ABSTRACT
In India, people living in close proximity to forests have to pay a high cost in terms of livestock depredation by large carnivores, which in turn antagonises people and results in retaliatory killing of these carnivores. Therefore, we investigated the influence of vegetative factors on livestock depredation by tigers and leopards. Tiger and leopard ambush their prey and therefore vegetation structure can affect the hunting success of these large predators. On-ground measurements were conducted to characterise vegetation structure at kill and random sites. We examined a total of 42 incidents of livestock depredation by tigers and leopards, with leopards (66.7%) killing more livestock for the age group of between four and six years. Cows (59.5%) were the major prey species followed by calves (21.6%) and ox (18.9%). Five non-spatial models using the Generalized Linear Model were used. Binomial distribution was used for the response variable (presence and absence of attack) in the GLM using logit link function. Shrub cover was significantly and positively related to the predation risk by tigers and leopards. Therefore, we recommend the herders to graze their livestock in relatively open areas and avoid the areas having dense shrub cover to minimise the depredation by carnivores.
