Excavation of an Arctic Fox, Alopex lagopus, den by a Polar Bear, Ursus maritimus

We observed a Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) excavating an Arctic Fox (Alopex lagopus) den on 24 June 1998, 3 km inland from the Hudson Bay coast (58°40'N, 93°12'W), near Cape Churchill in Wapusk National Park, Manitoba. To our knowledge this is the first observed excavation of an Arctic Fox den by a Polar Bear

Observations of Polar Bear Predatory Behaviour toward Caribou

A polar bear (Ursus maritimus) was observed unsuccessfully stalking and chasing caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in western Hudson Bay. Before chasing the caribou, the polar bear appeared to make use of wind direction and vegetation cover in order to move close to them. While there have been very few documented cases of the two species interacting, our observations indicate that polar bears will stalk and chase caribou.On a observé un ours polaire (Ursus maritimus) traquer et poursuivre sans succès le caribou (Rangifer tarandus) dans l'ouest de la baie d'Hudson. Avant de se lancer dans sa poursuite, l'ours polaire semblait s'aider de la direction du vent et du couvert végétal pour s'approcher des animaux. Bien que très peu de cas d'interaction des deux espèces aient été documentés, nos observations révèlent qu'en réalité les ours polaires traquent et poursuivent le caribou

Summer habitat use and movements of invasive wild pigs (Sus scrofa) in Canadian agro-ecosystems

Resource selection informs understanding of a species’ ecology and is especially pertinent for invasive species. Since introduced to Canada, wild pigs (Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1978) remain understudied despite recognized negative impacts on native and agricultural systems globally. Elsewhere in North America, pigs typically use forests and forage in agricultural crops. We hypothesized Canadian wild pigs would behave similarly, and using GPS locations from 15 individuals, we examined diel and seasonal resource selection and movement in the Canadian prairie region. Forests were predominately selected during the day, while corn (Zea mays L.), oilseeds, and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were predominately selected at night. Forests and corn were consistently selected throughout the growing season.Wetlands and forests showed greater use rates than other habitats, with evident trade-offs as crop use increased with the timing of maturation. Activity was consistent with foraging in growing crops. Results indicate diel patterns were likely a function of short-term needs to avoid daytime anthropogenic risk, while seasonal patterns demonstrate how habitats that fill multiple functional roles——food, cover, and thermoregulation——can be optimized. Understanding selection by invasive species is an important step in understanding their potential environmental impacts in novel environments and informs their management

Maintaining Ethical Standards during Conservation Crises

Many species at risk in Canada and globally are at or approaching a crisis, especially where little or nothing consequential is being done to prevent extirpation. Such is the case of endangered boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) in southern Alberta, Canada. Expedient but inadequate emergency ‘fixes’ have been experimentally implemented to arrest their decline and potential extirpation, but use of these measures raises important ethical problems. In their study of the effects of killing wolves (Canis lupus) on the Little Smoky woodland caribou population, Hervieux et al. (2014a) employed lethal methods that included shooting a firearm from a helicopter and the use of strychnine baits. Both of these methods raise critical questions with regard to animal welfare. When it is necessary to kill an animal, reliable humane procedures must be used to avoid pain or distress, and produce rapid loss of consciousness until death occurs. Also relevant are formal approvals by government and institutional animal ethics committees that adhere to Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) guidelines. Shooting a moving animal from a helicopter is prone to error and not conducive to shots that quickly render animals insensitive to pain or produce a consistently quick kill. Strychnine does not meet the CCAC’s criteria for an acceptable killing method, and is specifically prohibited as an injectable option for euthanizing animals. Its use under uncontrolled conditions at bait sites is likely even less suitable. In addition, the risks of non-lethal and painful injuries from this poison and associated deaths to large numbers of non-target animals clearly contravene the CCAC guidelines for wildlife research. This study did not meet the CCAC’s guidelines and did not adhere to the Canadian Journal of Zoology’s requirement that all research must be approved by an institutional animal care committee. More broadly, and regardless of the failure of formal safeguards and implicit justifications offered by authors, we should be concerned when researchers impose suffering on wild animals and advocate for such programs to continue. Based on an apparent lack of compliance with CCAC’s guidelines, we believe that this controversial study should never have taken place and should not have been published by the Canadian Journal of Zoology. Experiments that involve the intentional inhumane killing of animals violate the fundamental principles of ethical science and rightfully endanger the reputation of science and scientists, as well as the journals willing to publish them. We recommend that CCAC guidelines be further developed to clearly address field methods used in wildlife studies, namely the shooting of animals from a helicopter, and the use of strychnine in baits. Also, independent audits should be conducted to investigate individual researchers and their studies, and the journals that publish this work, to ensure that CCAC guidelines are properly followed, even by researchers who collaborate well after the animal-based procedures have been carried out

Longitudinal Analysis of Antibody Responses to Trachoma Antigens Before and After Mass Drug Administration.

