Rewilding by Wolf Recolonisation, Consequences for Ungulate Populations and Game Hunting.

ABSTRACT: The ongoing recolonisations of human-transformed environments in Europe by large carnivores like the wolf Canis lupus means that conservation conflicts could re-surface, among other reasons, due to predation on ungulate game species. We estimated the effect of wolves on ungulate species using data on wolf prey selection, kill rates and territory size to build a hypothetical case of future expansion. We extrapolated results on predation from the current wolf distribution in central Sweden and eastern Poland to the eventual wolf recolonisation of southern Sweden. We then calculated the proportion of five ungulate game species killed annually by wolves, and the ratio between the predicted annual predation by wolves given future colonization and the number of ungulates currently harvested by h

SUBMITTER: Rodriguez-Recio M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8869524 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature