgL
YgL
433
399
335
403
397
332
387
16
162
69
139
162
102
179
5.5
342
420
306
132
547
113
143
9.0
AdM adult male, AdF adult female, YgL young livestock a
Includes donkey and horse
b
Eighty-two percent (n = 526) of households kept livestock; stock holding per household calculated from all households, including those that kept none
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Fig. 1 Percentage of attacks by wolves, bears, and dholes on yak, dzo, cattle, donkeys, and horses in 2010 and 2011 at three villages of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China
Fig. 2 Predator attacks on livestock (n = 258) relative to livestock abundance (n = 6,139) at three villages of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China
Predation frequency varied between livestock species (Fig. 2, df = 4, v2 = 88.94, P = 0.000). The majority of livestock killed were dzo (40.3 %, n = 104), followed by cattle (25.6 %, n = 66), donkey (14.3 %, n = 37), and horses (12.0 %, n = 31) with yak (7.8 %, n = 20) being infrequently taken. Livestock were killed by bears with a frequency proportional to their relative abundance (Fig. 3, df = 4, v2 = 3.65, P = 0.46). Wolves killed fewer cattle than expected, and more donkeys and horses than expected (Fig. 3, df = 4, v2 = 61.19, P = 0.000). Dholes mostly killed dzo (53 %, n = 8), donkey, and horses (each accounted for 20 %, both n = 3), and cattle (6 %, n = 1); dholes did not prey on yak. Detailed examination of livestock predation revealed that there were no significant differences between bears and wolves in the livestock classes they killed (df = 2, v2 = 0.247, P = 0.884). Compared with the expected predation frequencies calculated from livestock census data, both predators killed young livestock proportional to their relative abundance, but more adult female and fewer adult male than expected (bears: df = 2, v2 = 12.03, P = 0.002; wolves: df = 2, v2 = 76.39, P = 0.000). Seasonality The frequency of kills by bears and wolves varied seasonally (Fig. 4, both df = 3; for bears, v2 = 7.98, P = 0.031; for wolves, v2 = 7.63, P = 0.022). Bears
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Fig. 3 Percentages of different livestock that made up the total kills by wolves, bears, and dholes in 2010 and 2011 at three villages of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China. The black bar for each livestock type indicates the expected percentage based on livestock census data
Fig. 4 Total number of monthly livestock kills by bears, dholes, and wolves, in 2010 and 2011 at three villages of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China
mainly predated livestock the beginning of autumn, peaking in September (Fig. 4). No kills were attributed to bears from January to March. The frequency of kills by wolves was most intense from the beginning of summer (June) to the middle of autumn (October; Fig. 4). Economic Evaluation of Losses The average annual percentage of total livestock lost to predation was 2.1 %. The economic loss due to predators from January 2010 to December 2011 was US$ 98,707. Average annual losses for households that reported livestock loss was US$ 162. This represented an economic loss of 17 % relative to the households annual cash income (n = 149, range 6–84 %, SD = ±14 %). Dzo and cattle made up the majority of livestock losses, accounting for 48 and 30 % of the total monetary losses (Table 2).
Discussion Conflicts between humans and carnivores in China are escalating due to increasing human population and intensifying encroachment on wild lands as well as reduction of wild prey density (Pettigrew et al. 2012). In fact, at our study site, BXNR, China all the respondents (n = 149) felt that conflict with wolves had increased since the formation
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Table 2 Economic valuation of livestock kills (n) by wild predator in the villages in northern part of Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve, northwest Yunnan, China from January 2010 to December 2011 Unit value (RMB)*
Total loss (US$)
Adult male
Adult female
Young livestock
Yak
4,500 (5)
3,000 (11)
1,000 (4)
9,153.85
Dzo
4,500 (14)
3,500 (63)
1,000 (27)
47,769.23
Cattle
3,500 (8)
3,500 (42)
1,000 (16)
29,384.62
Horses
2,000 (3)
1,500 (21)
Donkeys
1,200 (29)
500 (7)
6,307.69
600 (8)
6,092.31
* Average evaluation price for predated livestock established by the compensation scheme; 1 US$ = 6.5 RMB. Numbers in parenthesis represent numbers of individual killed
of BXNR. Despite this increase, the majority of herders (66 %, n = 98) were supportive of BXNR, and the findings of this study suggest that better conflict reduction and conservation can be achieved through co-management of conflicts at the local level. Patterns of Human–Carnivore Conflict At BXNR, the perceived annual predation rate (2.1 % of total livestock) was within the range reported for a large subset of human–carnivore studies around the globe (0.02–2.6 % of livestock, (Graham et al. 2005). In another study, China Schaller et al. (1987) determined that 7.6 % of livestock were taken in Taxkorgan Reserve Xinjiang Province, compared with 9.6 % in southern Tibet (Jackson 1991) and 0.6 % in regions of Qinghai and Gansu (Schaller et al. 1988). The average annual financial loss per household because of predation (*US$ 162) represented 17 % of the household’s annual cash income. Similar levels of livestock loss were reported from other countries in Asia (19.8 % in Pakistan, Dar et al. 2009); 17 % in central Bhutan, (Wang and Macdonald 2006); and 11 % in India (Mishra 1997). Wolves were responsible for most livestock kills at BXNR which is similar to that from Trans-Himalayan region (Namgail et al. 2007). Our results showed that predations by wolves peaked in June, August, September, and October. This mirrors patterns in other regions with wolves and other large carnivores (Oli et al. 1994; Treves et al. 2002; Sangay and Vernes 2008). These data suggest that the livestock in the study area had been vulnerable to wolves over a long period. Predation by bears also peaked in June and September, and at BXNR, the livestock predation by bear (15.1 %) was higher than that previously recorded in Bhutan (8 %, (Sangay and Vernes 2008) and Pakistan (6 %, (Dar et al. 2009). Because bears are omnivorous and known to scavenge kills from other
