Predation of domestic livestock by wild mammals (Carnivora) in Passa-Cinco river basin, State of São Paulo, Brazil

• Grant number: 07/00989-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2007
• End date: December 31, 2007
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Luciano Martins Verdade
• Grantee: Thaís Rovere Diniz Reis
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The lack of shelter and prey resulted by habitat loss and deforestation obligate the mammalian carnivores, with large home ranges and food requirements, to migrate to remnant exterior in search of food, where the livestock live. The depredation on these animals lead to conflicts between wild carnivores and farmers, which struggle with financial losses and, in the end, kill the predators, worsening even more their actual conservation status. The mitigation of these conflicts is an essential need to conservation of the carnivores, for maintains the biological diversity and for implementation of national politics and management measures. It is necessary, firstly, to compile data on determinants of wild carnivores depredation on livestock. The main objectives are to describe and quantify livestock depredation by carnivore mammals in many properties in Passa Cinco river basin. The choosed proprierties will be visited weekly to raise the following data: predator occurrence, killed prey, frequency and levels of predation and their relation with landscape attributes. Therefore, it is hoped that the study will contribute to decrease or even reverse the present situation, improving mammalian carnivores conservation in fragmented landscape, that compose the major portion of the national territory.