Dog predation by jaguars in a tourist town on the Mexican Caribbean

By

Carral-García, Mónica
Buenrostro, Irene
Weissenberger, Holger
Rosales, Víctor
Pérez-Flores, Jonathan

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021-10-7

Original Publication

Neotropical Biology and Conservation

Volume

16

Series / Issue

Issue: 4

Pages

461--474

Subjects

Canis lupus familiaris , human-wildlife conflict , Mahahual , Panthera onca , potential disease transmission , predation , predator-prey relationship

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Brazil Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/neotropical.16.e68973

 

Abstract

Invasion of humans and dogs into the jaguars’ habitat opens the way for future negative events. Dog predation by jaguars has only been recorded anecdotally, despite the high risk of pathogen transmission and the potential conflict due to pet predation. In this study, we document jaguar attacks on dogs in Mahahual, Quintana Roo, Mexico, a tourist town in the Mexican Caribbean. In addition, we describe an initiative designed to prevent jaguar persecution by constructing night houses for dogs at the most recent attack sites. A total of 20 attacks were recorded in the last nine years, most of them fatal (60%) on medium-sized dogs (70%), at night (95%) and during the dry season (65%). Half of the attacks occurred in the north of Mahahual´s coastline and the other half in the south. Attacks in the south were concentrated between 0 to 10 km away from the village, while in the north they were dispersed over distances between 0 and > 30 km. Thirty-eight night houses were constructed covering almost 45 km of the 135 km of Mahahual’s coastline. Further research is required to understand the importance of dogs in the jaguar diet and the impact of dog predation on the health and disease ecology of jaguar populations.