RESPONSE OF MOUNTAIN LIONS TO DOGS: IS THERE A DIFFERENTIAL DISPLACEMENT AFTER CAPTURE WITH HOUNDS VERSUS BOX TRAPS?

Sierra Y Winter; UC Davis; swint010@ucr.edu; Dirk Van Vuren, Justin Dellinger, Winston Vickers

Hazing has been advocated as a non-lethal solution to human-predator conflicts, but the efficacy of hazing is not well documented, especially in mountain lions. We used data on 76 mountain lions captured and equipped with radio collars, 34 that were hazed with dogs and 42 that were not hazed (control), to determine if hazing with dogs has potential for deterring mountain lions from returning to sites of conflict. Distance from the capture site was similar for hazed and control mountain lions through 45 days following release, except for a slightly greater distance for hazed lines shortly after release.  Almost all mountain lions (94-98%) returned to within 6 km of the capture site during the 45 days following release, and most (77-88%) returned to within 1 km, with no significant difference between hazed and control mountain lions. Therefore, aside from a modest short-term effect, we did not find evidence that hazing with dogs in association with a capture event is an effective method for displacing mountain lions from a conflict location.

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