Chapter 1: Carnivores in human-influenced landscapes

The response of carnivores to lowered prey availability varies: it may reduce

fecundity, reduce neonatal, juvenile and adult survival, increase home range and
increase the number of transients and dispersers (for a review see Fuller and Sievert
2001). Thus, within a human-dominated landscape it is likely that depletion of wild prey
will both lower the ability of populations to compensate for human-related mortality,
and further increase risk of contact with humans through home range expansion and
utilisation of domestic livestock as an alternative to wild prey.
In some situations management of game species may be detrimental to
carnivores. In African National Parks, where hunting is prohibited, high densities of
large ungulates support high densities of large carnivores, lions (Panthera leo) and
hyaenas, which in turn competitively exclude smaller carnivores, cheetahs (Acinonyx
jubatus) and African wild dogs; in contrast cheetahs and wild dogs can exist in Game
Reserves because there hunting is allowed which depresses prey densities, thus lion and
hyaena densities are lower (Creel et al. 2001). The decline of the Iberian lynx in Spain
has been linked to the introduction of myxomatosis to control rabbits (Oryctolagus
cuniculus) the main prey of lynx (Rodriguez and Delibes 2002). More recently in Spain,
high densities of wild boar (Sus scrofa) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) promoted for
sport hunting have also been found to reduce the availability of rabbit, the preferred
prey of the threatened wildcat (Felis silvestris) (Lozano et al. 2007).

Direct persecution
Many carnivore species are targeted for the harvest and trade of body parts,
recreational sport hunting, and in response to real or perceived threats to human life or
livelihood. Some carnivore populations, in particular canids such as coyotes (Canis
latrans) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), may persist despite intensive persecution
because reproduction compensates for harvest mortality (e.g. Knowlton 1972, Harris
and Saunders 1993, Knowlton 1999). Often populations cannot compensate for
sustained exploitation; for example Stoner et al. (2006) found that hunting intensity >
40% of adult pumas for ≥ 4 years reduced density and resulted in a population that was
younger, less productive and socially unstable compared to an un-hunted population.
Novaro et al. (2005) demonstrated that the hunting of culpeo foxes (Pseudalopex
culpaeus) in Argentina is non-compensatory: human-induced mortality and natural
mortality were additive so the persistence of local populations was dependent on
emigration from protected areas.