Blinding trachoma, caused by the bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis, is a neglected tropical disease targeted for elimination by 2020. A major component of the elimination strategy is mass drug administration (MDA) with azithromycin. Currently, program decisions are made based on clinical signs of ocular infection, but we have been investigating the use of antibody responses for post-MDA surveillance. In a previous study, IgG responses were detected in children lacking clinical evidence of trachoma, suggesting that IgG responses represented historical infection. To explore the utility of serology for program evaluation, we compared IgG and IgA responses to trachoma antigens and examined changes in IgG and IgA post-drug treatment. Dried blood spots and ocular swabs were collected with parental consent from 264 1-6 year olds in a single village of Kongwa District, central Tanzania. Each child also received an ocular exam for detection of clinical signs of trachoma. MDA was given, and six months later an additional blood spot was taken from these same children. Ocular swabs were analyzed for C. trachomatis DNA and antibody responses for IgA and total IgG were measured in dried bloods spots. Baseline antibody responses showed an increase in antibody levels with age. By age 6, the percentage positive for IgG (96.0%) was much higher than for IgA (74.2%). Antibody responses to trachoma antigens declined significantly six months after drug treatment for most age groups. The percentage decrease in IgA response was much greater than for IgG. However, no instances of seroreversion were observed. Data presented here suggest that focusing on concordant antibody responses in children will provide the best serological surveillance strategy for evaluation of trachoma control programs

Temporal aspects of polar bear occurrences at field camps in Wapusk National Park, Canada

Wapusk National Park, University of Manitoba, University of Saskatchewan, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Hudson Bay Helicopters, the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, and EarthRangers.Interaction between polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and people is a growing concern for both bear conservation and human safety in a warming Arctic climate. Consequently, the importance of monitoring temporal trends in the proximity of polar bears to people has become critical in managing human-polar bear conflicts. Such concerns are acute in Wapusk National Park in Manitoba, Canada on the Western Hudson Bay coast, where we deployed 18 camera traps at three remote field camps from 2010–2014 (~22,100 camera-days) to monitor the frequency and timing of bears’ visits to those facilities. Following seasonal breakup of Hudson Bay’s sea ice polar bear occurrences at these camps increased throughout the summer and into fall (low in May–July and increasing sharply through August–November and then approaching zero in December when Hudson Bay freezes). We quantified age and sex class and estimated body condition of bears visiting the camps: adult males were most prevalent at Nester One camp close to where adult males congregate at Cape Churchill, whereas the two camps farther south were visited more frequently by females with dependent young, likely traveling to and from a known maternal denning area. Few subadults were observed. As expected, body condition scores declined throughout the on-shore season. Our method of monitoring polar bear occurrence on shore is robust, cost-effective, and non-invasive, and so may provide an economical complement to data gathered through more conventional techniques

Publication reform to safeguard wildlife from researcher harm

Despite abundant focus on responsible care of laboratory animals, we argue that inattention to the maltreatment of wildlife constitutes an ethical blind spot in contemporary animal research. We begin by reviewing significant shortcomings in legal and institutional oversight, arguing for the relatively rapid and transformational potential of editorial oversight at journals in preventing harm to vertebrates studied in the field and outside the direct supervision of institutions. Straightforward changes to animal care policies in journals, which our analysis of 206 journals suggests are either absent (34%), weak, incoherent, or neglected by researchers, could provide a practical, effective, and rapidly imposed safeguard against unnecessary suffering. The Animals in Research: Reporting On Wildlife (ARROW) guidelines we propose here, coupled with strong enforcement, could result in significant changes to how animals involved in wildlife research are treated. The research process would also benefit. Sound science requires animal subjects to be physically, physiologically, and behaviorally unharmed. Accordingly, publication of methods that contravenes animal welfare principles risks perpetuating inhumane approaches and bad science

