A descriptive study of dairy goat predation in Louisiana.
Questionnaires concerning herd size, housing and management, and previous instances of predation were mailed to 124 goat owners in Louisiana. Postcards were mailed over a period of one year on a monthly basis, to the 84 individuals who responded to this questionnaire. Owners were asked to indicate whether they had seen predators on their property and whether any goats were injured or killed by the predators. Upon receipt of any postcard with a "yes" answer to either of these questions, a telephone interview was conducted to determine the exact circumstances of predator experience. The interview format included time, physical circumstances, and detailed questions about the actions of the predator and the goats. In 85% of the cases, the predators sighted were reported as dogs, and most of these were thought to be pets, rather than wild. Instances of attacks occurred most frequently during periods of reduced light. No clear seasonal pattern of attacks emerged. Four management factors were associated with a reduction in number of attacks; penning the goats at night, use of a night light, proximity of the herd to an occupied residence, and presence of a dog.
Movement and home range of owned free-roaming male dogs in Puerto Natales, Chile
Abstract Free-roaming dogs (FRDs) pose a significant health threat to humans, other animals and the environment. Yet, the effects of their movements and habitat use within cities and adjacent rural areas are poorly known, especially in relation to predation and the transmission of diseases that can impact human health (i.e., cystic echinococcosis and rabies). We explored the temporal and spatial distribution of owned FRDs for a remote Patagonian city surrounded by a grasslands rural ecosystem by superimposing GPS coordinates of tracked dogs on satellite images (Google map). Using logistic regressions, we evaluated the potential effect of age, body condition score (BCS) and distance from their initial recorded GPS fix (at or near the owner’s home) to the rural boundary (RD) as predictors of home range (HR) and maximum distance (MD) travelled from home. Our study revealed that owned FRDs in Puerto Natales, Chile have a high site fidelity to the urban environment and especially their owneŕs home, seldom venturing into rural areas. We observed that even FRDs living in close proximity to the city boundary spent most of their time within the urban environment. On average, FRDs had a HR of 0.65 km2 (65 ha) and travelled a MD of 1.05 km. There were two individuals that travelled significantly further, and hence occupied a larger HR than the rest. Additionally, our results indicated that BCS was a predictor of HR, while age and RD were predictors of MD. These findings add to the range of predictors known to affect roaming dog HR size and used across different studies, suggesting that site-specific factors are likely affecting dog behavioral ecology. The study findings provide useful and original data on the movement ecology and site fidelity of owned FRDs in a remote city in Patagonia. We recommend that to make meaningful and cost-effective management decisions regarding owned FRDs in urban areas, future studies should also include the collection of sociocultural information on the interactions between of dogs and people.
Predation on domestic sheep in northeastern Nevada.
Highlight: A northern Nevada range band of sheep was studied in order to verify the extent of losses to predation and to other causes. Daily searches were made for losses and carcasses were au topsied. During lambing, predator losses varied on the two operations studied, 1 loss per 14 days in one case and 1 loss per day in the other. Losses from other causes were high at that time. Predation increased in late summer and continued to be high into the fall. Predation was the major cause of loss at that time. Winter losses were variable. In one short period, 38 head of sheep were lost to halogeton (Halogeton glomeratus). In one annual production cycle 9% of the band was the total verified loss. The verified predator loss was 4% of the band. The coyote (Canis latrans) accounted for 91% of the total predation.