Sunde, P., Overskaug, K. & Kvam, T. 1998: Culling of lynxes Lynx lynx related to livestock predation in a heterogeneous landscape. - Wildl. Biol. 4: 169-175.
Lynx Lynx lynx hunting in Norway is regulated through regional quotas according to the magnitude of predation on semi-domesticated reindeer Rangifer tarandus and domestic sheep Oves aries. Lynxes and semi-domesticated reindeer were studied using telemetry in an area in Nord-Trøndelag County, Norway, with high lynx predation on reindeer and domestic sheep and a high hunting pressure on lynxes. The probability of an ungulate killed by lynxes being livestock as opposed to a roe deer (the only alternative wild ungulate) increased with increasing distance from fields (P < 0.0001) and roads (P < 0.0001). Hunting was the only mortality cause found for radio-collared lynxes. The culling of lynxes was biased towards the vicinity of roads and cultivated fields compared with the general distribution of radio-collared lynxes (P < 0.001) and radio-collared semi-domesticated reindeer killed by lynxes (P < 0.001). Because of the easy location in rural areas due to the well-developed road system, lynxes suffered the highest hunting mortality in habitats where the proportion of livestock in the diet was lowest, whereas lynxes inhabiting alpine areas more than 3 km from the nearest road escaped hunting. The hunters’ preference for hunting lynxes near roads leads to a risk of selective reduction in regions and habitats where lynxes do little harm, whereas numbers in remote areas with high predation on live-stock may remain unaltered.
Key words: Lynx lynx, hunting, management, livestock, habitat, roads
Peter Sunde*, Kristian Overskaug & Tor Kvam, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Tungasletta 2, N - 7005 Trondheim, Norway
*Present address: Department of Population Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK - 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark -e-mail: PSunde@zi.ku.dk
Received 23 September 1997, accepted 12 March 1998
Associate Editor: Paolo Cavallini