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Feral dog in a similar habitat to that in the RBLP.
Picture copyright USGS 2005
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Feral dog in a similar habitat to that in the RBLP.
Picture copyright USGS 2005
Last December 2008 we started the project on feral and free-ranging dogs and cats in the Los Petenes Biosphere Reserve (RBLP), Campeche. We are particularly interested in documenting the impacts of these predators on the populations of native wildlife. We secured funding for one year from the United Nations Development Program.
We start the work in the 5 local Mayan villages we selected. Visited the local authorities to let them know about the project goals and time-tables. We finished the interviews and surveys (10% of the population of each village) about domestic dog and cat populations and husbandry and visited different habitats to select the places where we will be setting the scent stations, transects for population monitoring and trapping areas.
The goals of the project are:
1. To make a diagnostic baseline study of the population status, abundance and distribution of feral dogs and cats in the RBLP
2. To document the impact of the feral and free-ranging populations of dogs and cats in the native and endangered wildlife of the RBLP
3. To develop a control and management strategy for the feral and free-ranging populations of these predators that will benefit the conservation of threatened wildlife and therefore the conservation of the RBLP.
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El proyecto que recién comenzamos en Diciembre 2008 sobre las poblaciones de perros y gatos asilvestrados (ferales) y sus efectos en la fauna nativa de la Reserva de la Biosfera de Los Petenes (RBLP) en Campeche (financiamiento del PNUD-CONANP) va a avanzando con pasos firmes y seguros.
Comenzamos a trabajar en 5 comunidades alrededor de la RBLP. Visitamos a los comisarios ejidales para hacerles saber del proyecto y terminamos hace una semana la etapa de entrevistas y censos de perros y gatos en las aldeas. También visitamos diferentes hábitats para escoger los sitios de muestreo, para colocar los transectos y las parcelas olfativas y en un futuro para realizar los trampeos y colectas de animales vivos.
Los objetivos del proyecto son:
1. Elaborar un diagnóstico del estatus, distribución y abundancia de la poblaciones domésticas y asilvestradas de perros y gatos en la Reserva de la Biosfera de Los Petenes (RBLP).
2. Conocer el impacto de los perros y gatos domésticos y asilvestrados en las poblaciones de fauna silvestre de la RBLP
3. Elaborar una estrategia de control de poblaciones de perros y gatos domésticos y asilvestrados en la RBLP
El equipo hasta ahora está conformado por dos ex-estudiantes: Adriana Guzmán y Sergio Padilla, Guillermo Castillo nuestro técnico académico de la línea y una tesista de licenciatura.
We are still looking to recruit stundents (unedergraduate and posgraduate) for this project. Get in touch!
AÚN ESTAMOS NECESITADOS DE ESTUDIANTES PARA SERVICIO SOCIAL Y TESISTAS DE LICENCIATURA
Comenzamos a trabajar en 5 comunidades alrededor de la RBLP. Visitamos a los comisarios ejidales para hacerles saber del proyecto y terminamos hace una semana la etapa de entrevistas y censos de perros y gatos en las aldeas. También visitamos diferentes hábitats para escoger los sitios de muestreo, para colocar los transectos y las parcelas olfativas y en un futuro para realizar los trampeos y colectas de animales vivos.
Los objetivos del proyecto son:
1. Elaborar un diagnóstico del estatus, distribución y abundancia de la poblaciones domésticas y asilvestradas de perros y gatos en la Reserva de la Biosfera de Los Petenes (RBLP).
2. Conocer el impacto de los perros y gatos domésticos y asilvestrados en las poblaciones de fauna silvestre de la RBLP
3. Elaborar una estrategia de control de poblaciones de perros y gatos domésticos y asilvestrados en la RBLP
El equipo hasta ahora está conformado por dos ex-estudiantes: Adriana Guzmán y Sergio Padilla, Guillermo Castillo nuestro técnico académico de la línea y una tesista de licenciatura.
We are still looking to recruit stundents (unedergraduate and posgraduate) for this project. Get in touch!
AÚN ESTAMOS NECESITADOS DE ESTUDIANTES PARA SERVICIO SOCIAL Y TESISTAS DE LICENCIATURA
Aquí algunas fotos de los avances del proyecto y del equipo trabajando:
Typical habitat in the RBLP
A nice Mayan house in Tankuche
Mayan woman preparing the head of a recently hunted white-tailed deer in Tankuche. Wildlife hunting is still extremely important as a source of meat for the local Mayan people. Feral dogs can be a source of predation for native wildlife such as deer and therefore a potential threat to animal populations.
Preparing the Pi (Mayan for deer meet cooked in a pit with leaves and spices). Delicious!
The observation tower of CONANP in the RBLP
Adriana and Guillermo getting my ATV ready to work in a rural road. The buckets contain fine sand for the scent stations. Lots of work that afternoon! It is great its January!
Sergio Padilla at work (?)
Preparing a scent station for carnivores in a road near the RBLP
Guillermo getting the scent bait in a sand track station. My "secret" recipe worked wonderfully. (It smells like hell and looks like a drunk-man's through out but it is bread-and-butter for carnivores). We got more than 70% visitation rate in the first two nights of the first 20 scent stations. Tracks of Felis (jaguarundy or feral cat), Procyon, Urocyon, Didelphis and the first one of Canis lupus familiaris (our first feral dog in the area!)
Tracks of a raccoon in a scent station
Domestic dogs waiting for their chance with a local bitch in heat at Isla Arena (Hey, Is there a yellow dog in there? Yes there is!. Remember the story of the yellow dog? Well it seems to be very, very true!):)
Overpopulation of domestic dogs, free-ranging behaviour and poor husbandry is commonplace in the whole area. We are investigating the root causes of this.
This picture taken from the web illustrate an extreme case of scabies in a feral dog. Our studies will demonstrate that dogs are the main source of mange both for wildlife and humans in Campeche. It is NOT the chupacabras!!!
A local tamandua crossing the main road to Isla Arena in RBLP. Tamanduas are very slow and quite tame. They can be an easy target for invasive predators such as feral dogs and although strong (they are called "brazo fuerte" or "strong arm" by the locals) a large, clever dog can easily kill a tamandua with a simple bite in the head. I was about 5 meters from this animal for more the 3 minutes until he/she finally decided not to cross the road (most likely because of my presence and because I was taken care of it not to become one more roadkill). Because they are slow, unfortunately they are also one of the commonest road-kills in Campeche. That is very sad too.
We know very little in Latin America about the effects of feral and free-ranging dogs and cats in sensitive and endangered wildlife. Predation might be a cause of population declines and even local extinction, but it is largely undocumented and hard to do so. Research is badly needed in areas overpopulated with dogs and harbouring endangered, sensitive species.
More later...
We know very little in Latin America about the effects of feral and free-ranging dogs and cats in sensitive and endangered wildlife. Predation might be a cause of population declines and even local extinction, but it is largely undocumented and hard to do so. Research is badly needed in areas overpopulated with dogs and harbouring endangered, sensitive species.
More later...
