Research Article
Survival of Cougars Caught in Non-Target
Foothold Traps and Snares 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. Average annual survival of non-trapped females and males, regardless of trapping history, was significantly greater than females with a history of capture in a non-target foothold trap; however, once partitioned across age, sex, and capture status, sample sizes were small. Our results suggest that capture in non-target foothold traps decreases survival of adult female cougars directly by causing injuries that eventually result in mortality, and indirectly by increasing susceptibility to other forms of mortality. Mortality resulting from conflict with humans and road mortalities will be increasingly important as the human population expands into cougar habitat. 2018 The Wildlife Society.



