FREE-RANGING DOMESTIC DOGS: A THREAT FOR WILD BIRDS? ATTACKS ON PENGUINS IN A PROTECTED AREA

MILLONES, ANA; MORGENTHALER, ANNICK; FRERE, ESTEBAN; GANDINI, PATRICIA; MELINA BARRIONUEVO; DIEGO E. PROCOPIO

Puerto Iguazú

Congreso; Ornithological Congress of the Americas; 2017

Association of Field Ornithologists, USA

Seabird colonies can be affected by the presence of free-ranging dogs in the naturalenvironment. Extreme negative situations can occur when dogs engage in surplus killing,a common behavior exhibited by carnivore predators in which they kill more prey thanthey can immediately eat. During October and November 2016, at least 400 adults ofMagellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) were killed at Isla Quiroga (Ría DeseadoProvincial Nature Reserve, Santa Cruz, Argentina) by attacks of at least four free-rangingdomestic dogs, which managed to reach the island by swimming from the continent(<60m) during days with extraordinarily low tides. The cost to this colony of thisthreatened penguin species, before the enforcement authority managed to catch thedogs (during a crossing), was a reduction of 14% of its breeding population. This is thefirst record of such magnitude of adult penguins predation by dogs on the Argentinecoast. During recent years, the increase in the number of free-ranging domestic dogs inresponsibility and of an effective legislation which controls dogs, could explain a greaterpresence of free-ranging dogs in this Reserve, which, along with a very poor patrollingand management of the protected area, has caused this serious conflict with the wildlife.