Feral dogs, raised by farmers and residents living in the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) have become a huge threat to wildlife in the Nilgiris, with many animals, including deer being hunted by packs raised by humans. This has led to calls from conservationists to control the population of feral animals.

One such recent hunt by a pack of dogs was documented by wildlife photographer, M. Murali. He recounted how the dogs managed to swim across the Maravakandy Dam in their pursuit of a spotted deer fawn, eventually capturing and devouring the helpless animal.

Local conservationists claim at least three large packs of dogs regularly hunt wildlife around Maravakandy Dam. “They are trained by farmers to safeguard their properties from animals such as wild boar, deer and elephants and are even taught to swim. The animals eventually become more aggressive and form packs that hunt wild animals,” said a conservationist from the Nilgiris. He said he believed the number of feral dogs was on the rise due to ineffective implementation of Animal Birth Control (ABC) policies.

N. Mohanraj, a Nilgiris-based conservationist, said feral dog populations are on the rise in interface areas between human communities and wildlife across the Nilgiris and protected areas. “These packs start off hunting smaller herbivores and eventually could even pose a threat to humans,” he said. He added it was possible that the jackal and the hyena populations in the Nilgiris have been decimated by the spread of diseases such as canine distemper and rabies, being transmitted from feral dogs.

As more deer are hunted, food could become scarcer for larger carnivores like leopards and tigers, leading to more negative human-animal interactions in these areas. “Eventually, these carnivores will start targeting dogs from houses and even humans, due to a lack of food,” he argued.

Founder of the Wildlife and Nature Conservation Trust (WNCT), N. Sadiq Ali, said the intervention of animal rights activists was preventing the Forest Department from culling feral dogs, which was the only way to deal with the problem. “Capturing the dogs and moving them to a shelter, or culling the animals in wildlife reserves needs to be considered and implemented before the problem becomes worse,” said Mr. Sadiq.

When contacted, Field Director of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Conservator of Forests (Nilgiris), D. Venkatesh, said he would hold a consultation meeting with his deputy directors and try to find a solution to the problem.