Digital Commons Network^™

Behavior Of Wild Pigs Toward Conspecific Carcasses: Implications For Disease Transmission In A Hot, Semiarid Climate, Samantha Leivers, Tyler Campbell, Michael J. Bodenchuk, John Tomeĉek

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are a prolific, invasive species in the United States of America and act as vectors for many pathogens. An emerging pathogen of concern to the USA is African swine fever (ASF), a deadly viral disease affecting swine that is endemic to Africa and has spread to parts of Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. ASF affects both wild and domesticated pigs and can be transmitted via several avenues, including interactions between and consumption of dead pigs by their live conspecifics. As wild pigs are considered a serious threat in the transmission of ASF, understanding the …

Long Term Changes In Aquaculture Influence Migration, Regional Abundance, And Distribution Of An Avian Species, Paul C. Burr, Brian S. Dorr, Jimmy L. Avery, Garrett M. Street, Bronson K. Strickland

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Agricultural development has been causing changes to the environment and the abundance and distribution of avian species. Agriculture is dynamic with changes in products occurring at large scales over relatively short time periods. The catfish aquaculture industry is one such agriculture industry that has undergone dramatic changes over the last 25 years. The double-crested cormorant (Nannopterum auritum) is a piscivorous bird that has an extensive history with the aquaculture industry of Mississippi due to its depredation of cultured catfish. A large-scale monitoring program began in 1989 to estimate the abundance and location of cormorants at every known roost in the …

H7n9 Influenza A Virus Transmission In A Multispecies Barnyard Model, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth, Anna Rodriguez, Rachel M. Maison, Stephanie M. Porter, J. Jeffrey Root

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Influenza A viruses are a diverse group of pathogens that have been responsible for millions of human and avian deaths throughout history. Here, we illustrate the transmission potential of H7N9 influenza A virus between Coturnix quail (Coturnix sp.), domestic ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus), chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus), and house sparrows (Passer domesticus) co-housed in an artificial barnyard setting. In each of four replicates, individuals from a single species were infected with the virus. Quail shed virus orally and were a source of infection for both chickens and ducks. Infected chickens transmitted the virus to quail but not to ducks or …

Writing Statistical Methods For Ecologists, Amy J. Davis, Shannon Kay

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The Methods section is a key component of any ecology research publication containing detailed information on how the data were collected and analyzed. However, descriptions of which statistical methods were used and how they were applied can substantially vary and may not provide enough information for the analyses to be reproducible. Computational and statistical programming advances have allowed ecological researchers without a strong statistical or mathematical background to access and use increasingly complex statistical methods. Thus, statistical methods are written by and need to be accessible to researchers across a range of quantitative expertise. Poorly written Methods sections can incorrectly …

The Past, Present, And Future Of Equine Science, Sarah H. White-Springer, Jason E. Bruemmer, Robert J. Coleman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

A core group of 27 equine nutritionists and physiologists joined together in the late 1960s to formally address and enhance the direction of equine research, creating the Equine Nutrition and Physiology Soci- ety. In 2003, that growing society transformed into the Equine Science Society, which now serves as the preeminent, internationally recognized scientific equine organization. In recent years, it has been appre- ciated that equine science encompasses a wide range of focus areas, including exercise science, nutrition, genetics, reproductive physiology, teaching and extension, production and management, and mix of other specialties, qualified as biosciences. Additionally, trainees are highly valued in …

Genomic Analyses Of Gray Fox Lineages Suggest Ancient Divergence And Secondary Contact In The Southern Great Plains, Elizabeth M. Kierepka, Sophie Preckler-Quisquater, Dawn M. Reding, Antoinette Piaggio, Seth P.D. Riley, Benjamin N. Sacks

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) lineage diverged from all other extant canids at their most basal node and is restricted to the Americas. Previous mitochondrial analysis from coastal populations identified deeply divergent (up to 1 Mya) eastern and western lineages that predate most intraspecific splits in carnivores. We conducted genotyping by sequencing and mitochondrial analysis on gray foxes sampled across North America to determine geographic concordance between nuclear and mitochondrial contact zones and divergence times. We also estimated the admixture within the contact zone between eastern and western gray foxes based on nuclear DNA. Both datasets confirmed that …

