Human conflict with wild carnivores and herbivores: a comparison of socio-economics, damage and prey preference of wild carnivores.

Abstract

Human-wildlife conflict (HWC) at the fringes of protected areas is a major concern in the conservation biology. Although damage caused by carnivores and herbivores may vary in their magnitude, more attention has been given to carnivores due to various reasons. In Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) we compared economic dependence of locals on agriculture and livestock independently and found that income from livestock is only additional, whereas agriculture is the major source of livelihood. We also studied the relative abundance of wild herbivores and diet of tiger, leopard and sloth bear and found that these carnivores have largely been dependent on chital, nilgai and wild pig despite livestock population being higher. We found HWC mitigation in TATR effective but biased towards big cats while the damage in main livelihood (agriculture) being higher. We recommend higher attention to crop-raiding problem for the successful wildlife conservation in central India.