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Beyond 2000:
Realities of Global Wolf Restoration
23-26 February 2000
Duluth, Minnesota USA
Thomas D. Drummer, Department of Mathematical Sciences,
Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931, USA; Douglas
W. Smith, Kerry M. Murphy, Shaney B. Evans, Yellowstone Center for
Resources, PO Box 621, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190, USA
Estimation of kill rates by predators has been a centerpiece of
most predator/prey studies, allowing for assessment of carnivore
well being and impacts on prey populations. For wolves (Canis
lupus), kill rates are often reported as the mean number of
days between kills or mean number of kills per wolf per unit time.
Typically kills are located by aerial search or, rarely, ground
search, but not both, and it is assumed that all kills are found.
In Yellowstone National Park (YNP), park personnel have conducted
both air and ground searches for wolf kills for up to 4 packs in
both early and late winter. The YNP terrain permits ground crews
to locate packs visually, although ground crews are not able to
assess entire territories. Some kills are located by air crews,
some by ground crews, and some by both air andground crews. Use
of two assessment systems allows for application of the double-counts
procedure, which yields estimates of the probability of kill recovery
for both aerial and ground crews. The estimated recovery rates can
be used to adjust the observed kill totals for undetected kills.
We discuss the application of this procedure to kill data from YNP.
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