Finnish wolves avoid roads and settlements

Publication Type:Journal Article
Year of Publication:2005
Authors:Kaartinen, S, Kojola, I, Colpaert, A
Journal:Annales Zoologici Fennici
Volume:42
Date Published:2005
Keywords:Canis lupus
Abstract:

The avoidance of roads and human settlements by wolves (Canis lupus) in a harvested population was studied in boreal woodland landscapes in east-central Finland with a low density of humans (2 km(-2)) and roads (0.4 km/km(-2)). The abundance of the primary prey, i.e. moose, is moderate with approximately 50 moose per wolf within wolf pack territories. Twelve alpha wolves in six territories were captured, fitted with radio-collars, and ground-tracked during 1998-2002. The number of wolves has recently been increasing in Finland and they have also expanded their range. This in turn has raised a certain degree of concern among people living in the area, and the wolves are often perceived as a safety threat both to people and domestic animals. We found that wolves tended to avoid human constructions. The avoidance distances were highest for buildings (1000 m) and for roads (250 m). Extrapolating from the avoidance distances to give an estimate for the entire study area revealed that 48% of the study area would potentially be subject to reduced use by the wolf.

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