Is livestock husbandry more stressing than other anthropic activities to wild carnivores

Abstract Land use changes and associated human activities modify environmental conditions for wild carnivores. Livestock husbandry among them is regarded a major threat to wild carnivores due to their persecution and retaliatory hunt for preying upon livestock albeit other land use changes could also trigger increased stress levels. To assess these different levels, we carried out a review and a meta-analysis of publications that address changes in stress of wild canids, focusing on the effect of livestock husbandry comparing the stress of wild canids living in livestock areas, other anthropic environments and natural areas. Anthropic environments systematically generate higher stress levels than natural areas for wild canids, but existing data is insufficient to ruled out that one type of anthropic activity is more stressful than another. Efforts should be increased in the study of stress in free-living canids, especially in threatened species in order to generate an adequate baseline to inform conservation practices, particularly in livestock raising areas.