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An analysis of human–black bear conflict in Utah
| Contributor(s):: Julie Ann Miller, Tom S. Smith, Janene Auger, Hal Black, Loreen Allphin
Conflict between black bears (Ursus americanus) and humans has occurred in Utah, but the records are largely incomplete. To document these events, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources initiated a black bear sightings and encounters database in 2003, and we updated it. From 2003–2013,...
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The Behavior of Humans and Wildlife with Respect to Roads: Insights for Mitigation and Management
| Contributor(s):: Molly Kathryn Grace
Road ecology is the study of how roads and wildlife interact. Traditionally, road ecologists have primarily focused on one effect of roads: roadkill. Though roadkill can have devastating effects on wildlife populations, roads have sub-lethal impacts that are gaining more and more attention from...
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"Crocodiles are the Souls of the Community" An Analysis of Human-Animal Relations in Northwestern Benin and its Ontological Implications
| Contributor(s):: Sharon Merz
In this thesis I explore human-animal relations amongst the Bebelibe of the Commune of Cobly, in the northwest of the Republic of Benin, West Africa, with a focus on how they relate to their tikedimɔmɔnte (true totem(s), literally “interdict(s)-true”). I start with an historical...
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Effects of human state park visitation rates on escape behavior of white-tailed deer
| Contributor(s):: Nicholas M. Sutton, Edward J. Heske
State parks are typically established to preserve natural or native habitats for wildlife while simultaneously providing recreational experiences for humans. However, because of their proximity to urban centers, the level of human visitation associated with state parks may be highly variable....
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Proceedings of the Seventeenth Wildlife Damage Management Conference, Orange Beach, AL, February 26-March 1, 2017
Proceedings full document
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An Overview of Increasing Incidents of Bottlenose Dolphin Harassment in the Gulf of Mexico and Possible Solutions
| Contributor(s):: Courtney S. Vail
The panhandle region of the Gulf of Mexico is known by scientists, regulatory agencies and conservation organizations as a “hotbed” area of dolphin harassment. Interactions between humans and wild dolphins routinely occur through close vessel approaches or through direct contact...
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Do the Calls of a Bird, the Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala), Need Adjustment for Efficient Communication in Urban Anthropogenic Noise?
| Contributor(s):: Hélène Lowry, Alan Lill, Bob B. M. Wong
Urban environments are characteristically noisy and this can pose a challenge for animals that communicate acoustically. Although evidence suggests that some birds can make acoustic adjustments that preclude masking of their signals in high-disturbance environments such as cities, studies to...
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A One Health message about bats increases intentions to follow public health guidance on bat rabies
| Contributor(s):: Hang Lu, Katherine A. McComas, Danielle E. Buttke, Sungjong Roh, Margaret A. Wild
Since 1960, bat rabies variants have become the greatest source of human rabies deaths in the United States. Improving rabies awareness and preventing human exposure to rabid bats remains a national public health priority today. Concurrently, conservation of bats and the ecosystem benefits they...
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Impact of Wind Energy on Bats: a Summary of our Current Knowledge
| Contributor(s):: Cris D. Hein, Michael R. Schirmacher
Since 2003, when it was discovered that large numbers of bats were being killed at wind turbines in the eastern United States, our understanding of the impact of wind energy development on bats has increased and consistent patterns of fatality, including seasonality and species composition have...
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The Ethics of Human–Animal Relationships and Public Discourse: A Case Study of Lions Bred for Their Bones
| Contributor(s):: Peter Coals, Dawn Burnham, Andrew Loveridge, David W. Macdonald, Michael ’t Sas-Rolfes, Vivienne L. Williams, John A. Vucetich
Conservation and natural resource management are increasingly attending the ethical elements of public decisions. Ethical considerations are challenging, in part, because they typically require accounting for the moral consideration of various human and nonhuman forms of life, whose interests...
