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The impact of hunting with dogs on wildlife harvests in the Bosawas Reserve, Nicaragua

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2008

JEREMY KOSTER
JEREMY KOSTER*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, PO Box 210380, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0380, USA
*
*Correspondence: Dr Jeremy Koster Tel: +1 513 556 0020 e-mail: jeremy.koster@uc.edu
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Summary

Although they are used throughout the Neotropics, the impact of dogs on the composition of wildlife harvests has received little systematic attention. In the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve of Nicaragua, indigenous hunters rely heavily on dogs to locate prey. Hunting harvest data over a year-long period in two indigenous Mayangna and Miskito communities indicate that the use of hunting dogs is significantly associated with the harvests of several terrestrial mammalian species. The use of dogs is also a significant predictor of the extent to which the species composition of harvests deviates from Neotropical averages. Although dogs appear to have little effect on the sex profiles of harvested game species, the use of dogs is significantly associated with hunting in agricultural landscapes. From a conservation perspective, the disadvantages of dogs include their indiscriminate pursuit of prey species, including species that hunters would not otherwise pursue. Advantages of dogs include their relative ineffectiveness in pursuits of species that are particularly vulnerable to overhunting, such as primates and white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari). Hunting dogs may be an economical option for many Neotropical societies, and their role in wildlife management plans merits increased attention from conservationists.

Keywords

dogsgarden huntingMayangnaMiskitosubsistence huntingsustainabilitywildlife conservation
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , September 2008 , pp. 211 - 220
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2008

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