Ecologist Studies Feral Dog Effects on Wildlife
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According to Utah State University wildlife biologist Julie Young, man’s best friend may not be wildlife’s best steward. Feral and free-roaming domestic dogs may pose a serious ecological threat, she says, yet few studies have explored the topic.
“Dogs, including feral and free-roaming dogs, live everywhere in the world people live but little research exists about their effects on wildlife,” says Young, a supervisory researcher with the USU-based predator research field station for the USDA-WA National Wildlife Research Center and research assistant professor in USU’s Department of Wildland Resources.
Young and colleagues reviewed wildlife-dog studies from around the world and described a case study they conducted in Mongolia in the article, “Is Wildlife Going to the Dogs? Impacts of Feral and Free-Roaming Dogs on Wildlife Populations.” The paper appears in the Feb. 3, 2011, issue of the journal BioScience.
With colleagues Kirk Olson of the University of Massachusetts, Richard Reading of the Denver Zoological Foundation, Sukh Amgalanbaatar of the Mongolian Academy of Science and Joel Berger of the University of Montana, Young observed interactions between free-roaming guard dogs belonging to nomadic pastoralists and three endangered wildlife species: Mongolian gazelles, Mongolian saiga and argali.
“Saiga are small antelope that vaguely resemble the pronghorns of the American West,” Young says. “Argali are large wild sheep endemic to central Asia. They’re similar to bighorn sheep here in the western U.S.”
Young’s specific research in the study focused on saiga, a migratory ungulate whose population has experienced dramatic decline in the past 50 years.
Most households in rural Mongolia own at least one dog, usually large and of mixed breed, she says. Pastoralists, living in portable yurt-like dwellings called gers, move their livestock from place to place and their ranges overlap sensitive wildlife habitat. Dogs are kept to protect homes but often roam freely.
“Through observation and radiotelemetry, we documented evidence of indirect and direct interactions between dogs and the three endangered species in our study,” Young says. “Through interviews with herders, we collected information about wildlife mortalities caused by dogs and incidences of wildlife being harassed by dogs.”
The case study, she says, indicates that dogs indeed pose a threat to wildlife and reveals the need for further studies to understand the effects of domestic canids on wildlife throughout the world.
“We studied just one area but preliminary studies conducted in Africa, Europe, North America, South America, New Zealand, Asia, Australia and elsewhere have yielded similar results,” Young says. “More studies are needed to assess population-level effects of dog predation on wildlife.”
Closer to home, a recent study in Colorado shows small mammals, mule deer and bobcats are increasingly shunning hiking trails frequented by dogs. A study in Idaho noted a significant number of chases and deaths of white-tailed and mule deer by dogs.
“Conflicts between dogs and wildlife may occur more often than people think,” says Young, whose local research focuses on coyotes and other wild predators. “Consequences may include decreased wildlife populations caused by predation stress and mortality, spread of disease and habitat loss. We need more information.”
Another of many reasons not to let your dog run and why abandoning unwanted dogs and cats can have far reaching effects beyond the individual animals themselves. But I also wonder…particularly in the case of the studies of the feral populations in places such as Mongolia. Is what the researchers observe a normal state of evolution for that part of the world? The populations in those regions have lived within their environments with little change for centuries. Are the effects of feral dogs increasing over what they were in previous generations of these nomadic populations? I guess I need to find these studies…
people who dump dogs in the woods are disgusting… Feral dogs are not a healthy thing.
We need to keep irresponsible, heartless people under control…
Need to tell the people in Thailand that too.
not all feral dogs have been ‘dumped’ in the woods…. in many cases they are many generations from once domesticated dogs and have grown to be part of the wildlife just as coyotes and bobcats are. these feral dogs cannot be domesticated and wouldnt be caught dead eating kibble… the best thing that can be done is limit their numbers through nutering programs so they do not overtake prey species and drive out native predators, and to humanely kill those that become violent towards humans, just as would be done with cougars or bears or coyotes…
I agree with Myra. Catch, spay and nueter, then free them. Not a good idea to catch, shelter and adopt out. Although it would feel good to the heart
Than you have a large contingent that believe their dogs have a right to run free. I meet them all the time and always give them a piece of my mind about people who let their pets run free. These people are too ignorant to see what they are doing is harmful or they just don’t care. Perhaps they need spaying too?
I believe that the general population is nowhere near the training and obedience level required for off leash adventures with their pets, but that being said, I think it really depends on the surroundings, the dog and the purpose for which it is being used that should dictate whether or not they should be allowed off lead. I have a greyhound and he is almost never totally free (though I can trust him with it)… but I have a fiend with a portugese water dog who spends her life off lead around the garden and adjoining beach and is one of the most obedient and trustworthy dogs around…. her best bud is a neighbour fox mother… who trusts her with the kits every spring.
anyway… my point i guess is that off-leash parents are not always ignorant and harmful, and that much of the time feral dogs were never pets to begin with.
The thing is though is that these people you speak of are the exception. I’ve had to threaten people with shooting their dogs to get them to contain their dogs that were in my pastures chasing my foals. Or the dogs that ran the doe and her two fawns unto the lakes weak ice and they all died. These were tame dogs, not feral dogs.
nice! very informative!
I live in the mountains west of Denver. Many people let their dogs run loose despite the threat to wildlife and to their dogs. Free-roaming cats pose a similar problem, just to smaller wildlife.