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Evaluating Wildlife–Vehicle Collision Hotspots Using Kernel-Based Estimation: a Focus on the Endangered Asiatic Cheetah in Central Iran
| Contributor(s):: Alireza Mohammadi, Mohammad Kaboli
The transportation networks within and adjacent to protected areas degrade natural habitats and contribute to a higher risk of mortality through roadkill. Following years of unplanned and unsustainable road network development in Iran, the protected areas of significant biodiversity value have...
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Comparing Social Media Observations of Animals During a Solar Eclipse to Published Research
| Contributor(s):: Robert Ritson, Dustin H. Ranglack, Nate Bickford
A wide variety of environmental stimuli can influence the behavior of animals including temperature, weather, light, lunar and seasonal cycles, seismic activity, as well as other perturbations to their circadian rhythm. Solar eclipses offer a unique opportunity to evaluate the relative...
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Integrated Stress and Community Perceptions: Toward an Understanding of Human-Cougar Tolerance
| Contributor(s):: Lara Brenner
Evidence suggests that cougars (Puma concolor) are beginning to recolonize their traditional range in the Midwestern and Eastern US, returning to a landscape and a social environment that have changed drastically in a century of absence. Any hope of the cougar’s persistence depends on...
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Ecology of Conflict: Marine Food Supply Affects Human-Wildlife Interactions on Land
| Contributor(s):: Kyle A. Artelle, Sean C. Anderson, John D. Reynolds, Andrew B. Cooper, Paul C. Paquet, Chris T. Darimont
Human-wildlife conflicts impose considerable costs to people and wildlife worldwide. Most research focuses on proximate causes, offering limited generalizable understanding of ultimate drivers. We tested three competing hypotheses (problem individuals, regional population saturation, limited...
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Human-Bear Interactions Among Black Bears in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, and Polar Bears on Alaska's North Slope
| Contributor(s):: Wesley G. Larson
Human-bear interactions are an important consideration of bear biology, as interactions can lead to destruction of property as well as injury or death for both human and bear. Successful analysis of why these interactions occur can lead to appropriate preventative measures and mitigation of...
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Compassionate Conservation: Exploring the Lives of African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus) in Botswana
| Contributor(s):: Valli-Laurente Fraser-Celin, Alice J. Hovorka
This paper argues for a more compassionate conservation by positioning animals as subjects in research and scholarship. Compassionate conservation is a multidisciplinary field of study that broadly attends to the ethical dimensions of conservation by merging conservation biology and animal...
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Performing Whale-Watching in Juneau, Alaska
| Contributor(s):: Chelsea Karthauser
Nature-based tourism activities provide special contexts for human-wildlife interaction. In Juneau, Alaska, summertime tourists seek encounters with humpback whales, hundreds of which feed seasonally in Southeast Alaska’s coastal waterways. Tourists support a thriving whale-watching...
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Who's a Good Handler? Important Skills and Personality Profiles of Wildlife Detection Dog Handlers
| Contributor(s):: La Toya J. Jamieson, Greg S. Baxter, Peter J. Murray
Wildlife detection dog teams are employed internationally for environmental surveys, and their success often depends on the dog handler. Minimal research is available on the skills that dog handlers believe are important, and no research has been published on the personality profiles of...
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Not your regular cat person | Latika Nath | TEDxBITSPilani
| Contributor(s):: Latika Nath
Latika Nath is a conservational ecologist and a wildlife photographer. She was awarded the title of ‘The Tiger Princess’ by National Geographic in 2001 which featured her work. She is the first woman biologist in India with a doctorate on tigers. She has spent over twenty-five years...
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Conserving Vermont's Endangered Species through Designation of Critical Habitat
| Contributor(s):: Amanda M. Ramsing-Lund
Although the Endangered Species Act of 1973 is federal legislation, protection of threatened and endangered (T & E) species varies in stringency across states. H.570 (Act 145) is a Vermont law passed during the 2015-2016 legislative session that updated some of the legal protections for T...
