Live-trapping Ocelots (Leopardus pardalis): traps, baits, injuries, immobilization and costs

Abstract

The capture of wild animals can provide important information on community structure, population dynamics, home range size, activity patterns, habitat use, denning, social behavior and health status. The objective of this study was to describe the method of capture with details on baits, injuries, non-target captures, anesthesia and costs, to evaluate its success as part of a health evaluation program of ocelots in a Brazilian Atlantic Forest Reserve. From a total of 1,011 trap-night effort in 86 days, we had 68 capture events composed of ocelots (22%, n=15) and non-target species (78%, n = 53). We captured 10 individual ocelots in 15 capture events, corresponding to 5.7 days to capture one ocelot. Capture efficiency was 14.8 ocelots/1,000 trap-nights effort. We suggest capture methods should be selected and implemented based on the following criteria: (i) high capture efficiency; (ii) high selectivity; (iii) low injury rate; (iv) high immobilization suitability; and (v) low costs, in order to enable comparisons of studies from different research groups and from different study areas, allowing a deliberate choice of the best method.