1994. Wolf and bear predation on white-tailed deer fawns in northeastern Minnesota. Can. J. Zool. 72: 1557 -1565. White-tailed deer (0doc.oileus lir-ginianus) fawn mortality was studied during the summers of 1989 and 1990 in northeastern Minnesota. Estimated pooled mortality rates for 2 1 radio-tagged fawns were 0.44 for the May-June, 0.13 for the July-October, and 0.51 for the May-October intervals. Predation accounted for all mortalities, with wolves (Canis lupus) responsible for 5 1 % of them and black bears (UI-sus americanus) for 49%. Fawns from mothers >4 years old weighed more and survived better than fawns from young mothers, which weighed less. Of various related factors (doe age, doe mass, fawn mass, fawn birth date, and fawn blood serum urea nitrogen (SUN)), only SUN was significant between surviving and perishing fawns; fawns with low SUN survived significantly less. Fawn SUN may have been only an indirect indicator of a doe physical or behavioral factor that was more important to fawn survival. KUNKEL,, K.E., et MECH, L.D. 1994. Wolf and bear predation on white-tailed deer fawns in northeastern Minnesota. Can. J. ZOO^. 72 : 1557-1565. La mortalite dans faons du Cerf a queue blanche (0doc.oileus virginianus) ite itudiie au cours des ites de 1989 et 1990 dans le nord-est du Minpesota. Les taux de mortalite compilis chez 21 faons porteurs d'un emetteur radio ont it6 evaluis a 0,44 pour la periode de mai-juin, 0,13 pour la periode juillet-octobre et a 0,5 1 pour la periode totale mai-octobre. Tous les cas de mortalite ont dQ etre attribues 2 la predation par le Loup gris (Canis lupus) (51%) et par I'Ours noir (Ursus americanu.~) (49%). Les faons nes de mkres >4 ans etaient plus lourds et ils ont survecu mieux que les faons plus ligers, nis de mkres plus jeunes. Parmi toutes les variables associees aux faons (ige de la mkre, masse de la m?re, masse du faon, date de naissance du faon et azote sous forme d'urie dans le sang (SUN) chez le faon), seule cette dernikre variable accusait une difference significative entre les faons victimes et les faons survivants; les faons a valeur de SUN faible ont survecu significativement moins bien. La variable SUN des faons peut n'etre qu'un indice indirect d'une caracteristique physique ou comportementale de la mkre plus critique pour la survie des faons.[Traduit par la Redaction]

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Wolf (Canis lupus) predation on livestock and management methods used to mitigate conflicts are highly controversial and scrutinized especially where wolf populations are recovering. Wolves are commonly removed from a local area in attempts to reduce further depredations, but the effectiveness of such management actions is poorly understood. We compared the effects of 3 management responses to livestock depredation by wolf packs in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming: no removal, partial pack removal, and full pack removal. We examined the effectiveness of each management response in reducing further depredations using a conditional recurrent event model. From 1989 to 2008, we documented 967 depredations by 156 packs: 228 on sheep and 739 on cattle and other stock. Median time between recurrent depredations was 19 days following no removal (n ¼ 593), 64 days following partial pack removal (n ¼ 326), and 730 days following full pack removal (n ¼ 48; recurring depredations were made by the next pack to occupy the territory). Compared to no removal, full pack removal reduced the occurrence of subsequent depredations by 79% (hazard ratio [HR] ¼ 0.21, P < 0.001) over a span of 1,850 days (5 years), whereas partial pack removal reduced the occurrence of subsequent depredations by 29% (HR ¼ 0.71, P < 0.001) over the same period. Partial pack removal was most effective if conducted within the first 7 days following depredation, after which there was only a marginally significant difference between partial pack removal and no action (HR ¼ 0.86, P ¼ 0.07), and no difference after 14 days (HR ¼ 0.99, P ¼ 0.93). Within partial pack removal, we found no difference in depredation recurrence when a breeding female (HR ¼ 0.64, P ¼ 0.2) or !1-year-old male was removed (HR ¼ 1.0, P ¼ 0.99). The relative effect of all treatments was generally consistent across seasons (spring, summer grazing, and winter) and type of livestock. Ultimately, pack size was the best predictor of a recurrent depredation event; the probability of a depredation event recurring within 5 years increased by 7% for each animal left in the pack after the management response. However, the greater the number of wolves left in a pack, the higher the likelihood the pack met federal criteria to count as a breeding pair the following year toward population recovery goals. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Many wide-ranging mammal species have experienced significant declines over the last 200 years; restoring these species will require long-term, large-scale recovery efforts. We highlight 5 attributes of a recent range-wide vision-setting exercise for ecological recovery of the North American bison (Bison bison) that are broadly applicable to other species and restoration targets. The result of the exercise, the "Vermejo Statement" on bison restoration, is explicitly (1) large scale, (2) long term, (3) inclusive, (4) fulfilling of different values, and (5) ambitious. It reads, in part, "Over the next century, the ecological recovery of the North American bison will occur when multiple large herds move freely across extensive landscapes within all major habitats of their historic range, interacting in ecologically significant ways with the fullest possible set of other native species, and inspiring, sustaining and connecting human cultures." We refined the vision into a scorecard that illustrates how individual bison herds can contribute to the vision. We also developed a set of maps and analyzed the current and potential future distributions of bison on the basis of expert assessment. Although more than 500,000 bison exist in North America today, we estimated they occupy <1% of their historical range and in no place express the full range of ecological and social values of previous times. By formulating an inclusive, affirmative, and specific vision through consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, we hope to provide a foundation for conservation of bison, and other wide-ranging species, over the next 100 years.

