Quantifying anthropogenic wolf mortality in relation to hunting regulations and landscape attributes across North America.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the types and magnitude of human-caused mortality is essential for maintaining viable large carnivore populations. We used a database of cause-specific mortality to examine how hunting regulations and landscape configurations influenced human-caused mortality of North American gray wolves (Canis lupus). Our dataset included 21 studies that monitored the fates of 3564 wolves and reported 1442 mortalities. Human-caused mortality accounted for 61% of mortality overall, with 23% due to illegal harvest, 16% due to legal harvest, and 12% the result of management removal. The overall proportion of anthropogenic wolf mortality was lowest in areas with an open hunting season compared to areas with a closed hunting season or mixed hunting regulations, suggesting that harvest mor

SUBMITTER: Hill JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9121029 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature