Understanding Human–Canid Conflict and Coexistence: Socioeconomic Correlates Underlying Local Attitude and Support Toward the Endangered Dhole (Cuon alpinus) in Bhutan

Phuntsho Thinley,Choney Yangzom,Sonam Wangdi,Rajanathan Rajaratnam,Sonam Tashi,Jigme Tenzin,Lam Norbu,Tashi Wangchuk,Lungten Dorji,Cheten Wangmo,Tshering Dendup,Chhimi Namgyal

doi:10.3389/fcosc.2021.691507

Abstract

Understanding human–canid conflict and coexistence must focus on documenting human–canid interactions and identifying the underlying drivers of reciprocal human attitude which enables appropriate strategies to minimize conflict and forge coexistence. The dhole (Cuon alpinus), Asia's most widely distributed wild canid, is highly threatened by human persecution and anthropogenic activities. Despite its “endangered” status, its ecological role as an apex predator, negative interactions with humans, and dhole-specific attitude studies are limited, thus hindering the development of a comprehensive dhole-conservation strategy. Here, we investigate the influence of socioeconomic factors of age, gender, income, residency inside/outside a protected area (PA), and other variables (cultural beliefs, livestock loss, and quantity of livestock loss) on the attitudes of local people and support for dhole conservation in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. We conducted a semi-structured questionnaire survey of 1,444 households located within the PA and non-PA from four representative regions in the country. Using R programming, we ran Pearson's chi-square test of independence to test the overall difference in the attitude and support for dhole conservation, followed by recursive partitioning through a conditional inference regression tree to identify its significant covariates with the highest explanatory power. Majority (79.1%) of respondents (χ2 = 488.6; df = 1; p &lt; 0.001) disliked the dhole over those who liked it. More than half (57.7%) (χ2 = 412.7; df = 2; p &lt; 0.001) opposed dhole conservation over those who either supported or remained neutral. Experience of livestock loss to dholes was the primary ( p &lt; 0.001) factor influencing the negative attitude and opposition to dhole conservation, despite an acknowledgment of the ecological role of the dhole in controlling agricultural crop predators. Our study, which is the first-ever survey in Bhutan, solely focused on investigating human attitudes and perceptions toward the dhole, indicating that livestock loss to dholes transcends all positive attitudes to the species and drives a predominant dislike and opposition to its conservation. To improve the attitude and support toward the dhole and to foster dhole–human coexistence, livestock predation by dholes needs alleviation by improving the existing animal husbandry, in conjunction with promoting conservation awareness on this species.

Highlights

Canids are globally widespread and face management and conservation challenges (Lamb et al, 2020) from large geographic ranges interspersed with human-modified landscapes (Srivathsa et al, 2019)
We investigated the roles of livestock predation, gender, protected area (PA) residency, and cultural belief in influencing the attitude and support of people toward the dhole
We conducted our study in four representative regions collectively encompassing 13 dzongkhags, 53 geogs, and four PAs of Bumdeling Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS), Jigme Dorji National Park (JDNP), Royal Manas National Park (RMNP), and Wangchuck Centennial National Park (WCNP; Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

Canids are globally widespread and face management and conservation challenges (Lamb et al, 2020) from large geographic ranges interspersed with human-modified landscapes (Srivathsa et al, 2019). Ten canid species are from Asia (Din et al, 2013), of which, the Asiatic wild dog or dhole Cuon alpinus (Pallas, 1811) is the most widely distributed This hypercarnivorous (Van Valkenburgh, 1991) pack-hunting apex predator primarily inhabits South and Southeast Asian forests in India, Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and Indonesia (Kamler et al, 2015). To aid their movement and dispersal, dholes use unprotected secondary forests, multiuse forest fragments, and agro-forests adjoining the protected forest reserves (Gangadharan et al, 2016). The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) currently lists the dhole as “endangered” based on a population estimate of 4,500–10,500 individuals, of which, only 949–2,215 are mature individuals persisting in small, isolated metapopulations (Kamler et al, 2015)

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