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predators (Wang and Xie 2004), the similarity with wolves in the selection of livestock classes and peaks in predation may support Sangay and Vernes’ (2008) viewpoint that some attacks attributed to bears were actually mistaken reports of bears scavenging on the carcasses of animals that had been stolen or met death due to other causes. At BXNR, dholes were responsible for a few kills (5.8 %, n = 15), and this predation figure was less than that in Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park, Bhutan (13 %, n = 10, (Wang and Macdonald 2006). Hybrids of yak and cattle or dzo suffered the highest level of predation (40.3 %) at BXNR. This was likely related to the higher availability and more widespread distribution of dzo. Prey availability has been commonly identified as an important factor determining levels of human–carnivore conflict in previous studies (Jorgenson and Redford 1993; Cozza et al. 1996; Kunkel and Pletscher 1999; Redpath and Thirgood 1999), and in our study, dzo were killed proportionally to their relative abundance. Cattle were killed significantly less than expected likely because they range at lower altitudes than dzo (2,100–3,400 m) in areas with more human presence. The selective predation of donkeys and horses is likely because of their low value, both species are largely left unattended in the forest or pasture and used for occasional draft work. Horses have low economic value, roam freely, and are also preyed upon significantly more than would be expected from their abundance in the Trans-Himalaya (Mishra et al. 1997; Namgail et al. 2007) and Bhutan (Sangay and Vernes 2008). Our results showed that while both wolves and bears killed more female livestock than expected, they killed young livestock proportional to their relative abundance. Young ungulates form an important fraction of wolf diets (Okarma 1991; Mattioli et al. 1995; Gazzola et al. 2005), and carnivores prefer to kill juvenile and female ungulates rather than adult males (Peterson et al. 1984; Ballard et al. 1987; Fuller 1989; Oli 1991; Okarma 1995; Gazzola et al. 2005; Nowak et al. 2005). The BXNR compensation scheme categorized livestock up to two years of age as young,and so finer grained analyses and potential differences between un-weaned livestock and juveniles could not be determined. Predation of livestock usually follows seasonal patterns (Oli et al. 1994; Dar et al. 2009; Sogbohossou et al. 2011). In our study kills were most common in autumn (37.2 %) and summer (36 %), which corresponds with livestock being moved to higher elevation to graze pasture in this period (middle May to early October). This period is also very important for local residents because they earn substantial money from the collection of mushrooms and expensive Chinese medicines like caterpillar fungus (Cordyceps sinensis). Most of the herders (83 %, n = 124)
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engaged in this collection and left their livestock unattended in meadows near the forest edge at this time, thereby increasing their vulnerability to predators. Livestock losses to predation declined from the middle of autumn (October) to the beginning of spring (March; Fig. 4), coinciding with livestock being returned to winter pastures at lower elevations adjacent to the villages. Livestock are always penned at night in stalls at this time and thus were less susceptible to predators. Reducing Human–Carnivore Conflict Poor husbandry is often invoked to explain high levels of predation on livestock (Sangay and Vernes 2008; Dar et al. 2009; Sogbohossou et al. 2011). Our data showed that predation was the most common in seasons when livestock were free-ranging and not in villages. The livestock in the study area were moved seasonally between alpine meadow in summer and low altitude pastures adjacent to the villages in winter. Due to the nomadic lifestyle, there are few structures available for livestock protection in alpine pastures. Our analyses suggest that measures should be taken to protect livestock in alpine pastures, and financial compensation could be used in an alternative way to support building more fixed infrastructure in alpine pasture for livestock protection. An alternative option for protecting livestock involves the use of shepherd dogs (Khan 2009), but in the study area, herding dogs were the focus of many conflicts, including attacks on wild ungulates. According to the director of the reserve office, two goral and one serow were killed by herding dogs in 2009. In addition, according a local patrolman, seven nuisance herding dogs that had chased goral in the reserve were killed by the reserve office in August 2012 (Lu, personal communication). Similar problems have been reported in the Trans-Himalaya (Namgail et al. 2007). The snow mountain called Baima Xueshan is considered sacred by the local Tibetans, and this may help regarding the positive perception of BXNR. The most important reason, however, for this perception is the collection and sale of mushrooms and medicinal plants from the forests of BXNR. In the household survey, 66 % (n = 98) of the respondents supported the reserve due to tangible benefits from the reserve. BXNR management keeps people from outside the reserve from collecting resources inside the forest and has built a market for selling the products. Thus, most herders have considerable income besides livestock husbandry. Alternative benefits from sustainable harvesting of nontimber forest products should be explored in other areas because such benefits could generate more favorable attitudes toward conservation (Sekhar 1998; Conforti and de Azevedo 2003).
1339 Acknowledgments The study was supported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China for biodiversity survey in northwest Yunnan (Y001261051) and partly funded by China Exploration & Research Society (CERS), and the Symrise Corporation. The authors thank the Baima Xueshan Nature Reserve Management Office for their kind support. The authors are also grateful to Jin Lu, Yongsheng Zhang, Qingtao Li, Ji Du, and Bu A for their assistance in the field, and further like to thank three anonymous reviewers for their suggestions that helped in improving the manuscript.
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