Human–Black Bear Conflicts: A Review of Common Management Practices

The objective of this monograph is to provide wildlife professionals, who respond to human–bear conflicts, with an appraisal of the most common techniques used for mitigating conflicts as well as the benefits and challenges of each technique in a single document. Most human–black bear conflict occurs when people make anthropogenic foods like garbage, dog food, domestic poultry, or fruit trees available to bears. Bears change their behavior to take advantage of these resources and may damage property or cause public safety concerns in the process. Managers and the public need to understand the available tools to stop human–bear conflict and reduce effects on bear populations.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi_monographs/1002/thumbnail.jp

Methods for Managing Human–Deer Conflicts in Urban, Suburban, and Exurban Areas

This monograph identifies challenges and benefits associated with many human–deer conflict mitigation actions as well as methods to monitor the response of deer populations to management actions. Deer exploit urban, suburban, and exurban areas where human populations provide anthropogenic attractants, either intentionally or inadvertently, which often leads to human–deer conflicts. Mitigating actions have varying degrees of efficacy and may not be effective or accepted in every situation. Wildlife and municipal managers must work together to seek methods to reduce attractants, mitigate conflicts, and perpetuate the conservation of wildlife species that adds to the appreciation of nature in our lives.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi_monographs/1001/thumbnail.jp

Variation in diet of desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni): Tradeoffs associated with parturition

Selection of forage and habitats is driven by nutritional needs of individuals. Some species may sacrifice nutritional quality of forage for the mother in favor of safety of offspring (risk-averse strategy), immediately following parturition. We studied diet quality and forage selection by bighorn sheep before and following parturition to determine how nutritional demands associated with rearing offspring influenced forage acquisition. We used desert bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis nelsoni, to investigate that potential tradeoff. We captured and radio-collared female bighorn sheep from 2016 to 2018. We used vaginal implant transmitters (VIT)s in pregnant females to identify parturition and to capture and radio-collar neonates to monitor survival of young. We collected fecal samples throughout the breeding season and throughout the year to understand diet quality and composition throughout those temporal periods. We determined diet quality and composition for pre-parturient females, females provisioning offspring, females that lost offspring, and non-pregnant individuals using fecal nitrogen and DNA metabarcoding analyses. Additionally, we compared the diet quality and composition of offspring and adult females during the spring, as well as summer and winter months. Our results indicated differences in diet quality between individuals provisioning offspring and those whose offspring had died. Females that were provisioning dependent young had lower quality diets than those that lost their offspring. Diet composition among those groups was also markedly different; females that had lost an offspring had a more diverse diet than did females with dependent young. Diet quality differed among seasons, wherein offspring and adult females had higher quality diets during the spring months, with decreasing quality as the year progressed. Diet diversity was similar across seasons, although spring months tended to be most diverse. Our results support tradeoffs associated with risk-averse strategies made by adult females associated with parturition. Nutritional quality of forage was linked to provisioning status, indicating that females were trading diet quality for safety of offspring, but those females whose offspring had died selected high quality forages. Those results help explain habitat selection observed in mountain ungulates around parturition and provide further insight into the evolutionary processes and adaptive significance exhibited by those specialized artiodactyls

Semaglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with obesity and prevalent heart failure: a prespecified analysis of the SELECT trial

