Survival of Cougars Caught in Non-Target Foothold Traps and Snares & Additional Reports
ABSTRACT Cougars (Puma concolor) occupy mountain ranges throughout the Great Basin, Nevada, USA,
where legal trapping of bobcats (Lynx rufus) is common and some non-target captures of cougars in bobcat
traps occur. Such incidental capture of cougars is an undocumented source of mortality because some cougars
die from injuries several weeks after release from traps. We examined cause-specific mortality and the effects
of capture of cougars in bobcat traps on annual and overall (7-year) survival during 2009–2015. We captured
48 cougars, of which we followed 33 until death. We estimated average annual survival rates for adult cougars
and assessed the relative effects of sex, season, and long-term effects of non-target capture of cougars in
foothold traps on estimated survival of adults using a nest survival model in Program MARK. We
incorporated a time-varying covariate to assess the long-term effect of capture in non-target foothold traps on
survival of adult cougars. READ MORE…