Abstract
AbstractRapid population declines of wild cats (family Felidae) are often related to widespread conflicts with people over the livestock depredation they are causing. In spite of increasing literature on wild felids, there is no overview on the evidence‐based effectiveness of livestock protection interventions in reducing depredation inflicted by these animals. We collected and analyzed 92 cases from 57 publications describing the percentage of damage reduction from the application of 11 interventions to 10 felid species. We found that the effectiveness of interventions differed significantly between species. Interventions tested for cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) and snow leopards (Panthera uncia) were very effective, reducing damage by 70–100% due to species shyness, good fit of interventions to these species and local conditions, and strong social involvement. The most variable and often the lowest effectiveness of interventions was found for leopard (Panthera pardus), puma (Puma concolor) and caracal (Caracal caracal), which are more common and tolerant to humans. In other felids, interventions were generally effective, but some of them reportedly failed because of local contexts and intervention performance. Much more effort is required to invigorate the research of intervention effectiveness in little studied species and regions.
Highlights
Livestock depredation by wild cats causes widespread conflicts with rural people and is responsible for their rapid population declines worldwide (Loveridge, Wang, Frank, & Seidensticker, 2010)
Ninety cases described single felid species and two cases were about the application of interventions to two felids lumped together
Application of capacity building (100%) and translocation (83.3%, 66.7–100%) was effective against tiger attacks, but the impact of deterrents was variable (31.3%, −322.2% to 100%). In this meta-analysis, we found the evidence-based effectiveness of livestock protection interventions to vary between the 10 felid species (Figures 1 and 2)
Summary
Livestock depredation by wild cats (family Felidae) causes widespread conflicts with rural people and is responsible for their rapid population declines worldwide (Loveridge, Wang, Frank, & Seidensticker, 2010). While the descriptions of depredation patterns and livestock protection interventions are numerous in the scientific literature, evidencebased intervention effectiveness is estimated very sporadically and its meta-analyses aiming to make broad inferences began only recently (Eklund, López-Bao, Tourani, Chapron, & Frank, 2017; Khorozyan & Waltert, 2019a, 2019b; Miller et al, 2016; Treves, Krofel, & McManus, 2016; Van Eeden et al, 2017; Van Eeden et al, 2018) All these reviews cover carnivores in general and conclude that available data are insufficient and methods are not standardized, but uniform framework analysis may offer a pathway to determine the best interventions (Khorozyan & Waltert, 2019a). We anticipate that this study will serve as a useful practical guide for felid researchers and conservationists worldwide
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