Integrating Robotics Into Wildlife Conservation: Testing Improvements To Predator Deterrents Through Movement, Stewart W. Breck, Jeffrey T. Schultz, David Prause, Cameron Krebs, Anthony J. Giordano, Byron Boots

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Background Agricultural and pastoral landscapes can provide important habitat for wildlife conservation, but sharing these landscapes with wildlife can create conflict that is costly and requires managing. Livestock predation is a good example of the challenges involving coexistence with wildlife across shared landscapes. Integrating new technology into agricultural practices could help minimize human-wildlife conflict. In this study, we used concepts from the fields of robotics (i.e., automated movement and adaptiveness) and agricultural practices (i.e., managing livestock risk to predation) to explore how integration of these concepts could aid the development of more effective predator deterrents.

Methods …

Transmission Of Sars-Cov-2 In Free-Ranging White-Tailed Deer In The United States, Aijing Feng, Sarah Bevins, Jeff Chandler, Thomas J. Deliberto, Ria Ghai, Kristina Lantz, Julianna Lenoch, Adam Retchless, Susan A. Shriner, Cynthia Y. Tang, Suxiang Sue Tong, Mia Torchetti, Anna Uehara, Xiu-Feng Wan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

SARS-CoV-2 is a zoonotic virus with documented bi-directional transmission between people and animals. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from humans to free-ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) poses a unique public health risk due to the potential for reservoir establishment where variantsmay persist and evolve. We collected 8,830 respiratory samples from free-ranging white-tailed deer across Washington, D.C. and 26 states in the United States between November 2021 and April 2022. We obtained 391 sequences and identified 34 Pango lineages including the Alpha, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron variants. Evolutionary analyses showed these white-tailed deer viruses originated fromat least 109 independent spillovers fromhumans,which resulted in …

A Social Network Analysis Of Actors Involved In Wild Pig (Sus Scrofa) Management In Missouri, Hailey E. Ellis, Meredith J. Grady, Lauren Jaebker, Alan D. Bright, Keith M. Carlisle

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) cause significant damage to agriculture and native ecosystems and can transmit diseases to animals and people. Management responses designed to reduce population numbers are needed to mitigate these threats. Identifying networks of key actors, including the ways in which they interact, is valuable for purposes of better understanding opportunities or constraints that generate or impede effective management responses. The goal of our study was to understand the network of organizations, and the personnel working within them, that were active in wild pig management, research, or policy initiatives in Missouri during 2018–2020 by 1) identifying …

Switchable Anomalous Hall Effects In Polar-Stacked 2d Antiferromagnet Mnbi2Te4, Tengfei Cao, Ding-Fu Shao, Kai Huang, Gautam Gurung, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Van der Waals (vdW) assembly allows controlling symmetry of two-dimensional (2D) materials that determines their physical properties. Especially interesting is the recently demonstrated breaking inversion symmetry by polar layer stacking to realize novel electronic, magnetic, and transport properties of 2D vdW materials switchable by induced electric polarization. Here, based on symmetry analyses and density-functional calculations, we explore the emergence of the anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in antiferromagnetic MnBi2Te4 films assembled by polar layer stacking. We demonstrate that breaking 𝑃̂ 𝑇̂ symmetry in an MnBi₂Te₄ bilayer makes this 2D material magnetoelectric and produces a spontaneous AHE switchable by …

Using Drones To Detect And Quantify Wild Pig Damage And Yield Loss In Corn Fields Throughout Plant Growth Stages, Bethany A. Friesenhahn, Lori D. Massey, Randy W. Deyoung, Michael J. Cherry, Justin W. Fischer, Nathan P. Snow, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Humberto L. Perotto‐Baldivieso

