Adaptive use of nonlethal strategies for minimizing wolf–sheep conflict in Idaho
Adaptive use of nonlethal strategies for minimizing wolf–sheep conflict in Idaho
复制标题
适应性使用非致命策略来最大限度地减少爱达荷州的狼羊冲突
DOI：
10.1093/jmammal/gyw188
复制
发表时间：
2017
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
D. Thornhill
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
S. Stone;S. Breck;Jesse Timberlake;P. Haswell;F. Nájera;Brian S. Bean;D. Thornhill
在世界范围内，当地的捕食者被杀死以保护牲畜，这种行为可能会破坏野生动物保护工作，并在利益相关者之间造成冲突。一个正在进行的例子是发生在美国西部，那里的狼（Canis lupus）在20世纪30年代被消灭，但又出现在它们的历史范围的一部分。虽然狼造成的牲畜损失只占牲畜总死亡率的一小部分，但对这些掠夺的反应导致了广泛的冲突，包括在致命的狼控制方面的重大努力，以减少对牲畜生产者的影响，特别是那些在公共土地上进行大规模放牧的牲畜。各种非致命性的方法已被证明是有效的，在减少牲畜损失狼在小规模的业务，但在大规模的，开放的范围放牧业务，非致命性的管理策略往往被认为是无效的或不可行的。为了证明非致命技术在大规模上是有效的，我们报告了一个为期7年的案例研究，在该研究中，我们在适应性的基础上战略性地应用了非致命捕食者威慑和畜牧技术（即，基于地形、与巢穴或集合地点的接近度，避免过度接触诸如某些灯光或声音设备之类的技术，这些技术可能导致狼失去对该设备的恐惧等）。为了保护爱达荷州公共牧场上的羊和狼。我们收集了在保护示范研究区的绵羊掠夺死亡率的数据，并将这些数据与邻近的被占领的区域进行了比较，在该区域，绵羊被放牧而没有增加非致命性保护措施。在7年的时间里，绵羊掠夺狼的损失是3.5倍，在非保护区（NPA）比在保护区（PA）。此外，没有狼被致命的控制内PA和羊掠夺损失狼的羊只总数的0.02%，最低的损失率在羊放牧区狼的范围全州，而狼被致命的控制在NPA。我们的示范项目提供的证据表明，积极主动地使用各种非致命的技术应用条件，可以帮助减少掠夺大型开放范围的业务。
Worldwide, native predators are killed to protect livestock, an action that can undermine wildlife conservation efforts and create conflicts among stakeholders. An ongoing example is occurring in the western United States, where wolves (Canis lupus) were eradicated by the 1930s but are again present in parts of their historic range. While livestock losses to wolves represent a small fraction of overall livestock mortality, the response to these depredations has resulted in widespread conflicts including significant efforts at lethal wolf control to reduce impacts on livestock producers, especially those with large-scale grazing operations on public lands. A variety of nonlethal methods have proven effective in reducing livestock losses to wolves in small-scale operations but in large-scale, open-range grazing operations, nonlethal management strategies are often presumed ineffective or infeasible. To demonstrate that nonlethal techniques can be effective at large scales, we report a 7-year case study where we strategically applied nonlethal predator deterrents and animal husbandry techniques on an adaptive basis (i.e., based on terrain, proximity to den or rendezvous sites, avoiding overexposure to techniques such as certain lights or sound devices that could result in wolves losing their fear of that device, etc.) to protect sheep (Ovis aries) and wolves on public grazing lands in Idaho. We collected data on sheep depredation mortalities in the protected demonstration study area and compared these data to an adjacent wolf-occupied area where sheep were grazed without the added nonlethal protection measures. Over the 7-year period, sheep depredation losses to wolves were 3.5 times higher in the Nonprotected Area (NPA) than in the Protected Area (PA). Furthermore, no wolves were lethally controlled within the PA and sheep depredation losses to wolves were just 0.02% of the total number of sheep present, the lowest loss rate among sheep-grazing areas in wolf range statewide, whereas wolves were lethally controlled in the NPA. Our demonstration project provides evidence that proactive use of a variety of nonlethal techniques applied conditionally can help reduce depredation on large open-range operations.