Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Yokoyama, Mayumi
• Takagi, Shun

Titel

Management of the Asiatic black bear population in Hyogo Prefecture using data provided from damage control measures

Ist Teil von

• Japanese Journal of Conservation Ecology, 2018, Vol.23(1), pp.57-65

Ort / Verlag

Kyoto: The Ecological Society of Japan

Erscheinungsjahr

2018

Quelle

EZB Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We report the management history of the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) in Hyogo Prefecture, includingpopulation estimates obtained through monitoring methods that use data provided from damage control measures. To preventextirpation of the bear population, the first Specified Wildlife Conservation and Management Plan in Hyogo determined thatall bears captured as nuisances for the first time and miss-trapped should be released. We recorded the history of released bearsusing microchips embedded subcutaneously at the time of capture. If a bear was killed as nuisance control, dissection wasperformed to assess the bear’s age, nutritional condition, and breeding status. Thus, we were able to estimate population sizeand trends using a model combining mark-recapture and harvest-based methods. We observed an increasing population trendfrom 2005-2016; the estimated median number of individuals exceeded 800 in 2015 and 2016. Our analysis of the reproductionstatus of adult females, assessed independently from the population estimation, indicated that more than 95% of adult femalesexhibited signs of breeding every other year. These data indicate that there is no risk of Asiatic black bear extirpation in Hyogo.Consequently, bear hunting resumed in 2016 after a 20-year ban.