Consistent habitat loss and fragmentation are contributing factors to the rise of human-bear conflicts in south Louisiana. Complaints associated with nuisance activities of Louisiana black bears (Ursus americanus luteolus) experienced in this region have steadily increased since 2000, requiring intervention by state and federal agencies. As a threatened species, Louisiana black bears require non-lethal management referred to as aversive conditioning. We used rubber buckshot and dogs to test the effectiveness of management techniques used by the state to deter nuisance activity by black bears. Eleven bears, representing approximately 15% of the estimated population in this region, were captured in residential and industrial areas reporting nuisance activity. Bears were fitted with radio-transmitting collars and released within 2 km of the capture site. Each bear was randomly placed within 1 of 2 treatments; treatment 1 (n=5) used rubber buckshot and treatment 2 (n=6) used the rubber buckshot in combination with dogs. Bears were monitored using telemetry to estimate movements and interactions with anthropogenic resources. Bears, on average, remained within 2 km of capture sites 2 weeks following release. Ten bears (91%) returned to nuisance behavior within 5 months, regardless of treatment. Results suggest that aversive conditioning techniques used to deter bears from nuisance activity have limited short term effectiveness.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-06222007-110425 |
| Date | 05 July 2007 |
| Creators | Leigh, Jennifer |
| Contributors | Michael Chamberlain, Frank Rohwer, Craig Miller |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-06222007-110425/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0016 seconds