The Leopard – Problems of an Overabundant, Threatened, Terrestrial Carnivore

Cobb, Stephen P.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-385280-9.50017-2

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Determining the extent to which translocated carnivores resume livestock killing behavior is critical to evaluating the usefulness of relocation (Linnell et al 1997), but until now, data on such behavior were sparse (Cobb 1981; Rabinowitz 1986; Stander 1990). We were able to more intensively monitor behavior after translocation than other researchers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Wolf Translocation as a Nonlethal Method to Reduce Livestock Conflicts in the Northwestern United States

Bradley

Pletscher

Bangs

et al. 2005

Conservation Biology

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Successful nonlethal management of livestock predation is important for conserving rare or endangered carnivores. In the northwestern United States, wolves (Canis lupus) have been translocated away from livestock to mitigate conflicts while promoting wolf restoration. We assessed predation on livestock, pack establishment, survival, and homing behavior of 88 translocated wolves with radiotelemetry to determine the effectiveness of translocation in our region and consider how it may be improved. More than one-quarter of translocated wolves preyed on livestock after release. Most translocated wolves (67%) never established or joined a pack, although eight new packs resulted from translocations. Translocated wolves had lower annual survival (0.60) than other radio-collared wolves (0.73), with government removal the primary source of mortality. In northwestern Montana, where most wolves have settled in human-populated areas with livestock, survival of translocated wolves was lowest (0.41) and more wolves proportionally failed to establish packs (83%) after release. Annual survival of translocated wolves was highest in central Idaho (0.71) and more wolves proportionally established packs (44%) there than in the other two recovery areas. Translocated wolves showed a strong homing tendency; most of those that failed to home still showed directional movement toward capture sites. Wolves that successfully returned to capture sites were more likely to be adults, hard (immediately) rather than soft (temporarily held in enclosure) released, and translocated shorter distances than other wolves that did not return home. Success of translocations varied and was most affected by the area in which wolves were released. We suggest managers translocating wolves or other large carnivores consider soft releasing individuals (in family groups, if social) when feasible because this may decrease homing behavior and increase release-site fidelity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating Wolf Translocation as a Nonlethal Method to Reduce Livestock Conflicts in the Northwestern United States

Bradley

Pletscher

Bangs

et al. 2005

Conservation Biology

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“…Since attitudes to carnivores have changed in the past decade, landowners may resort to non‐lethal approaches (McManus et al., 2014). One of the non‐lethal options available is that of translocation, which entails the deliberate movement of an animal from one location to another (Athreya et al., 2007; Fontúrbel & Simonetti, 2011; Linnell et al., 1997), which ostensibly mitigates potential human wildlife conflict at the site (Cobb, 1981; Hamilton, 1981; Linnell et al., 1997; Weise, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For many years, it has been accepted that translocations of leopard into protected areas (PAs) is futile (Cobb, 1981; Mills, 1991), simply owing to the fact that many of these translocations result in animals returning to an origin or simply continue being a nuisance elsewhere (Hamilton, 1981). Hamilton (1981), however, acknowledged that the failures were simply due to saturated populations in PAs, where it is sometimes forgotten that some of the leopards that were translocated by Hamilton (1981) did in fact remain on some of the PAs (admittedly only two of seven males), though the technology at the time made for inconclusive outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Leopards Panthera pardus come into conflict with humans over their livestock or game that they keep (Cobb, 1981; Grimbeek, 1992; Mizutani, 1993; Swanepoel, 2008), and thus landowners seek to either destroy them on their properties, or have them removed (Inskip & Zimmermann, 2009). Since attitudes to carnivores have changed in the past decade, landowners may resort to non‐lethal approaches (McManus et al., 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hamilton (1981), however, acknowledged that the failures were simply due to saturated populations in PAs, where it is sometimes forgotten that some of the leopards that were translocated by Hamilton (1981) did in fact remain on some of the PAs (admittedly only two of seven males), though the technology at the time made for inconclusive outcomes. There has thus been a fixation to purport on failed translocations of leopard (Cobb, 1981; Hamilton, 1981; Mills, 1991), while there have been notable strides in improving translocation success of leopards in subsequent years (Briers‐Louw et al., 2019; Hayward et al., 2006; Weise et al., 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Repatriating leopards into novel landscapes of a South African province

Power

Venter

Botha

et al. 2021

Ecol Sol and Evidence

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1. Leopards are often translocated away from where they are caught as non-lethal human-wildlife conflict mitigation. It is alleged that leopards fail to settle where they are translocated to, owing to territoriality. We address the need to publish more accounts of successful repatriation of leopards, but also include novel applications aimed at orphans and confiscated leopards. 2. We satellite collared 16 leopards which included a mixture of relocated and translocated leopards, of which the latter included conventional damage causing animals (DCAs, viz 'problem animals'), orphans and confiscations. We determined standard home-range metrics and assessed home-range stabilization as a means of determining site fidelity. Premature mortality and site infidelity, that is homing back to origins, were considered failures. We looked at range stabilization by examining successive monthly ranges against that of the preceding month, that is utilization distribution overlap indices (UDOIs). 3. Relocations turned out to be residents (˜3 km, n = 3), while they were immune to intervention, while translocations resulted in 50% success (n = 12), which were invariably confiscated adults of unknown origin, and simulations of natal dispersals of orphans (˜25 km, n = 3). DCAs never settled where released (˜90 km, n = 5). Resident leopards showed high monthly UDOIs, and for those translocated a minimum of 0.15 was benchmarked to suggest range stability, which also reflected large spatial ranging. 4. Success in home-range establishment was associated with landscapes which were unsaturated by other leopards, but anthropogenic threats still persisted, such that survival after a year was˜45%, but was not different to the normal background mortality of areas outside protected areas in the country. Operations are costly, particularly that to do with veterinary treatment, immobilization, collars and temporary keeping, but such costs can be carried by public interest groups. 5. All adults (>3 years) of known origin should be relocated (transported distance < home-range diameter), while subadults (1-3 years) can be considered for translocations (transported distance > home-range diameter), while heeding This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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