Measures of Success: A Snapshot of the Montana Wolf Program in 2009

Montana’s gray wolf (Canis lupus) population continues to be secure, while the political and legal environments remain dynamic. Wolf delisting is a two-step process. Biological recovery criteria must be met and clearly demonstrated, along with an adequate regulatory framework. Secondly, the delisting decision must be upheld during inevitable legal challenges. The northern Rockies wolf population has met or exceeded numeric and connectivity requirements for many years. The northern Rockies gray wolf population was initially delisted in 2008, but a legal challenge reinstated federal legal protections under the Endangered Species Act mid-summer. By the end of 2008, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks estimated a minimum of 497 wolves in 84 verified packs, 34 of which met the definition of breeding pair. Federal delisting efforts resumed early in 2009 and took effect throughout Montana on 4 May. The second delisting decision was challenged again in Federal Court, although a preliminary injunction request to reinstate federal protections was denied in September. With delisting in Montana, the wolf was automatically reclassified as a species in need of management. Montana’s laws, administrative rules, and management plan also took effect. Montana Tribes lead wolf management activities on their respective reservations. The first fair chase wolf hunting season in Montana occurred in 2009. Seventy-two wolves were harvested through a quota-based framework. Wolves and their management continue to be controversial to a diversity of publics for a wide variety of reasons. Nonetheless, Montana’s wolf program has a solid regulatory foundation and the population is biologically sound. This presentation will provide an update on a variety of topics

Pelvic floor functional outcomes after total abdominal versus total laparoscopic hysterectomy for endometrial cancer

Pelvic floor functioning is an important concern for women requiring a hysterectomy for endometrial cancer. The incidence of pelvic floor symptoms has not been reported in women who have undergone a hysterectomy for early-stage endometrial cancer.To evaluate pelvic floor function in women who have had surgical treatment for early stage endometrial cancer as part of the multinational Laparoscopic Approach to Cancer of the Endometrium (LACE) trial and to compare patients' outcomes who had total abdominal total versus total laparoscopic hysterectomy.Multinational, phase 3, randomized non-inferiority trial comparing disease-free survival of patients who had total abdominal hysterectomy versus total laparoscopic hysterectomy. This substudy analyses the results from a self-administered validated questionnaire on pelvic floor symptoms (Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI)) administered pre-operatively, and at follow-up visits 6, 18, 30, 42, and 54 months post-operatively.Overall, 381 patients with endometrial cancer were included in the analysis (total abdominal hysterectomy n=195; total laparoscopic hysterectomy n=186). At 6-months post-surgery both groups experienced an improvement in Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory scores compared to presurgical pelvic floor wellbeing (total abdominal hysterectomy: mean change -11.17, 95% CI: -17.11 to -5.24; total laparoscopic hysterectomy mean change -10.25, 95% CI: -16.31 to -4.19). The magnitude of change from baseline in pelvic floor symptoms did not differ between both treatment groups up to 54 months post-surgery.These findings suggest that pelvic floor function in terms of urinary, bowel and prolapse symptoms are unlikely to deteriorate following abdominal or laparoscopic hysterectomy and are reassuring for women undergoing hysterectomy for early stage endometrial cancer

Gray Wolves and Livestock in Montana: A Recent History of Damage Management

The Montana gray wolf (Canis lupus) population grew from 2 wolves in 1979 to a minimum of 316 by late 2006. Resolving conflicts, both perceived and real, between wolves and livestock became a dominant social issue for the federal recovery program, and it remains so today. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service and now Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks work with United States Department of Agriculture, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services to reduce depredation risks and address wolf-related conflicts through a combination of non-lethal and lethal management tools. The number of wolf complaints investigated from 1987-2006 increased as the population increased and expanded its distribution into Montana after reintroduction into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho during 1995 and 1996. Montana wolf packs routinely encountered livestock, though wolf depredation was a relatively rare cause of livestock death and difficult to predict or prevent. Cattle and sheep were killed most often from March to October, although losses were confirmed each month. From 1987 to 2006, wolves killed 230 cattle and 436 sheep. However, confirmed losses probably represent a fraction of actual wolf losses. Few other types of livestock classes were killed. Conflicts are addressed on a case-by-case basis, striving to connect the agency response to the damage in space and time and to decrease the potential for future losses. Lethal control is implemented incrementally after predation was verified, and 254 wolves were killed from 1987 to 2006. Only complete removal of either wolves or livestock eliminates the potential for wolf depredation. The continued presence of a viable wolf population requires that a wide variety of non-lethal and lethal tools be investigated and implemented. That combination will also be required to maintain local public tolerance of wolves where the two overlap and to foster broad public acceptance of techniques used to minimize conflicts. Resolving wolf and livestock conflicts at a local scale is but one component of a larger state wolf conservation and management program. When wolves are delisted, regulated public harvest will allow us to more proactively manage the population