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Presently, there are an estimated 6.9 million wild pigs (Sus scrofa) in the U.S., which cause over US$1 billion in damage to agriculture, environmental impacts, and control costs. However, estimates of damage have varied widely, creating a need for standardized monitoring and a method to accurately estimate the economic costs of direct wild pig damage to agriculture. The goal of our study was to integrate remotely sensed imagery from drones and crop harvest data to quantify wild pig damage in corn fields. We used drones with natural color (red, green, blue) cameras to monitor corn fields at different …

Assessment Of Habitat‐Specific Competition For Oral Rabies Vaccine Baits Between Raccoons And Opossums, James L. Helton, Jacob E. Hill, David A. Bernasconi, Wesley C. Dixon, Richard B. Chipman, Amy Gilbert, James C. Beasley, Guha Dharmarajan, Olin E. Rhodes Jr.

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Throughout the eastern United States, the National Rabies Management Program (NRMP) distributes oral rabies vaccine (ORV) baits to manage rabies virus circulation in raccoon (Procyon lotor) populations. The consumption of vaccine baits by non‐target species including Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana) may reduce the effectiveness of ORV programs, but competition for baits remains poorly quantified in many areas of the southeastern United States. We distributed placebo ORV baits injected with a biomarker across 4 land cover types (bottomland hardwood, upland pine, riparian, isolated wetland) on the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, USA, 2017–2019. We then trapped …

Demographic, Environmental And Physiological Predictors Of Gastrointestinal Parasites In Urban Raccoons, Liana F. Wait, Shylo R. Johnson, Kathleen M. Nelson, Richard B. Chipman, Frederick E. Pogmore, Andrew P. Dobson, Andrea L. Graham

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Raccoons are host to diverse gastrointestinal parasites, but little is known about the ecology of these parasites in terms of their interactions with each other during coinfections, their interactions with host physiology and environmental factors, and their impact on raccoon health and survival. As a first step, we investigated the patterns of parasite infection and their demographic distribution in an urban-suburban population of raccoons trapped in the summers and autumns of 2018 and 2019. We collected faecal samples, demographic data, morphometric measurements, and blood smears, and used GPS data to classify trapping location by land cover type. Faecal floats were …

Livestock Producers' Perceptions Of The American Black Vulture Conflict In The Midwestern United States, Marian L. Wahl, Brooke Mcwherter, Patrick A. Zollner, Zhao Ma, Grant C. Burcham, Lee A. Humberg, Brian M. Kluever

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Human‐wildlife interactions are present wherever both humans and wildlife are found. Interactions can be positive or negative for humans and can include impacts that range from damage to property, agriculture, health and human safety, to emotional effects. Livestock‐wildlife interactions form a major component of human‐wildlife conflicts with foci often centered on the implications of livestock predation by wildlife. While most vulture species are obligate scavengers, several species, including the American black vulture (Coragyps atratus), may attack weak or newborn livestock. Black vulture populations and distributions are expanding in the Midwestern U.S., and attacks create a novel problem for …

Intracellular Diversity Of Wnv Within Circulating Avian Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Reveals Host-Dependent Patterns Of Polyinfection, Dalit Talmi-Frank, Alex D. Byas, Reyes Murrieta, James Weger-Lucarelli, Claudia Rückert, Emily N. Gallichotte, Janna A. Yoshimoto, Chris Allen, Angela M. Bosco-Lauth, Barbara Graham, Todd A. Felix, Aaron C. Brault, Gregory D. Ebel

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) populations exist as mutant swarms that are maintained between arthropods and vertebrates. West Nile virus (WNV) population dynamics are host-dependent. In American crows, purifying selection is weak and population diversity is high compared to American robins, which have 100- to 1000-fold lower viremia. WNV passed in robins leads to fitness gains, whereas that passed in crows does not. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that high crow viremia allows for higher genetic diversity within individual avian peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), reasoning that this could have produced the previously observed hostspecific differences in genetic diversity and fitness. Specifically, …

The Influence Of Income And Loss On Hunters' Attitudes Towards Wild Pigs And Their Management, Samantha Leivers, Keith M. Carlisle, Rachel L. Connally, Maureen G. Frank, John M. Tomeček