Background: Semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, reduces the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in people with overweight or obesity, but the effects of this drug on outcomes in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and heart failure are unknown. We report a prespecified analysis of the effect of once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide 2·4 mg on ischaemic and heart failure cardiovascular outcomes. We aimed to investigate if semaglutide was beneficial in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with a history of heart failure compared with placebo; if there was a difference in outcome in patients designated as having heart failure with preserved ejection fraction compared with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction; and if the efficacy and safety of semaglutide in patients with heart failure was related to baseline characteristics or subtype of heart failure. Methods: The SELECT trial was a randomised, double-blind, multicentre, placebo-controlled, event-driven phase 3 trial in 41 countries. Adults aged 45 years and older, with a BMI of 27 kg/m2 or greater and established cardiovascular disease were eligible for the study. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) with a block size of four using an interactive web response system in a double-blind manner to escalating doses of once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide over 16 weeks to a target dose of 2·4 mg, or placebo. In a prespecified analysis, we examined the effect of semaglutide compared with placebo in patients with and without a history of heart failure at enrolment, subclassified as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, or unclassified heart failure. Endpoints comprised MACE (a composite of non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, and cardiovascular death); a composite heart failure outcome (cardiovascular death or hospitalisation or urgent hospital visit for heart failure); cardiovascular death; and all-cause death. The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03574597. Findings: Between Oct 31, 2018, and March 31, 2021, 17 604 patients with a mean age of 61·6 years (SD 8·9) and a mean BMI of 33·4 kg/m2 (5·0) were randomly assigned to receive semaglutide (8803 [50·0%] patients) or placebo (8801 [50·0%] patients). 4286 (24·3%) of 17 604 patients had a history of investigator-defined heart failure at enrolment: 2273 (53·0%) of 4286 patients had heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, 1347 (31·4%) had heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, and 666 (15·5%) had unclassified heart failure. Baseline characteristics were similar between patients with and without heart failure. Patients with heart failure had a higher incidence of clinical events. Semaglutide improved all outcome measures in patients with heart failure at random assignment compared with those without heart failure (hazard ratio [HR] 0·72, 95% CI 0·60-0·87 for MACE; 0·79, 0·64-0·98 for the heart failure composite endpoint; 0·76, 0·59-0·97 for cardiovascular death; and 0·81, 0·66-1·00 for all-cause death; all pinteraction>0·19). Treatment with semaglutide resulted in improved outcomes in both the heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HR 0·65, 95% CI 0·49-0·87 for MACE; 0·79, 0·58-1·08 for the composite heart failure endpoint) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction groups (0·69, 0·51-0·91 for MACE; 0·75, 0·52-1·07 for the composite heart failure endpoint), although patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction had higher absolute event rates than those with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. For MACE and the heart failure composite, there were no significant differences in benefits across baseline age, sex, BMI, New York Heart Association status, and diuretic use. Serious adverse events were less frequent with semaglutide versus placebo, regardless of heart failure subtype. Interpretation: In patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular diease and overweight or obesity, treatment with semaglutide 2·4 mg reduced MACE and composite heart failure endpoints compared with placebo in those with and without clinical heart failure, regardless of heart failure subtype. Our findings could facilitate prescribing and result in improved clinical outcomes for this patient group. Funding: Novo Nordisk

HUMAN–BLACK BEAR CONFLICTS

Most human–black bear (Ursus americanus) conflict occurs when people make anthropogenic foods like garbage, dog food, domestic poultry, or fruit trees available to bears. Bears change their behavior to take advantage of these resources and may damage property or cause public safety concerns in the process. Managers are often forced to focus efforts on reactive non-lethal and lethal bear management techniques to solve immediate problems, which do little to address root causes of human–bear conflict. As long as bears find easy access to garbage, bird feeders, urban fruit trees, and other food subsidies, conflicts are likely to continue. Managers and the public need to understand the available tools to stop human–bear conflict and reduce effects on bear populations. Rhetorically blaming bears for conflicts by labeling them as problem bears or nuisance bears is becoming increasing unpopular. Ultimately human behavior must change by reducing anthropogenic resources that cause human– bear conflicts. This process requires a different suite of tools and should be the primary focus for bear managers interested in lowering the potential for conflict

