Dogs top prey for leopards in India: study

In India's human dominated landscapes, the number one prey for leopards is not livestock but man's best friend - dog, a new study has found.
The study led by the Wildlife Conservation Society looked at scat samples for leopards in India's Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra.
Researchers found that 87 per cent of their diet was made up of domestic animals. Domestic dog dominated as the most common prey item at 39 per cent and domestic cats were second at 15 per cent.
Seventeen per cent of the leopard's diet consisted of assorted wild animals including rodents, monkeys, and mongoose and birds.

Livestock, despite being more abundant, made up a relatively small portion of the leopard's diet, researchers found.
Domestic goats, for example, are seven times more common than dogs in this landscape, yet only make up 11 per cent of leopard's prey.

The author's say this is because goats are less accessible and often brought into pens at night, while dogs are largely allowed to wander freely.
Cows, sheep, and pigs were also eaten, but collectively made up less than 20 per cent of leopard's food. Most domestic cattle in this region are too large to be preyed on by leopards.

The authors of the study said that the selection of domestic dogs as prey means that the economic impact of predation by leopards on valuable livestock is lower than expected.
Thus, human-leopard "conflict" is more likely to be related to people's fears of leopards foraging in the proximity of their houses and the sentimental value of dogs as pets.
"During the past two-to-three decades, legal regulation of leopard hunting, increased conservation awareness, and the rising numbers of feral dogs as prey have all led to an increase in leopard numbers outside of nature reserves in agricultural landscapes," study co-author Ullas Karanth, WCS Director for Science-Asia, said.

"While this is good news for conservation and a tribute to the social tolerance of Indian people, it also poses major challenges of managing conflict that occasionally breaks out. Only sound science can help us face this challenge," said Karanth.
The study appears in the journal Oryx.