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wild pigs (Sus scrofa) are one of the most pervasive invasive species in North America. Wild pigs pose a threat to crops, livestock, and the environment, but also provide recreational hunting opportunities. There are avenues for some stakeholder groups to generate income from wild pigs, however, stakeholders vary in attitudes towards wild pigs and their management. We investigated whether financial loss and income resulting from wild pigs influenced hunter stakeholder attitudes towards their management in Texas. We examined how land use influenced hunting landowner attitudes towards wild pigs. We analyzed 22,176 responses (8,707 landowners, 13,469 nonlandowners) fromTexas hunters …

The Impact Of The Covid‑19 Pandemic On Wildlife–Aircraft Collisions At Us Airports, Levi Altringer, Sophie C. Mckee, Jason D. Kougher, Michael J. Begier, Stephanie A. Shwiff

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Exploiting unprecedented reductions in aircraft movements caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we investigated the relationship between air traffic volume and the frequency of wildlife-aircraft collisions, or wildlife strikes, at the 50 largest airports in the United States. During the COVID- 19 months of 2020 (March–December), both air traffic volume and the absolute number of wildlife strikes were reduced. The net effect of these two movements, however, was an increase in the wildlife strike rate from May 2020–September 2020. This increase was found to be most pronounced at airports with larger relative declines in air traffic volume. We concluded that the …

Alternatives To Corn For Baiting Wild Pigs, Justin A. Foster, Lee H. Williamson, John C. Kinsey, Ryan L. Reitz, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Nathan P. Snow

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

We examined dietary preferences of wild pigs to discern possible bait alternatives to corn. Captive trials were conducted during spring and fall 2021 in the Wild Pig Research Facility at Kerr Wildlife Management Area, Hunt, Texas, USA. We conducted 2‐choice tests by allowing wild pigs to feed ad libitum on soybeans, split peas, mealworms, and peanuts (spring 2021), and oats, acorns, earthworms, and peanuts (fall 2021), always with corn available as a second choice for reference. In each trial, we used proportion of test bait eaten versus total bait eaten, and relative access to both food sources as indices of …

Dispersal Of Blackbird Flocks From Sunflower Fields: Efficacy Influenced By Flock And Field Size But Not Drone Platform, Conor C. Egan, Bradley Blackwell, Esteban Fernández‐Juricic, Page Klug

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Crop depredation by blackbirds (Icteridae) results in substantial economic losses to the United States sunflower industry, and a solution to effectively reduce damage remains elusive. We evaluated the utility of uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, as hazing tools to deter foraging blackbirds from commercial sunflower (Helianthus annuus) fields in North Dakota, USA, between September and October 2017. We compared the efficacy of 3 drones: a fixed‐wing predator model mimicking the form of an aerial raptor, a fixed‐wing airplane of similar size, and a multirotor drone. Multirotor drones are relatively easy to fly and are a multifunctional tool for agricultural …

A Novel Parakeet‐Selective Feeder For Control Of Invasive Psittacines, C. Jane Anderson, Eric A. Tillman, William P. Bukoski, Steven C. Hess, Leonard A. Brennan, Page E. Klug

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Over 40 species of parrots, members of order Psittaciformes, have established nonnative populations globally. Monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) are among the most invasive bird species worldwide. In their introduced range, populations of monk parakeets have caused negative impacts on native species, habitats, economies, and human safety. Lethal population management has been complicated by the intelligence of monk parakeets, as they quickly alter behavior to avoid risks. Further, lethal control programs have been halted due to public controversy, as parakeets are highly charismatic. The contraceptive DiazaCon has been demonstrated to effectively reduce fertility in monk parakeets and other psittacines. In field …

Nitrogen-Vacancy Magnetometry Of Individual Fe-Triazole Spin Crossover Nanorods, Suvechhya Lamichhane, Kayleigh A. Mcelveen, Adam Erickson, Ilja Fescenko, Shuo Sun, Rupak Timalsina, Yinsheng Guo, Sy_Hwang Liou, Rebecca Lai, Abdelghani Laraoui

