Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, SUNY ESF, Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA.
Sci Rep. 2024 Nov 6;14(1):26899. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-78117-8.
Large carnivore species frequently predate and consume wild or domestic prey, which is referred to as food-related predation. Large carnivores can also hunt and kill prey exceeding their immediate needs (i.e., they do not consume prey), which is referred to as surplus predation. We used 173 records of livestock predations by gray wolves (Canis lupus; n = 133) and Persian leopards (Panthera pardus tulliana; n = 40) reported by governmental organizations of Iran during 2009-2019 to investigate food-related and surplus predation incidents of livestock. We found that for wolves, the number of reported surplus predation incidents was greater than that of food-related predation incidents during all 4 seasons (spring through winter), whereas for leopards, the number of food-related and surplus predation incidents were similar in all seasons. The number of livestock killed per surplus predation incident was greater for wolves than for leopards and that surplus predations by both species occurred more frequently within corrals than on free-range pastures. As corrals in most villages across Iran are poorly constructed and largely accessible to predators, we recommend that livestock owners enhance corral construction, use well-trained dogs during day and particularly at night, employ people to watch livestock at night, and use fire (e.g., torches) during night to scare carnivores. These strategies can mitigate predation incidents and corresponding economic losses, resulting in fewer losses of livestock, wolves, and leopards, as these two carnivore species are mainly killed by humans due to livestock predations across Iran.
大型食肉动物经常捕食野生或家养猎物,这被称为与食物相关的捕食。大型食肉动物也可以捕猎并杀死超过其即时需求的猎物(即它们不消耗猎物),这被称为剩余捕食。我们使用了伊朗政府组织在 2009 年至 2019 年期间报告的 173 份灰狼(Canis lupus;n=133)和波斯豹(Panthera pardus tulliana;n=40)捕食家畜的记录,来调查与食物相关和剩余捕食家畜的事件。我们发现,对于狼来说,在所有四个季节(春季至冬季),报告的剩余捕食事件数量都大于与食物相关的捕食事件数量;而对于豹来说,在所有季节,与食物相关和剩余捕食事件的数量相似。每起剩余捕食事件杀死的牲畜数量对于狼来说大于豹,而且这两个物种的剩余捕食事件在畜栏内发生的频率高于在自由放牧的牧场上。由于伊朗大多数村庄的畜栏建造得很差,并且对捕食者来说很容易进入,因此我们建议牲畜饲养者加强畜栏建设,在白天特别是晚上使用经过良好训练的狗,在晚上安排人员看守牲畜,并在夜间使用火(例如火炬)来吓跑食肉动物。这些策略可以减轻捕食事件和相应的经济损失,从而减少牲畜、狼和豹的损失,因为这两个食肉物种在伊朗主要因捕食牲畜而被人类杀死。