Understanding livestock predation by big cats: Vulnerability of farms to jaguar and puma predation in the Green Corridor of Argentina-Brazil

FOSTER, VANIA; CARLOS DE ANGELO; ET AL; PARDO, JULIA MARTINEZ

Puerto Iguazú

Congreso; XXXII Jornadas Argentinas de Mastozoología; 2022

CeIBA, IBS, SAREM

In several regions of Latin America, big cats have a relevantimpact on cattle herds. For this reason, it is importantto understand the causes of livestock/feline conflictsand to identify the inherent conditions that make farmsvulnerable to predation for designing and implementingeffective prevention and mitigation. Our goal was toidentify which features of cattle farms modulate with theprobabilities of big cats’ predation of domestic animalsin the North of the Green Corridor. We performed 242interviews in 52 communities, 132 in Argentina and 110in Brazil. For the analysis, we considered only records oflivestock predation by big cats. Attacks by other predatorswere excluded. We characterized the farms where predationoccurred through the property size, herd size, cattlemanagement, habitat suitability for big cats, distanceto water, distance to continuous forest and native preyoccupancy. To test the effect of the vulnerability factorsin the herds’ predation by big cats, we used GeneralizedLinear Models with binomial distribution. Livestock losseswere recorded in 79 farms, but only in 46 farms, big catswere confirmed as being the predators. Within theseproperties, 235 predation cases were reported – 129 byjaguar and 106 by puma. The number of livestock predatedranged from 1 to 30 animals. Attacks occurred mainlyin large farms (OR=2,46, 95%CI=1,54-4,57) with poorcattle management (OR=0,83, 95%CI=0,71-0,96). Cattleattacks were positively associated with high native preyoccupancy (OR=2,68, 95%CI=1,64-4,54), but only in farmswith poor habitat conditions for big cats. When theseconditions improved, attack probabilities were higherin farms of low prey occupancy (interaction OR=0,51,95%CI=0,31-0,79). These preliminary results suggest thatfarms’ vulnerability to big cats’ predation is higher whenmanagement practices are not adequate. Focusing on implementinggood management practices associated withanti-predator devices can prevent livestock predation andmitigate conflicts.