Snow Leopard Survival Strategy - Panthera

Arctic caribou herd (CAH) have been expressed in
scientific literature and management documents such as
environmental impact statements. The number of CAH
caribou in the western summer range that includes the
oil fields declined by more than 50% between 1992 and
1995 but then almost doubled between 1995 and 1997.
Numbers of caribou in the eastern portion of the range,
without oil fields, showed opposite trends during these
time intervals. The changes in numbers of caribou in
areas with and without oil fields are probably due to
movements between summer ranges rather than oilfield
impacts. Although there may be some disturbance
of animals in the oil fields, population-level impacts
apparently have not occurred. The number of caribou
in the CAH has increased from approximately 5,000 to
approximately 20,000 since oil-field development began,
and the management objectives for the CAH have been
met despite development of the largest oil and gas fields
in the United States. Managers and regulators should
acknowledge that coexistence of caribou with oil and
gas development demonstrates the success of mitigation,
regulation, and management efforts, These successes
should be cited and incorporated in planning efforts
for future oil development and in public management
documents such as environmental impact statements
(EIS), Management documents can be considered as
scientific and objective only if all available information
is included, regardless of whether the information has
negative or positive connotations for developments.
Cunningham, S. C., C. R. Gustavson and W. B. Ballard.
1999. Diet selection of mountain lions in southeastern
Arizona. Journal of Range Management 52(3):202-207.
Prey selection by mountain lions (Puma concolor) in
the Aravaipa-Klondyke area in southeastern Arizona
was studied from February 1991 to September 1993.
Overall diet as determined from frequency of occurrence
in 370 seats was 48% deer (Odocoileus virginianus
cousi and O. hemionus combined), 34% cattle, 17%
javelina (Tayassu tajacu), 6% rabbit (Sylvilagus spp.
and Lepus californicus combined), 4% rodent, and 2%
desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis mexicanus). With
respect to biomass consumed, cattle composed 44%, deer
40%, javelina 10.9%, rabbits 2.9%, and rodents 0.02%.
Based on mean weights of prey consumed, the proportion
of individuals killed and eaten changed to rabbits 52.7%,
deer 16.3%, rodents 12%, javelina 10%, cattle 8%, and
desert bighorn sheep 0.5%. Mountain lions selected deer
less frequently than their availability would suggest,
selected calves slightly more than their availability, and
javelina as expected. We speculated that lions selected
calves because they were more vulnerable to predation
than deer.
Czekala, N. M., B. S. Durrant, L. Callison, M. Williams
and S. Millard. 1994. Fecal steroid-hormone analysis
as an indicator of reproductive function in the
cheetah. Zoo Biology 13(2):119-128.
Techniques were developed and validated to measure
fecal estrogen and progesterone concentrations of the
female cheetah. Fecal samples were collected from
seven mature females. Cheetahs were monitored before
mating and continued until parturition. Four females had
normal pregnancies, one conceived but the pregnancy
resulted in spontaneous abortion, one was mated but
apparently did not conceive and one was treated with
gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and human
chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) to induce follicular
growth and ovulation. Vaginal superficial cells increased
with increasing estrogen concentrations. Peak estrogen
occurred one day postcopulation. Increases in fecal
progesterone concentrations, indicative of ovulation,
occurred after copulation and hormonally induced
ovulation. For the first time reproductive function can
be monitored in the cheetah using non-invasive sample
collection.
Damania, R., R. Stringer, K. U. Karanth, B. Stith. 2003.
The economics of protecting tiger populations: linking
household behaviour to poaching and prey depletion.
Land Economics (79)2:198-216.
The tiger (Panthera tigris) is classified as endangered
and populations continue to decline. This paper presents
a formal economic analysis of the two most imminent
threats to the survival of wild tigers: poaching of tigers
and hunting their prey. A model is developed to examine
the interactions between tigers and farm households
living in and around tiger habitats. The analysis
extends the model of tiger demography to incorporate
predator-prey interactions and explore the sensitivity
of tiger populations to key economic parameters. To
our knowledge, this is the first formal investigation into
the economic causes of declining tiger populations. The
analysis aims to contribute to policy debates on how best
to protect one of the world’s most endangered wild cats.
Deem, S.L., L.H. Spelman, R.A. Yates and R.J. Montali.
2000. Canine distemper in terrestrial carnivores: A
review. Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine 31:441-
451.
Canine distemper virus is a member of the genus
Morbillivirus in the family Paramyxoviridae. Canine
distemper has been recorded in domestic dogs for
centuries. It is now recognized as a worldwide problem
of carnivores and has the second highest fatality rate of
any infectious disease, after rabies, in domestic dogs.
The importance of this disease in nondomestic animals
has become evident with vaccine-induced infections in
a variety of species and large-scale epidemics in captive
and free-ranging felids. To date, canine distemper has
been reported in all families of terrestrial carnivores:
Canidae, Felidae, Hyaenidae, Mustelidae, Procyonidae,
Ursidae, and Viverridae. Veterinarians, including
those working with nondomestic carnivores, should be
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