Frequency and intensity of carnivore damage to livestock breeders in eastern Isfahan Province

Investigating damages caused by wild species to the livestock, poultry, farms and humans are important issues in wildlife management. The first step in preventing damages, is to identify factors that play important roles in conflict between humans and wildlife. In this study, 367 local inhabitants from 18 villages across Ardestan and Naeen counties of Esfahan Province were interviewed about their experiences of livestock losses due to carnivore predation, diseases and other causes from January 2016 to June 2017. Results showed that about 92.7 percent of the livestock owned by respondents were attacks by grey wolves. Respondents reported negligible livestock loss to other carnivore species including jackal, common fox, striped hyena, wildcat, caracal and leopard. Yet, livestock loss to disease and other natural causes was about 2.5 times greater than the losses due to the wolf attacks. We argue that the local people’s perceptions about the wolf as main threat to their livestock has shaped through long exposure to the species and the wolf behavior. Locally-affordable preventative methods such as keeping the livestock at predator-proof corrals and use of trained sheepdogs, as well as grazing pastures in avoiding places where wolfs are abundant, especially during the wolf breeding and nursing seasons, can be considered as strategies to decrease human wolf conflicts.