Culling of lynxes Lynx lynx related to livestock predation in a heterogeneous landscape
1998
Sunde, Peter | Overskaug, Kristian | Kvam, Tor
Lynx Lynx lynx hunting in Norway is regulated through regional quotas according to the magnitude of predation on semi‐domesticated reindeer Rangifer tarandus and domestic sheep Oves aries. Lynxes and semi‐domesticated reindeer were studied using telemetry in an area in Nord‐Trøndelag County, Norway, with high lynx predation on reindeer and domestic sheep and a high hunting pressure on lynxes. The probability of an ungulate killed by lynxes being livestock as opposed to a roe deer (the only alternative wild ungulate) increased with increasing distance from fields (P < 0.0001) and roads (P < 0.0001). Hunting was the only mortality cause found for radiocollared lynxes. The culling of lynxes was biased towards the vicinity of roads and cultivated fields compared with the general distribution of radiocollared lynxes (P < 0.001) and radio‐collared semi‐domesticated reindeer killed by lynxes (P < 0.001). Because of the easy location in rural areas due to the well‐developed road system, lynxes suffered the highest hunting mortality in habitats where the proportion of livestock in the diet was lowest, whereas lynxes inhabiting alpine areas more than 3 km from the nearest road escaped hunting. The hunters' preference for hunting lynxes near roads leads to a risk of selective reduction in regions and habitats where lynxes do little harm, whereas numbers in remote areas with high predation on livestock may remain unaltered.
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