Resources ≀ Hunting Wolves

Recently, some state governments began pursuing aggressive efforts to reduce wolf populations through programs that include liberalized hunting and trapping seasons, and efforts to incentivize killing (e.g., bounties). These efforts represent a departure from policies of the recent past, raising … read more

Predators and their protection are controversial worldwide. Gray wolves, Canis lupus, lost U.S. federal protection (delisting) and the State of Wisconsin began lethal management first among all states and tribes that regained authority over wolves. Here we evaluated the initial … read more

Despite illegal killing (poaching) being the major cause of death among large carnivores globally, little is known about the effect of implementing lethal management policies on poaching. Two opposing hypotheses have been proposed in the literature: implementing lethal management may … read more

The social license to operate framework considers how society grants or withholds informal permission for resource extractors to exploit publicly owned resources. We developed a modified model, which we refer to as the social license to hunt (SLH). In it … read more

The effects of harvest on cooperatively breeding species are often more complex than simply subtracting the number of animals that died from the group count. Changes in demographic rates, particularly dispersal, could offset some effects of harvest mortality in groups … read more

Large carnivores are important ecological drivers of ecosystem dynamics when they occur at ecologically effective densities. They are also challenging to conserve, especially in transboundary settings such as along borders of parks and protected areas. Here, we tested for effects … read more