Research overview: waste management as a lever on urban carnivore populations

Because garbage and organic waste feed both carnivores directly and the rodent and dog populations they prey upon, waste management is a powerful indirect lever on urban carnivore abundance and conflict. This overview synthesises research connecting refuse availability to carnivore density, behaviour and human-wildlife conflict, and evaluates interventions such as secured bins, reduced open dumping and dog-population management. It examines the cascading effects of cutting food subsidies on felid prey bases, and the social and logistical challenges of waste reform in growing cities. The synthesis frames sanitation infrastructure as an underused but consequential tool in urban carnivore coexistence.