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

[Fe(Htrz)₂(trz)](BF₄) (Fe-triazole) spin crossover molecules show thermal, electrical, and optical switching between high spin (HS) and low spin (LS) states, making them promising candidates for molecular spintronics. The LS and HS transitions originate from the electronic configurations of Fe(II) and are considered to be diamagnetic and paramagnetic respectively. The Fe(II) LS state has six paired electrons in the ground states with no interaction with the magnetic field and a diamagnetic behavior is usually observed. While the bulk magnetic properties of Fe-triazole compounds are widely studied by standard magnetometry techniques their magnetic properties at the individual level …

Direct Observation Of The Magnetic Anisotropy Of An Fe (Ii) Spin Crossover Molecular Thin Film, Ashley S. Dale, Saeed Yazdani, Thilini K. Ekanayaka, Esha Mishra, Yuchen Hu, Peter A. Dowben, John W. Freeland, Jian Zhang, Ruihua Cheng

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Spin crossover molecules are a promising candidate for molecular spintronics that aim for ultrafast and low-power devices for data storage and magnetic and information sensing. The rapid spin state transition is best controlled by non-thermal methods including magnetic field. Unfortunately, the magnetic field normally required to switch the spin state is normally high (~30 T), which calls for better understanding of the fundamental mechanism. In this work, we provide clear evidence of magnetic anisotropy in the local orbital moment of a molecular thin film based on spin crossover complex [Fe(H₂B(pz)₂)₂(bipy)] (pz = pyrazol−1−yl, bipy …

Interface-Tuning Of Ferroelectricity And Quadruple-Well State In Cuinp2S6 Via Ferroelectric Oxide, Kun Wang, Du Li, Jia Wang, Yifei Hao, Hailey Anderson, Li Yang, Xia Hong

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Faculty Publications

Ferroelectric van der Waals CuInP₂S₆ possesses intriguing quadruple-well states and negative piezoelectricity. Its technological implementation has been impeded by the relatively low Curie temperature (bulk T_C ~42 °C) and the lack of precise domain control. Here we show that CuInP₂S₆ can be immune to the finite size effect and exhibits enhanced ferroelectricity, piezoelectricity, and polar alignment in the ultrathin limit when interfaced with ferroelectric oxide PbZr_0.2Ti_0.8O₃ films. Piezoresponse force microscopy studies reveal that the polar domains in thin CuInP₂S₆ fully conform to those of underlying …

Biodiversity Indices And Random Forests Reveal The Potential For Striped Skunk (Mephitis Mephitis) Fecal Microbial Communities To Function As A Biomarker For Oral Rabies Vaccination, Matthew W. Hopken, Darby Gilfillan, Amy Gilbert, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Mikaela Samsel Hilton, James Pierce, Bruce Kimball, Zaid Abdo

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wildlife disease surveillance and monitoring poses unique challenges when assessing rates of population vaccination, immunity, or infection prevalence. Non-invasively detected biomarkers can help reduce risk to both animal and field personnel during wildlife disease management activities. In this study, we investigated the utility of fecal microbiome data collected from captive striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) in predicting rabies virus vaccination and infection status. We sequenced the hypervariable region 4 (V4) of the bacterial 16S gene and estimated alpha and beta diversity across timepoints in three groups of skunks: vaccination then rabies virus infection, sham vaccination then rabies virus infection, and rabies …

Determination Of Residue Levels Of Rodenticide In Rodent Livers Offered Novel Diphacinone Baits By Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry, David A. Goldade, Shane Siers, Steven C. Hess, Robert T. Sugihara, Craig A. Riekena

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

A specific and sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the determination of the anticoagulant rodenticide diphacinone (DPN) in mouse and rat liver. Tissue samples were extracted with a mixture of water and acetonitrile containing ammonium hydroxide. The extracted sample was cleaned up with a combination of liquid-liquid partitioning and dispersive solid phase extraction. Chromatographic separation was achieved using a Waters X-Bridge BEH C-18 LC column (50 mm, 2.1 mm ID, 2.5 μm particle size) with detection on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The monitored transition for DPN was m/z …

