Abstract
Feral dogs are well-organized hunters of ungulates in many parts of the world, causing great damage to wildlife populations and ultimately to the ecosystem. In Pakistan, the impacts of feral dogs on the wildlife have not been documented yet. In a period of fifteen years (2006-2020), feral dogs have killed hundreds of threatened markhor in Chitral gol national park (CGNP), Pakistan. Despite direct predation other impacts including disturbance and competition with other natural predators, could compromise conservation and management efforts. The population of feral dogs seems to have been increased with the increase of dumping sites by communities. Our findings suggest that there are pressing needs of controlling the feral dogs population and eradicating them from the core zone of CGNP and surrounding buffer communities. Conventional culling of dogs should be coupled with modern techniques like castration and sterilization. Communities should be educated regarding the clean environment, proper disposal of home wastes and, biodiversity conservation.
Highlights
Domesticated dogs (Canis familiaris) when escape domestication can become a deadly threat to the local wildlife (Hughes and Macdonald, 2013)
A total of 997 feral dogs were directly sighted during years with an average of 66 dogs observed per year
Results obtained from the current study revealed that a total of 392 markhor had been killed by feral dogs in Chitral gol national park (CGNP) (Figure 3)
Summary
Domesticated dogs (Canis familiaris) when escape domestication can become a deadly threat to the local wildlife (Hughes and Macdonald, 2013) These dogs go through various stages before they become completely wild and independent of humans for resources; based on which various categories are recognized Communal dump sites provide a strong refuge to feral dogs for successful propagation
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