Are you planning to go for a walk with your dog? Thing twice if the trail leads into a conserved area. Dogs are the closest companions to humans amongst all animals, yet these loyal friends have emerged from wolves, one of the most competent predators in the wild. No wonder then that a study suggests that walking dogs in conserved areas has an adverse effect on other wildlife, especially birds.
Peter Banks and Jessica Bryant, at the University of New South Wales, carried out the study in Australia. The team monitored dog walking at 90 sites in woodland on the urban fringe of Sydney , keeping a check on the responses of many kinds of birds. Observers monitored all native birds seen or heard within 50 metres of a 250-metre trail. Monitoring commenced 20 seconds after the walker/dog-walker had set off and continued for 10 minutes
Dog walking caused a 41 per cent reduction in the numbers of bird individuals detected and a 35 per cent reduction in species richness compared with untreated controls. Ground dwelling birds such as painted button-quails, the fairy wrens and finches appeared most affected; 50 per cent of the species recorded in control sites were absent from dog-walked sites.
In many places, wildlife will see dogs as potential predators and abandon their natural habitat, which is why many managers of conserved areas had banned certain trails to dog walkers producing an outcry from them. Now this study provides proof that dog walkers should in fact be banned on conserved trails.
Not considering the dogs, even human walks did interfere with the bird numbers. This then brings to fore a very important question as to whether eco tourism in fact is any good for the wildlife. It does bring in the money but some where does encroach upon the only habitats left for the animals. While some might argue that the animals finally get used to human presence, more research is definitely needed on the topic. However, for now bird watching with dogs is certainly not the right thing to do!
Image credit: Tom Robinson/ Flicker
Source: Guardian