CURRENT AND HISTORICAL USE OF ALPHA-CHLORALOSE ON WILD TURKEYS

Alpha-chloralose (AC) has been used as an anesthetic since 1897 to capture or sedate wildlife, including waterfowl, wood-pigeon (Columba palumbus), and black bear (Ursus americana). The first use of AC in the United States was for the capture of house sparrows (Passer domesticus), red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), and wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in 1964. Prior to the 1990s, AC was not registered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as an immobilizing agent in the United States for wild animals that might be used for human consumption. In 1992, the FDA granted the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Wildlife Services (WS) an Investigative New Animal Drug for AC to capture waterfowl, American coots (Fulica americana), and pigeons (rock doves, Columba livia). During the late 1990s, ravens (Corvus corax) were added the species list on which AC could be used. In 2004, the FDA authorized the addition of sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) to the list. Knowing that AC had been used on turkeys, the Arizona Game and Fish Department requested WS assistance in reintroducing Gould’s turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo mexicana) to southeastern Arizona. To reduce stress on the birds during handling and testing, we sedated turkeys at the rate of 2.04 g of AC per 1 cup of cracked corn for up to 3 turkeys. In 2003 and 2004, wild turkeys were sedated during quarantine trials, fully recovered from the sedation and were available for relocation. Based on these data and a review of the published literature, we recommend that AC should be considered for future sedations of wild turkeys and that wild turkeys be considered for inclusion on the current Investigative New Animal Drug (INAD) label for AC

Verifying the Origins of a Reintroduced Population of Gould’s Wild Turkey

The restoration of wildlife populations to historically occupied ranges is an important goal of modern wildlife management. In Arizona, USA, efforts have begun to reintroduce the Gould\u27s subspecies of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo mexicana) into its former range in the southeastern part of the state. However, individuals or descendants of the Merriam\u27s subspecies (M. g. merriami) may remain in the reintroduction area from earlier releases and could potentially interbreed with reintroduced Gould\u27s turkeys. We used 3 fundamentally different genetic markers to determine whether the wild turkeys currently occupying the Huachuca Mountains in southeastern Arizona were descended from the Gould\u27s turkeys translocated there during the 1980s, or whether interbreeding had occurred with descendants of Merriam\u27s turkeys from a translocation during 1950. We found consistent genetic differences between relict populations of the Merriam\u27s turkey in Arizona and the Gould\u27s turkey in northern Mexico. The Huachuca Mountains wild turkey population consistently grouped with the relict Gould\u27s populations and showed no evidence of interbreeding with the Merriam\u27s subspecies. In addition, we found evidence that the Huachuca Mountains population was less genetically diverse than the relict populations, and we recommend that this population be monitored for signs of inbreeding depression. The molecular markers developed for this study are important tools for future management of wild turkeys

Changes in selection of resources with reproductive state in a montane ungulate

Abstract Animals select habitats based on food, water, space, and cover. Each of those components are essential to the ability of an individual to survive and reproduce in a particular habitat. Selection of resources is linked to reproductive fitness and individuals likely vary in how they select resources relative to their reproductive state: during pregnancy, while provisioning young when nutritional needs of the mother are high, but offspring are vulnerable to predation, or if they lose young to mortality. We investigated the effects of reproductive state on selection of resources by maternal female desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) by comparing selection during the last trimester of gestation, following parturition when females were provisioning dependent young, and if the female lost an offspring. We captured, and recaptured each year, 32 female bighorn sheep at Lone Mountain, Nevada, during 2016–2018. Captured females were fit with GPS collars and those that were pregnant received vaginal implant transmitters. We used a Bayesian approach to estimate differences in selection between females provisioning and not provisioning offspring, as well as the length of time it took for females with offspring to return levels of selection similar to that observed prior to parturition. Females that were not provisioning offspring selected areas with higher risk of predation, but greater nutritional resources than those that were provisioning dependent young. When females were provisioning young immediately following parturition, females selected areas that were safe from predators, but had lower nutritional resources. Females displayed varying rates of return to selection strategies associated with access to nutritional resources as young grew and became more agile and less dependent on mothers. We observed clear and substantial shifts in selection of resources associated with reproductive state, and females exhibited tradeoffs in favor of areas that were safer from predators when provisioning dependent young despite loss of nutritional resources to support lactation. As young grew and became less vulnerable to predators, females returned to levels of selection that provided access to nutritional resources to restore somatic reserves lost during lactation