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For long, farmer loathed presence of carnivores fearing livestock and crop loss. On the contrary, the presence of big cats, and their complex relationship with predators is benefiting farmers, a new study reveals.
The presence of a tiger would reduce herbivorous animals feeding on farmland to the extent that a farmer would save 450 US dollars annually.
Apart from saving crops, livestock loss reduces by an average of 2.4 animals per farm that would save another 1,120 US dollar, a recent study by a team of researchers published in Biological Conservation claims.
Researchers pointed out farmers' poor understanding of ecological equation tend to kill apex predators such as tigers, leopards, and dholes (wild dogs). Mass killings of these carnivores lead to a dramatic increase of herbivores that feed on farmland.
The study conducted in western Bhutan delves into the inter-specific dynamics between tigers, leopards, and dholes, and their subsequent impact on livestock and crop losses faced by agro-pastoralists.
Leopards and dholes prey on herbivores like wild pigs and deers preventing crop loss.
In Bhutan, in the early 1990s, farmers fearing loss of livestock killed carnivores leading to rising population of wild pigs. Similar killings happened in the US and Canada where farmers killed a large number of wolves and subsequently increased the white-tailed deer populations.
The dramatic increase in herbivores like wild pigs and deer not only led to crop loss but has a negative on forest regeneration, researchers explained.
“Tigers occasionally attack the farmer’s livestock, but leopards and dholes are known to be principal predators of cattle,” researchers explained.
They added that leopards and dholes occupy areas in deep forests farther from croplands when a tiger was absent in the village vicinity, leading to increased predation on a higher abundance of untended free-ranging livestock.
Researchers in similar studies in India's Nagarahole National Park and Thailand's Kuiburi National Park found dholes most widely distributed among the three predators. They also found tigers prefer to stay away from the human settlement, but leopards tend to seek proximity.
Ironically, during the research period, the research team found farmers stayed away from hunting, poisoning or harming the predators. “Buddhist sentiments and huge penalties associated with the killing of tigers” is cited as farmers’ tolerance to carnivores.
Researchers conclude conservation based on the iconic status of big cats is not a persuasive argument with rural farmers living close to tiger habitat and suffering frequent crop and livestock loss.
“There is a strong need to determine whether apex predators provide any ecological services to farmers, which in turn, may dissuade them from retaliatory killings,” they concluded.
(CGTN)
