Dog predation by jaguars in a tourist town on the Mexican Caribbean

• Published in: Neotropical Biology and Conservation
• Main Authors: Carral García,Mónica, Buenrostro,Irene, Weissenberger,Holger, Rosales,Víctor, Perez Flores,Jonathan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Pensoft Publishers 2021
• Subjects: Canis lupus familiaris; human-wildlife conflict; Mahahual; Panthera onca; potential disease transmission; predation; predator-prey relationship; Canis lupus
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3897/neotropical.16.e68973; https://neotropical.pensoft.net/article/68973/

Invasion of humans and dogs into the jaguars’ habitat opens the way for future negative events. Dog predation by jaguars has only been recorded anecdotally, despite the high risk of pathogen transmission and the potential conflict due to pet predation. In this study, we document jaguar attacks on dogs in Mahahual, Quintana Roo, Mexico, a tourist town in the Mexican Caribbean. In addition, we describe an initiative designed to prevent jaguar persecution by constructing night houses for dogs at the most recent attack sites. A total of 20 attacks were recorded in the last nine years, most of them fatal (60%) on medium-sized dogs (70%), at night (95%) and during the dry season (65%). Half of the attacks occurred in the north of Mahahual´s coastline and the other half in the south. Attacks in the south were concentrated between 0 to 10 km away from the village, while in the north they were dispersed over distances between 0 and > 30 km. Thirty-eight night houses were constructed covering almost 45 km of the 135 km of Mahahual’s coastline. Further research is required to understand the importance of dogs in the jaguar diet and the impact of dog predation on the health and disease ecology of jaguar populations.