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Photo and Video Gallery |
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Effect of a Harvest Ban on Wolves |
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Canid and Ungulate Ecology Lab |
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Algonquin Provincial Park, 2002-2007 |
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Algonquin Park is the largest protected area for wolves in Ontario. However, despite being protected within the Park’s boundaries, many animals from the eastern half of Algonquin were shot, snared, or hit by cars while following migratory deer out of the Park in winter during the 1980s and 90s. This killing was cause for concern, and in November 2001 Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) announced a moratorium on all wolf hunting and trapping in the 40 townships surrounding Algonquin Park. To determine the effects of this harvest ban on Algonquin wolves, we monitored >210 radio-collared wolves from 2002-2007. Pups were also surgically implanted with transmitters to monitor survival and cause-specific mortality. Overall, we documented a moderate increase in annual survival rates of yearling and adult wolves in Algonquin Park following the ban. However, increased survival did not result in a detectable increase in either pack size or overall population density, due to high rates of dispersal by both juvenile and adult pack members and an increasing rate of natural mortality. Although not required to prevent extirpation of wolves from the park, protection from humans seems to be helping park wolves minimize hybridization with coyotes and has resulted in a return to a more natural social structure (see Rutledge et al. 2010 in our Publications section). Research is presently underway to investigate this phenomenon more closely. |
