Livestock Depredation in Central India

Mondal, Anindya (2022) Livestock Depredation in Central India. Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

Text (MS dissertation of Anindya Mondal (17MS062)) 17MS062_Thesis_file.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (3MB)

Abstract

Human-wildlife conflict is one of the major challenges for wildlife conservation in the 21st century. Livestock depredation by wild carnivores is an important component of HWC. Large carnivores like tigers and leopards frequently prey on livestock close to the forests. This creates a negative attitude towards wild animals in the eyes of the local communities, and they may start to consider wildlife as an enemy. This is a serious concern for conservation biologists and wildlife managers worldwide. This has become a major concern in a rapidly developing country like India due to its huge human population. Also, due to an improvement in conservation efforts throughout the country, the population of wild carnivores is on the rise, making this problem more severe. It is essential to urgently find workable solutions to minimize livestock depredation by wild animals and mitigate its after-effects. In this study, we used livestock predation records from the Madhya Pradesh state forest department together with data on the different landscape attributes obtained from secondary sources to understand the broad-scale factors influencing livestock depredation in the landscape and predict the high-risk areas. Majority of risk-prone areas are located in eastern Madhya Pradesh. We also undertook field surveys in four protected areas (three tiger reserves and one wildlife sanctuary) to understand the perception of the local communities living adjacent to forests and the factors influencing their perception. We found the predictors- distance to protected areas, human population density, NDVI(Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) pre-monsoon, forest percentage, and distance for water source significantly affect livestock depredation in our non-spatial model. For our spatial model distance from PA, distance from forest boundary and human population density is significant factors. NDVI post-monsoon and forest percentage is negatively associated with predation incidents. This investigation is the first statewide study to address the problem of livestock depredation in the state of Madhya Pradesh. In our survey, we found that the main predator for livestock predation in MP is tiger and leopard. Only in Nauradehi wild dog is main attacker species. Though people had suffered losses, their attitude is mostly positive. But they are agitated due to poor management and hard compensation procedures. Our results from this study will help wildlife managers and local administrators to form and implement specific management policies to reduce livestock depredation and mitigate its effects. This would help create a better perception of wildlife in the eyes of the local people, which would help in long-term wildlife conservation.

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