We compared habitat features at sites where wolves (Canis lupus) killed moose (Alces alces), sites 500 m from kills, telemetry locations of moose, and random sites, to examine the influence of logging and other landscape features on the vulnerability of moose to predation by wolves in southeastern British Columbia during the winters of 1984-1985 through 1995-1996. Moose-kill sites were located farther from the edges of seedling and pole size-class patches than telemetry locations. Road density was lower and wolf use was higher in areas where kill sites occurred than in areas where relocation or random sites occurred. Kill sites were located at lower elevations than relocation or random sites. A logistic regression model using road density, elevation, distance from trails, and distance from sizeclass polygon edges successfully classified 94.5% of sites as either kills or locations. Moose density was greater and hiding-cover levels were lower at kill sites than at control sites. Forest harvest practices in this study area apparently did not increase the vulnerability of moose to wolf predation.Résumé : Nous avons comparé les propriétés de l'habitat à divers sites où des Loups gris (Canis lupus) ont tué des Orignaux (Alces alces), à des endroits situés à 500 m des sites précédents, à des sites de repérage télémétrique d'orignaux, et à des sites aléatoires; notre objectif était d'examiner l'influence de la coupe du bois et d'autres proprié-tés du paysage sur la vulnérabilité des orignaux à la prédation par les loups dans le sud-est de la Colombie-Britannique au cours des hivers de 1984-1985 à 1995-1996. Les points de prédation se trouvaient plus loin des bordures des terrains contenant des jeunes pousses et des arbres au stade perche que les sites de repérage télémétrique. Les points de prédation se trouvaient dans des zones comportant moins de routes, à des altitudes plus basses et dans des zones plus achalandées par les loups que les sites de repérage ou les sites aléatoires. Un modèle de régression logistique tenant compte de la densité des routes, de l'altitude, de la distance des sentiers et de la distance des bordures du polygone des classes de taille a permis de classifier correctement 94,5% des sites comme sites de prédation ou sites de repérage. La densité des orignaux était plus élevée et la couverture protectrice se trouvait à un niveau plus bas aux points de prédation qu'aux sites témoins. Les procédures de coupe utilisées dans la région ne semblent pas avoir augmenté la vulnérabilité des orignaux à la prédation par les loups.[Traduit par la Rédaction] 157

Minimizing risk of predation from multiple predators can be difficult, particularly when the risk effects of one predator species may influence vulnerability to a second predator species. We decomposed spatial risk of predation in a 2-predator, 2-prey system into relative risk of encounter and, given an encounter, conditional relative risk of being killed. Then, we generated spatially explicit functions of total risk of predation for each prey species (elk [Cervus elaphus] and mule deer [Odocoileus hemionus]) by combining risks of encounter and kill. For both mule deer and elk, topographic and vegetation type effects, along with resource selection by their primary predator (cougars [Puma concolor] and wolves [Canis lupus], respectively), strongly influenced risk of encounter. Following an encounter, topographic and vegetation type effects altered the risk of predation for both ungulates. For mule deer, risk of direct predation was largely a function of cougar resource selection. However, for elk, risk of direct predation was not only a function of wolf occurrence, but also of habitat attributes that increased elk vulnerability to predation following an encounter. Our analysis of stage-based (i.e., encounter and kill) predation indicates that the risk effect of elk shifting to structurally complex habitat may ameliorate risk of direct predation by wolves but exacerbate risk of direct predation by cougars.