Å fôra eller ikkje? Ei litteraturoversikt om fôring av storvilt

Ettersom storviltbestandane i Europa og Nord-Amerika har auka, ser folk ogso ulemper med tette bestandar. For å minska ulempene utan å redusera viltbestandane, har mange byrja å fôra. 2. Me har gått gjennom all tilgjengeleg litteratur for å sjå om forvaltarane nådde måla med fôringa og om fôringa hadde andre, ikkje planlagde fylgjer. 3. Me fann klare bevis for at fôring i periodar med lite anna fôr førde til større bestandar der kvart individ reproduserte betre. Haustvektene vart ikkje høgare ved fôring, haustvektene vart bestemt av sumarfôret. Me fann ikkje bevis for at forvaltarane klarte ved hjelp av fôring å trekkja beitinga bort frå innmark, ung furuskog eller andre attraktive matkjelder, truleg fordi det tilførde fôret ikkje tilfredsstilte nærings- og oppførselsbehova til viltet og fordi fôringa førde til tettare bestandar. Undersøkjingar viser at fôring har minska talet på påkøyrsler, men fleire undersøkjingar trengst for å få full visse. 4. Samling av mykje storvilt rundt fôringsplassar påverkar omgjevnadene. Effektane kan vera komplekse endringar i vegetasjonssamansetning og struktur. Dette kan påverka andre arter i systemet. Nokre sjukdomar vert lettare overførte når dyr samlar seg som rundt fôringsplassar. Ikkje planlagde fylgjer av fôring er lite studert, noko som gjer det vanskeleg å føreseia fylgjene. 5. Det er vanskeleg å rekna på økonomien for den einskilde jaktrettshavar då storviltbestandar gjerne kryssar eigedomsgrenser frå jakttid til fôringstid og ein ofte ikkje kjenner alle fylgjene. Fôringa fører gjerne til høgare og meir reproduktive bestandar og det kan vera vanskeleg å skilja negative verknader av det å fôra og det å ha tette bestandar. Tette bestandar kan ha langtidsverknader som folk kan oppfatta som bra eller dårlege. Før nokon set i gang større program med fôring av storvilt, bør dei grundig vurdera alle sider ved fôring og ha solid stønad frå grunneigarane i viltbestanden sitt heiltårsleveområde. Dersom dei vil slutta fôringa, må dei fyrst redusera viltbestanden. 6. Me har laga ei liste (kapittel 4.3) med punkt som forvaltarar bør gå gjennom og drøfta om dei vurderer å byrja fôra vilt.English: There are costs and benefits associated with large herbivore populations. As populations have grown, conflicts have arisen between stakeholders who benefit from high numbers and those faced with the costs. Feeding may potentially mitigate conflicts while maintaining harvest yields. 2. We created a series of hypotheses associated with the intended management goals of large herbivore feeding programmes and the commonly perceived unintended consequences. We quantified the empirical evidence in support of each hypothesis and established which factors determined the effectiveness of feeding and under what conditions unintended effects may occur. 3. We found clear and consistent evidence of demographic consequences of supplementary feeding. Reproduction and population size were enhanced in food-limited populations, where a high proportion of females had access to feed throughout the limiting season. By contrast, we found limited evidence of the effectiveness of diversionary feeding to protect crops, forestry and natural habitats, largely because any positive effects were undermined by high herbivore densities. The use of diversionary feeding to reduce traffic collisions requires further investigation. 4. Evidence indicates that unintended effects of feeding are likely when feeding causes aggregation and high densities, and when feed type does not match the foraging strategy of the target species. Unintended effects can be complex, involving habitat impacts, such as changes to vegetation composition and structure, with consequent cascading effects through the trophic levels. Disease transmission risks are also often increased. Unintended effects are generally less well studied, making clear predictions difficult. 5. The economic costs and benefits of feeding are typically borne by different stakeholder groups and may occur over different time-frames. Ethical views of feeding also vary between groups, ranging from obligation to undesirable step towards domestication. The risks of unintended consequences are likely to increase with longevity of feeding and should be considered at the outset. 6. We have written a list (chapter 4.3) with points that managers should discuss if they consider feeding wildlife

To feed or not to feed? Evidence of the intended and unintended effects of feeding wild ungulates

Ungulate populations are important natural resources, associated with both costs and benefits. Conflicts have arisen between stakeholders who benefit from high ungulate numbers and those faced with the costs. Supplementary or diversionary feeding may potentially mitigate conflicts while maintaining harvest yields but can have conservation implications. We quantified the empirical evidence for whether the intended effects, and hence management goals, of feeding are met. We also examined whether any potential unintended consequences of feeding occur and under what conditions. We found clear evidence that supplementary feeding enhanced reproduction and population growth under certain conditions. By contrast, we found limited evidence of the effectiveness of diversionary feeding to protect crops, forestry, and natural habitats, with positive effects often undermined by increases in ungulate density. However, the use of diversionary feeding to reduce traffic collisions seems promising but requires further investigation. The unintended effects of feeding are typically complex, involving changes to demography, behavior, and vegetation with consequent cascading effects on other trophic levels, as well as exacerbated risks of disease transmission. Increased ungulate density is the primary driver behind these unintended effects, the consequences of which tend to increase with longevity of feeding and affect a range of stakeholders. We urge managers to take seriously the risks as well as the economic and ethical issues before deciding to feed ungulate