Adaptive Wolf Management: The Regulated Public Harvest Component

Montana’s wolf (Canis lupus) conservation and management plan is based on adaptive management principles and includes regulated public harvest as a population management tool. The need and opportunity to implement public harvest in 2008, 2009, and 2010 required Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) to develop a stepped down adaptive management framework specific to harvest. For 2008 and 2009, FWP set modest objectives: implement a harvest, maintain a recovered population, and begin the learning process to inform development of future hunting regulations and quotas. In 2010, FWP used a formal Structured Decision Making Process to more clearly define priorities and challenges of setting a wolf season, outline objectives of a successful season, and evaluate consequences and trade-offs between alternative management actions. For all years, FWP used a modeling process to simulate a wide range of harvest rates across three harvest units and to predict harvest effects on the minimum number of wolves, packs and breeding pairs. Model inputs were derived from minimum wolf numbers observed in the field. Modeling allowed consideration of a range of harvest quotas, predicted outcomes, and risk that harvest could drive the population below federally-required minimums. It also facilitated explicit consideration of how well a particular quota achieved objectives and how to adapt future regulations and quotas. Legal challenges to federal delisting restricted implementation of the first fair chase hunting season to 2009. Montana’s wolf population is securely recovered, despite the dynamic political and legal environments. Regardless, FWP remains committed to a scientific, data-driven approach to adaptive management

Benefits for Dominant Red Deer Hinds under a Competitive Feeding System: Food Access Behavior, Diet and Nutrient Selection

Social dominance is widely known to facilitate access to food resources in many animal species such as deer. However, research has paid little attention to dominance in ad libitum access to food because it was thought not to result in any benefit for dominant individuals. In this study we assessed if, even under ad libitum conditions, social rank may allow dominant hinds to consume the preferred components of food. Forty-four red deer hinds (Cervus elaphus) were allowed to consume ad libitum meal consisting of pellets of sunflower, lucerne and orange, and seeds of cereals, corn, cotton, and carob tree. The meal was placed only in one feeder, which reduced accessibility to a few individuals simultaneously. During seven days, feeding behavior (order of access, time to first feeding bout, total time spent feeding, and time per feeding bout) were assessed during the first hour. The relative abundance of each meal component was assessed at times 0, 1 and 5 h, as well as its nutritional composition. Social rank was positively related to the amount of time spent feeding during the 1st h (P = 0.048). Selection indices were positively correlated with energy (P = 0.018 during the 1st h and P = 0.047 from 1st to 5th) and fat (only during the 1st h; P = 0.036), but also negatively with certain minerals. Thus, dominant hinds could select high energy meal components for longer time under an ad libitum but restricted food access setting. Selection indices showed a higher selectivity when food availability was higher (1st hour respect to 1st to 5th). Finally, high and low ranking hinds had longer time per feeding bout than mid ones (P = 0.011), suggesting complex behavioral feeding tactics of low ranking social ungulates

Factors Influencing Individual Variation in Farm Animal Cognition and How to Account for These Statistically

For farmed species, good health and welfare is a win-win situation: both the animals and producers can benefit. In recent years, animal welfare scientists have embraced cognitive sciences to rise to the challenge of determining an animal's internal state in order to better understand its welfare needs and by extension, the needs of larger groups of animals. A wide range of cognitive tests have been developed that can be applied in farmed species to assess a range of cognitive traits. However, this has also presented challenges. Whilst it may be expected to see cognitive variation at the species level, differences in cognitive ability between and within individuals of the same species have frequently been noted but left largely unexplained. Not accounting for individual variation may result in misleading conclusions when the results are applied both at an individual level and at higher levels of scale. This has implications both for our fundamental understanding of an individual's welfare needs, but also more broadly for experimental design and the justification for sample sizes in studies using animals. We urgently need to address this issue. In this review, we will consider the latest developments on the causes of individual variation in cognitive outcomes, such as the choice of cognitive test, sex, breed, age, early life environment, rearing conditions, personality, diet, and the animal's microbiome. We discuss the impact of each of these factors specifically in relation to recent work in farmed species, and explore the future directions for cognitive research in this field, particularly in relation to experimental design and analytical techniques that allow individual variation to be accounted for appropriately

Disease-Free and Survival Outcomes for Total Laparoscopic Hysterectomy Compared With Total Abdominal Hysterectomy in Early-Stage Endometrial Carcinoma: A Meta-analysis

