Apr. 17,
2013 — Bear hunters will tell you that a good way to attract a bear is to
put out bait. And in 10 states, including Michigan
and Wisconsin ,
that's perfectly legal. Hunting dogs are another useful technique in the
bear-hunter's toolkit, and 17 states say that's just fine.
But who else
likes bear bait? Gray wolves, that's who. And wolves that are feeling
territorial about a bear bait stash can -- and sometimes do -- kill hunting
dogs released at the bait site.
Like most
interactions between wildlife and human beings, wolf attacks on hunting dogs
illustrate a tangled trade-off: attracting bears for the hunters, attracting
danger for their dogs.
Seeking
possible ways to reduce potentially lethal encounters between wolves and bear
hunting dogs, researchers at Michigan Technological University
and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources compared bear hunting
practices and regulations in Michigan and Wisconsin .
Joseph K.
Bump, a Michigan Tech wildlife ecologist; Dean Beyer Jr. and Brian J. Roell
from the Michigan DNR, and students Chelsea Murawski and Linda Kartano report
their findings in the April 17, 2013 issue of the Public Library of Science
(PLOS) journal PLOS ONE.
The
researchers analyzed and compared a variety of factors in Michigan
and Wisconsin ,
from regulations on bear baiting and compensation for hunting dog attacks to
statistics such as the ratio of hunters to wolves and percentage of hunters
using dogs to hunt bear.
They found
that the neighboring states, with similar wolf and bear populations and similar
numbers of bear-hunting permits issued per wolf, report dramatically different
numbers of wolf attacks on hunting dogs. Wisconsin 's
relative risk of attack is two to seven times higher than Michigan 's.
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