Research overview: anthropogenic food subsidies and urban carnivore ecology

Cities concentrate food in forms that wildlife can exploit, from garbage and compost to pet food, livestock, abundant commensal rodents and feral animals, and these anthropogenic subsidies underpin many urban carnivore populations. This overview synthesises research on how food subsidies elevate carnivore densities, shrink home ranges, alter activity and reproduction, and intensify conflict, with felid examples spanning leopards eating stray dogs and caracals taking poultry. It examines the trophic and demographic consequences of human-provided food, the disease and behavioural risks of subsidisation, and management implications for waste and feeding. The synthesis frames anthropogenic food as a defining feature of the urban niche for carnivores.