Controllable Factors Affecting Accuracy And Precision Of Human Identification Of Animals From Drone Imagery, Landon R. Jones, Jared A. Elmore, B. Santhana Krishnan, Sathishkumar Samiappan, Kristine O. Evans, Morgan B. Pfeiffer, Brad Blackwell, Raymond Iglay

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Surveying animal populations using drones (unoccupied aircraft systems [UAS]) provides numerous advantages; however, few best practices exist to survey animal communities with drones. Among myriad factors that can affect human identification and counts of animals from drone images, we focused on three factors typically controlled in the study design or by the drone pilot: flight altitude, camera angle, and time of day. Identifying interactions and patterns among these three variables represents an important first step to determining best survey practices. We used a drone to survey known numbers of eight animal decoy species, representing a range of body sizes and …

African Swine Fever, Vienna R. Brown, Julianna B. Lenoch, Courtney F. Bowden

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

At the time of writing this chapter, a global pandemic of African swine fever (ASF) is ongoing with the virus having moved from Eastern Europe, Asia, and into the Caribbean—leaving swine production in devastation along the way. Due to the global spread of African swine fever virus (ASFV), the persistence of the virus, and the increasing number of endemic countries, this disease poses an imminent threat of introduction into North America and other countries that are currently ASF free. Throughout the chapter, we reference Eurasian wild boar (Sus scrofa) which are charismatic megafauna that are native to Europe and Asia. …

Spatially Structured Brown-Headed Cowbird Control Measures And Their Effects On Kirtland’S Warbler Long-Term Population Sustainability, Eric A. Margenau, Nathan W. Cooper, Donald J. Brown, Deahn M. Donner, Peter P. Marra, Pat Ryan

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Context: Brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), through brood parasitism, can exert extrinsic population growth pressures on North American songbirds. Cowbird removal programs may reduce parasitism rates on host species but can be expensive and difficult to implement throughout a host species’ breeding range.

Aim: We estimated cowbird abundance and nest parasitism rates within Kirtland’s warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii) primary breeding range in Michigan, USA, and determined the maximum sustainable parasitism rate for Kirtland’s warblers under several spatially structured cowbird removal designs.

Methods: We conducted point counts to estimate cowbird abundance and monitored nests to quantify nest parasitism rates …

Factors Affecting The Recovery Of Mexican Wolves In The Southwest United States, Stewart W. Breck, Amy J. Davis, John Oakleaf, David L. Bergman, Jim Devos, J. Paul Greer, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

1. Recovering and maintaining large carnivore populations is a global conservation challenge that requires better knowledge of the factors affecting their populations, particularly in shared landscapes (i.e. non-protected areas where people occupy and or utilize the land).
2. The Mexican wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) is an endangered wolf subspecies being recovered on shared landscapes in the Southwest United States and Mexico. We used data from the U.S. program to model population growth, evaluate the impact of management removal and illegal killing relative to other demographic factors, and test hypotheses about factors influencing rates of management removal and illegal killing.
3. From …

Willingness To Pay For Reintroducing Wolves In A Divided Voting Base, Dana Lk Hoag, Jesse Burkhardt, Benjamin Ghasemi, Stewart W. Breck, Rebecca Niemiec, Kevin Crooks

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Wolves will soon be reintroduced in Colorado based on a statewide ballot initiative that narrowly passed in November 2020. Using an economic choice experiment, we estimate the benefits that wolf introduction might bring to Colorado. We calculated willingness to pay (WTP) for a sustainable wolf population by considering six program attributes: 1) state wolf population, 2) compensation for livestock-related losses, 3) cost-sharing for conflict reduction, 4) number of livestock killed statewide, 5) lethal government control of wolves, and 6) wolf hunting. Respondents who reported they voted yes on the ballot initiative had a positive WTP for a population of 200 …