Abstract
This study assessed the economic value of using sheepdogs as livestock guardians in southeastern Brazil by implementing a semi-structured interview format divided into four main categories: maintenance costs of sheep production, selling prices of carcasses, annual rate of depredation, and sheepdog acquisition and maintenance costs. According to our results, producers perceive the “unproductive” costs of sheepdogs similarly to the way they view taxes. However, management using sheepdogs as herd guardians tends to be most profitable for herds above 483 head from the fourth year on, being possibly more stable and predictable over time. In contrast, management without sheepdogs shows stochastic dynamics with occasional, though unpredictable, episodes of sheep depredation. This means that sheep farmers follow a cyclical decision strategy, which basically depends on the purchase price of the sheepdog.
Highlights
Livestock predation by mammalian carnivores is one of the most common sources of conflicts between humans and wild animals worldwide (Mech 1981, Cozza et al 1996, Kaczensky 1996, Pedersen et al 1999, Mazzolli et al 2002, Marchini, 2014)
Wildlife damage could be prevented by improving livestock management, implementing alternative strategies such as greater vigilance during grazing, fencing, using sheepdogs, or returning herds to enclosures in daylight (Shivik 2006, Gehring et al 2010a, b, Gehring et al 2011)
Interview questions were divided into four main categories, each focusing on a different economic aspect of livestock management: maintenance costs of sheep production, selling price of carcasses, annual rate of depredation, and sheepdog acquisition and maintenance costs
Summary
Livestock predation by mammalian carnivores is one of the most common sources of conflicts between humans and wild animals worldwide (Mech 1981, Cozza et al 1996, Kaczensky 1996, Pedersen et al 1999, Mazzolli et al 2002, Marchini, 2014). One of the main reasons is that most conflicts between humans and predators can be perceived in simple terms, arising from the direct effects of one predator on one prey. This can lead to the idea that a single predator directly reduces the density of prey available to humans, and Depredation is influenced by carnivore and herd management practices, and by habitat characteristics and the local distribution and abundance of natural prey (Polisar et al 2003, Kolowski and Holekamp 2006). As conservation issues increasingly occupy socio-political agendas, and attitudes toward non-lethal approaches to wildlife management evolve, it is clear that a change from decisions based primarily on competition with economic interests to decisions based on the dynamic interaction between the ecosystem and socio-political system is necessary
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