Predator Bounties in Western Canada Cause Animal Suffering and Compromise Wildlife Conservation Efforts

Animals

Gilbert Proulx²  Dwight Rodtka³  Kate Littin¹  Trudy Sharp¹ 

[1] id="af1-animals-05-00397">1Alpha Wildlife Research & Management Ltd., 229 Lilac Terrace, Sherwood Park, AB T8H 1W3, Cana;Alpha Wildlife Research & Management Ltd., 229 Lilac Terrace, Sherwood Park, AB T8H 1W3, Canada;Alberta Agriculture, Problem Wildlife Specialist—retired, Rocky Mountain House, AB T4T 2A2, Canada; E-Mail:

关键词: animal welfare;    bounty;    predators;    shooting;    snares;    strychnine;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ani5040397

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Although predation bounty programs (rewards offered for capturing or killing an animal) ended more than 40 years ago in Canada, they were reintroduced in Alberta in 2007 by hunting, trapping, and farming organizations, municipalities and counties, and in 2009 in Saskatchewan, by municipal and provincial governments and the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association. Bounty hunters use inhumane and non-selective killing methods such as shooting animals in non-vital regions, and killing neck snares and strychnine poisoning, which cause suffering and delayed deaths. They are unselective, and kill many non-target species, some of them at risk. Predator bounty programs have been found to be ineffective by wildlife professionals, and they use killing methods that cause needless suffering and jeopardize wildlife conservation programs. Our analysis therefore indicates that government agencies should not permit the implementation of bounty programs. Accordingly, they must develop conservation programs that will minimize wildlife-human conflicts, prevent the unnecessary and inhumane killing of animals, and ensure the persistence of all wildlife species.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.