Domestic dogs in rural communities around protected areas: conservation problem or conflict solution?

ABSTRACT: Although domestic dogs play many important roles in rural households, they can also be an important threat to the conservation of wild vertebrates due to predation, competition and transmission of infectious diseases. An increasing number of studies have addressed the impact of dogs on wildlife but have tended to ignore the motivations and attitudes of the humans who keep these dogs and how the function of dogs might influence dog-wildlife interactions. To determine whether the function of domestic dogs in rural communities influences their interactions with wildlife, we conducted surveys in rural areas surrounding protected lands in the Valdivian Temperate Forests of Chile. Sixty percent of farm animal owners reported the use of dogs as one of the primary means of protecting livestock fro

SUBMITTER: Sepulveda MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3896434 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature