Liberalizing the killing of endangered wolves was associated with more disappearances of collared individuals in Wisconsin, USA.

ABSTRACT: Although poaching (illegal killing) is an important cause of death for large carnivores globally, the effect of lethal management policies on poaching is unknown for many populations. Two opposing hypotheses have been proposed: liberalizing killing may decrease poaching incidence ('tolerance hunting') or increase it ('facilitated poaching'). For gray wolves in Wisconsin, USA, we evaluated how five causes of death and disappearances of monitored, adult wolves were influenced by policy changes. We found slight decreases in reported wolf poaching hazard and incidence during six liberalized killing periods, but that was outweighed by larger increases in hazard and incidence of disappearance. Although the observed increase in the hazard of disappearance cannot be definitively shown to have been

SUBMITTER: Santiago-Avila FJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7431570 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature