Effects of Remedial Sport Hunting on Cougar Complaints and Livestock Depredations

Abstract

Remedial sport hunting of predators is often used to reduce predator populations and associated complaints and livestock depredations. We assessed the effects of remedial sport hunting on reducing cougar complaints and livestock depredations in Washington from 2005 to 2010 (6 years). The number of complaints, livestock depredations, cougars harvested, estimated cougar populations, human population and livestock populations were calculated for all 39 counties and 136 GMUs (game management units) in Washington. The data was then analyzed using a negative binomial generalized linear model to test for the expected negative relationship between the number of complaints and depredations in the current year with the number of cougars harvested the previous year. As expected, we found that complaints and depredations were positively associated with human population, livestock population, and cougar population. However, contrary to expectations we found that complaints and depredations were most strongly associated with cougars harvested the previous year. The odds of increased complaints and livestock depredations increased dramatically (36 to 240%) with increased cougar harvest. We suggest that increased young male immigration, social disruption of cougar populations, and associated changes in space use by cougars - caused by increased hunting resulted in the increased complaints and livestock depredations. Widespread indiscriminate hunting does not appear to be an effective preventative and remedial method for reducing predator complaints and livestock depredations.

La gestión del lobo en España. Controversias científicas en torno a su caza

“…Pero recientemente un artículo de Wielgus y Peebles (2014) ha venido a sembrar la duda. Los autores trabajaron con lobos para evaluar dos hipótesis: la de la caza co-a418 rrectiva (remedial hunting), que predice una disminución de los daños al ganado al aumentar la caza de los predadores, y la hipótesis fuente-sumidero (source-sink), que predice que los daños permanecerán estables o aumentarán al incrementarse la extracción de carnívoros (Peebles, Wielgus, Maletzke y Swanson, 2013). Sus resultados apoyan la segunda hipótesis.…”

“…Previamente se había descrito en Norteamérica un aumento de los daños causados por oso negro (Ursus americanus) tras ser sometidas sus poblaciones a altas mortalidades correctivas (Collins, Wielgus y Koehler, 2002;Treves, Kapp y MacFarland, 2010); además, los mismos autores del reseñado estudio de los lobos comprobaron que la depredación de ganado causado por pumas (Puma concolor) en el estado de Washington se correlacionaba con la mortalidad que se infringía a estos últimos precisamente con el objeto de reducir los daños al ganado (Peebles et al, 2013). En España, con menor cantidad de datos, Fernández Gil et al (2016) vio que el número de cabezas de ganado depredadas por los lobos en distintas zonas de Asturias en un año determinado estaba correlacionado con el número de lobos matados ese año y el anterior.…”

Demography, prey abundance, and management affect number of cougar mortalities associated with livestock conflicts

“…We constructed a set of a priori models, including the null model (offset only), by logically selecting from a total of 13 independent variables (each as a fixed effect) to test hypotheses regarding the dependent variable. We treated county and year as random effects on model intercepts (including the null model) and we included cougar population density as a fixed effect in all models (excluding the null model) because we expected this independent variable to be highly explanatory (e.g., Peebles et al ). We assessed overdispersion of data by estimating the variance inflation factor based on the chi‐square goodness‐of‐fit test and visually examined residuals for an indication of systematic lack of fit using the global model.…”

Managing dingoes on Fraser Island: culling, conflict, and an alternative

“…Increases in conflict following episodic predator culls/harvesting are not always observed, but have been recorded in dingoes (Wallach et al 2009;Allen 2014Allen , 2015, wolves (Fernández-Gil et al 2016), cougars, Puma concolor (Gross 2008;Peebles et al 2013), coyotes (Conner et al 1998), jackals, Canis mesomelas (McManus et al 2015) and black bears, Ursus americanus (Treves et al 2010). As discussed below, following a major dingo cull on Fraser Island in 2001, human-dingo conflict rose markedly, with the number of incidents eventually reaching an asymptote in 2004 (Fig.…”