CCB has long promoted the use of local livestock guarding dogs (LGDs) as effective tools to reduce human-wildlife conflict. Now, thanks to the hard work of our staff, we now have a decade’s worth of work in the field and extensive research published in two new exciting scientific papers in the Journal of Vertebrate Biology.
The first paper, “Every dog has its day”, looks at how LGDs are used by farmers in Botswana and includes the first ever comparison between local “Tswana” dogs and imported breeds such as Anatolian Shepherds. This paper highlights that Tswana dogs are not only a more accessible and cheaper breed to use for livestock guarding but that they are just as effective and are even more well-behaved than Anatolian Shepherds.
The second paper, “Reducing livestock-carnivore conflict on rural farms using local LGDs” focuses in on our placement program and tracks the effectiveness of Tswana dogs that have been trained at our facility before being placed with farmers with high levels of conflict. These results show that farmers experienced at least an 85% reduction in livestock losses after receiving one of our LGDs and that their attitudes towards wildlife improved only one year after receiving a LGD.
These research papers add to the wealth of knowledge produced by CCB for the benefit of shaping programmes such as our very own LGD programme that continues to receive great reviews from farmers and noteworthy support from our partners. We expect that scholars, researchers and practitioners will engage with this research to establish best practices. These papers, and more resources are available on our website.
To read the articles, follow these links:
Horgan, J.E., Van der Weyde, L.K., Comley, J., Klein, R., Parker, D.M., 2021. “Every dog has its day: indigenous Tswana dogs are more practical livestock guardians in an arid African savanna compared with their expatriate cousins.”
Van der Weyde, L., Kokole, M., Modise, C., Mbinda, B., Seele, P., Klein, R., 2020. “Reducing livestock-carnivore conflict on rural farms using local livestock guarding dogs.”
The first paper, “Every dog has its day”, looks at how LGDs are used by farmers in Botswana and includes the first ever comparison between local “Tswana” dogs and imported breeds such as Anatolian Shepherds. This paper highlights that Tswana dogs are not only a more accessible and cheaper breed to use for livestock guarding but that they are just as effective and are even more well-behaved than Anatolian Shepherds.
The second paper, “Reducing livestock-carnivore conflict on rural farms using local LGDs” focuses in on our placement program and tracks the effectiveness of Tswana dogs that have been trained at our facility before being placed with farmers with high levels of conflict. These results show that farmers experienced at least an 85% reduction in livestock losses after receiving one of our LGDs and that their attitudes towards wildlife improved only one year after receiving a LGD.
These research papers add to the wealth of knowledge produced by CCB for the benefit of shaping programmes such as our very own LGD programme that continues to receive great reviews from farmers and noteworthy support from our partners. We expect that scholars, researchers and practitioners will engage with this research to establish best practices. These papers, and more resources are available on our website.
To read the articles, follow these links:
Horgan, J.E., Van der Weyde, L.K., Comley, J., Klein, R., Parker, D.M., 2021. “Every dog has its day: indigenous Tswana dogs are more practical livestock guardians in an arid African savanna compared with their expatriate cousins.”
Van der Weyde, L., Kokole, M., Modise, C., Mbinda, B., Seele, P., Klein, R., 2020. “Reducing livestock-carnivore conflict on rural farms using local livestock guarding dogs.”
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