Translocation of carnivores as a method for managing problem animals: a review

Linnell, John Durrus; Aanes, Ronny; Swenson, Jon E.; Oddén, John; Smith, Martin A.

doi:10.1023/b:bioc.0000034011.05412.cd

Cited by 265 publications

(240 citation statements)

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“…It has been shown that urban raccoons excluded from breeding dens usually make new dens in nearby man-made structures (O'Donnell and DeNicola 2006). Similarly, carnivores translocated from an area where they have been responsible for livestock predation or other damage problems frequently return to the original area or exhibit similar nuisance behaviour elsewhere (Linnell et al 1997;Bradley et al 2005). Hence, it is important to gather objective evidence on the effectiveness of management strategies in order to avoid potentially damaging and costly outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing spatiotemporal associations in the occurrence of badger–human conflict in England

et al. 2010

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Examples from a variety of taxa demonstrate that under certain circumstances, the exclusion or translocation of 'problem' animals is ineffective in resolving humanwildlife conflicts and may even elicit new problems elsewhere. Damage caused by badger setts (burrows) is an important source of human-wildlife conflict in the UK and is commonly managed by excluding badgers from all or part of problem setts. We used records of licences issued for the management of such problems and a novel statistical approach to assess spatiotemporal associations between problem cases in England from 2002 to 2005. We predicted that management at urban badgers' setts, and particularly exclusion of badgers from urban main setts, would give rise to subsequent problems at focal setts and in neighbouring areas. Frequencies of problems occurring at individual setts were similar in urban and rural areas. In areas neighbouring setts subjected to management action, the background frequency of problems was higher in urban than in rural areas, reflecting the occurrence of problems at a higher proportion of urban setts. The frequency of new cases arising at or in the vicinity of managed setts within a critical time period after management action was not significantly different from the background frequency of problems for any combination of land use, sett type and management approach. This finding suggests that the measures currently employed for managing problem setts do not importantly increase the likelihood of problems reoccurring in the same location or emerging nearby.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing spatiotemporal associations in the occurrence of badger–human conflict in England

et al. 2010

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“…A number of reviews concerning the capture and removal or translocation of raptors have been published (Linnell et al 1997;Cade 1986Cade , 2000Fischer and Lindenmeyer 2000). The general consensus was that whilst translocation can be an effective tool for conservation, particularly with regard to re-introduction, capture and removal to resolve humanwildlife conflicts has mostly been unsuccessful.…”

Section: Translocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the USA, translocation of black vultures Coragyps atratus (Avery and Cummings 2004) and golden eagles Aquila chrysaetos (Phillips et al 1991;Linnell et al 1997) proved largely ineffective. Some eagles returned from up to 400 km away and vacant territories were taken over by nonterritorial birds within a mean of 3 days; problems with vultures did not decrease at trap sites and also increased at release sites.…”

Section: Translocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some eagles returned from up to 400 km away and vacant territories were taken over by nonterritorial birds within a mean of 3 days; problems with vultures did not decrease at trap sites and also increased at release sites. In South Africa, five of eight translocated black eagles Aquila verreauxii, crowned eagles Stephanoetus coronatus and martial eagles Polemaetus bellicosus returned from distances between 28 and 105 km (Boshoff and Vernon 1988 reported in Linnell et al 1997). In Scotland, removal experiments showed that around half of territory-holding sparrowhawks removed were replaced between 12 and 28 days later (Newton and Marquiss 1991).…”

Section: Translocationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Translocation of raptors in order to ameliorate wildlife conflict has largely proved to be ineffective in the long-term: birds can return to their former range, other birds can take their place and cause similar conflict, suitable areas for translocation are lacking or the problem is simply moved elsewhere (Linnell et al 1997;Cade 2000;Fischer and Lindenmeyer 2000). In circumstances considered to be effective, the removal involved juveniles translocated during a period of natural dispersal (goshawks in Sweden, Marcstrom and Kenward 1981).…”

Section: Invasive Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impacts and management of common buzzards Buteo buteo at pheasant Phasianus colchicus release pens in the UK: a review

Parrott

2015

Eur J Wildl Res

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In the UK, alongside an expanding common buzzard population, there is increasing concern of raptor predation at pheasant release pens. Historically, losses of poults to raptor predation has been low, commonly (90 % of shoots) ≤1 % of birds released into pens, representing a small percentage of losses relative to all causes of mortality. A small number of shoots did suffer higher losses, estimated at >5 % at one in 30 estates and >10 % at some estates. Predation was lower (i) with increased poult age at release, (ii) in later releases, (iii) in pens with good vegetative cover, (iv) in pens within woods <50 acres and (v) in releases of <500 birds; there were also indications that predation was greater in high-density releases. Studies found no evidence for indirect losses (i.e. nonpredation impacts of raptor activity, e.g. panic-induced smothering events). Mitigation measures include the following: (i) sufficient vegetative cover (supplemented if necessary, e.g. brash piles), (ii) minimise perching opportunities for raptors, (iii) stock older poults, (iv) stock at recommended densities, (v) reflective tape and scaring devices and (vi) diversionary feeding. Significant gaps in knowledge were identified, including (i) predation being incompletely evaluated in the context of contemporary buzzard populations, (ii) indirect effects not adequately studied, (iii) occurrence of 'problem' individual buzzards is unclear, (iv) adequate field trials of mitigation measures are lacking and (v) level of gamekeepers' adherence to industry recommendations not known. Contemporary studies of these issues are necessary to understand the impacts and to inform management of buzzards at pheasant release pens.

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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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Translocation of carnivores as a method for managing problem animals: a review

Cited by 265 publications

References 22 publications

Assessing spatiotemporal associations in the occurrence of badger–human conflict in England

Assessing spatiotemporal associations in the occurrence of badger–human conflict in England

Impacts and management of common buzzards Buteo buteo at pheasant Phasianus colchicus release pens in the UK: a review

Repatriating leopards into novel landscapes of a South African province

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