Objectives: Laparoscopic hysterectomy is currently offered to a large number of patients, and assessing the noninferiority to abdominal hysterectomy with respect to clinical outcomes is key. We examine rates of recurrence, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival, and surgical complications of laparoscopic compared with abdominal hysterectomy for the treatment of early-stage endometrial cancer. Methods: Electronic databases were systematically searched to identify relevant studies, and patient characteristics and clinical outcomes extracted. The primary outcome was 3-year DFS, and estimates were pooled using an inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis. Results: Nine studies (4405 patients) were identified in which DFS was reported in 5 studies. The difference in 3-year DFS was 1.44% (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.65% to 3.53%) in favor of total abdominal hysterectomy, consistent with a noninferiority margin of 5%. Differences in DFS (hazard ratio, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.92-1.32), overall survival (hazard ratio, 1.16; 95% CI, 0.81-1.66), and local recurrence (difference, 0.42%; 95% CI, -0.41% to 1.25%) were not significant. Rates of intraoperative complications showed no difference (0.5%; 95% CI, -1.1% to 2.0%) based on 7 studies. There was a significant reduction in postoperative complications with the laparoscopic procedure (-6.83%; 95% CI, -9.19% to -4.47%). Conclusions: Noninferiority of laparoscopy was demonstrated on clinical outcomes and was associated with a reduction in postoperative complications. These results support continued treatment by laparoscopic hysterectomy for early-stage endometrial cancer

Electronic aversive conditioning for managing wolf predation

Electronic training collars have previously been used to condition captive predators not to attack livestock and other prey, but the use of aversive collars in actual management situations involving wild predators has not been scientifically evaluated and published. We adapted and tested commercially available dog training collars in an actual management situation involving wild wolves. Because we temporarily held wolves in captivity, we also discuss the use of pens as a tool that provides management flexibility. Three packs that had been implicated in killing livestock were held at a pen facility at the Flying D Ranch near Bozeman, Montana. Wolves from 2 packs were used in training collar experiments. We ran trials using bison calves, domestic cow calves, and hides to test equipment and the behavioral conditioning paradigm. In our program, we were unable to condition wolves not to attack livestock because of a variety of logistical and behavioral reasons. We concluded that temporarily holding wolves at a small, moderately accessible facility is of limited use for determining the utility of aversive conditioning as a wolf predation management technique. More research is necessary to effectively apply electronic training collars to wolf management. However, we determined that maintaining holding pens for wolves provides flexibility to managers in translocation efforts. Because wolves in our studies survived to reproduce, our collaborative efforts have made a significant contribution to wolf recovery

Electronic aversive conditioning for managing wolf predation

Electronic training collars have previously been used to condition captive predators not to attack livestock and other prey, but the use of aversive collars in actual management situations involving wild predators has not been scientifically evaluated and published. We adapted and tested commercially available dog training collars in an actual management situation involving wild wolves. Because we temporarily held wolves in captivity, we also discuss the use of pens as a tool that provides management flexibility. Three packs that had been implicated in killing livestock were held at a pen facility at the Flying D Ranch near Bozeman, Montana. Wolves from 2 packs were used in training collar experiments. We ran trials using bison calves, domestic cow calves, and hides to test equipment and the behavioral conditioning paradigm. In our program, we were unable to condition wolves not to attack livestock because of a variety of logistical and behavioral reasons. We concluded that temporarily holding wolves at a small, moderately accessible facility is of limited use for determining the utility of aversive conditioning as a wolf predation management technique. More research is necessary to effectively apply electronic training collars to wolf management. However, we determined that maintaining holding pens for wolves provides flexibility to managers in translocation efforts. Because wolves in our studies survived to reproduce, our collaborative efforts have made a significant contribution to wolf recovery

Gray Wolf Restoration in the Northwestern United States

Gray wolf (Canis lupus) populations were eliminated from Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, as well as adjacent southwestern Canada by the 1930s. After human-caused mortality of wolves in southwestern Canada began to be regulated in the 1960s, populations began expanding southward. Dispersing individuals occasionally reached the northern Rocky Mountains of the United States, but lacked legal protection there until 1974, after passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. In 1986, wolves from Canada successfully raised a litter of pups in Glacier National Park, Montana, and a small population was soon established. In 1995 and 1996, wolves from western Canada were reintroduced to remote public lands in central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park. These wolves were designated as nonessential experimental populations to increase management flexibility and address local and state concerns. Wolf restoration is rapidly occurring in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, and there were at least 28 breeding pairs in December 2000. There are now about 63 adult wolves in northwestern Montana, 192 in central Idaho, and 177 in the Greater Yellowstone area. Dispersal of wolves between Canada, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming has been documented. Occasional lone wolves may disperse into adjacent states, but population establishment outside of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming is probably not imminent. The gray wolf population in the northwestern U.S. should be recovered and, depending on the completion of state and tribal wolf conservation plans, could be proposed to be removed from Act protection within three years. Wolf restoration has proceeded more quickly and with more benefits, such as public viewing than predicted. Problems, including confirmed livestock depredations, have been lower than estimated. The Service led interagency recovery program focuses its efforts on achieving wolf recovery while addressing the concerns of people who live near wolves. Wolves have restored an important ecological process to several large wild areas in the northern Rocky Mountains of the U.S. The program has been widely publicized and is generally viewed as highly successful