Wildlife managers use kid gloves to keep critters safe

Getting caught in a trap, anesthetized, examined and handled by humans, and fitted with collars and ear tags probably isn’t an experience that a wild animal enjoys. But how does the experience affect an animal?

“It’s different for every animal,” says Scott Fitkin, a wildlife biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Fitkin has participated for many years in studies of North Cascades wildlife, including bears, wolves, wolverines and lynx. 

“Carnivores tend to be pretty intelligent animals as a whole. How they react to humans varies from individual to individual,” he said.

An ongoing study of wolverines in the North Cascades has resulted in some animals being captured two or more times. A male wolverine that researchers named Rocky was trapped for the fifth time this winter.

For some animals, like Rocky, their behavior remains unaltered despite contact with humans, Fitkin said. Rocky, for instance, appeared to be just as aggressive during his fifth capture as he was during his first. Another wolverine, named Chewbacca, showed different behavior when he was captured a second time.

“The first time was typical capture,” with the wolverine acting aggressively toward the humans. “The second time we opened up the trap and he was lying on his back beside the bait, asleep,” Fitkin said. “In some, aggression level doesn’t change at all. Others become less animated in the trap.”

Fitkin said it appears, however, that most animals retain their instinctive fear of humans after being captured by researchers. “There’s no evidence to suggest… that handling the animal makes them more likely to approach people or be less wary of people,” Fitkin said. Animals are recaptured because they are lured by the bait in the trap, he said. “It’s all about the food source, because there’s a meal to be had. These animals are still covering huge territories. They don’t hang around traps.”

The animals captured in the studies are often anesthetized to allow researchers to examine them, take measurements, and in some cases fit ear tags on them for identification and radio or telemetry collars to track their movements in the wild.

Kristin Mansfield, state wildlife veterinarian for Fish and Wildlife in Spokane, conducts training sessions to teach agency employees how to capture animals and deliver anesthesia. “If drugging is done by a well-trained person it can be less stressful for the animal,” Mansfield said.

“Over the past 50 years there have been tremendous improvements in survival when animals are captured. It wasn’t unusual in the ’50s and ’60s that you would expect 25 percent mortality. That wouldn’t be acceptable today,” Mansfield said. “There’s more veterinarian involvement. We now expect 1 to 2 percent mortality.”

Mansfield said the anesthetics used on animals in the wild are the same drugs used by veterinarians on domestic dogs and cats. She said the animals are anesthetized so that they are “completely out” and unaware of what is taking place when they are being handled by humans.

The anesthesia is usually administered with a pole syringe – a syringe attached to a long stick that is inserted into the cage and injected into the trapped animal – or with dart rifles or dart pistols, Mansfield said.

To minimize stress on the animals, biologists and researchers are advised to give the animals quiet, undisturbed time as the anesthetics take hold, she said. If an animal is in a trap, people are advised to cover the trap and move away until the animal loses consciousness.

Mansfield said 150 people in Fish and Wildlife have received training to immobilize animals either for research or to manage wildlife. The training needs to be repeated every five years to retain certification to administer anesthetics, she said.

“Those of us who handle the animals go through fairly rigorous training in capture and handling of the animals,” Fitkin said. “There’s usually a fairly extensive discussion on ethics and public perception.”

The research team works quickly and quietly around the animals, Fitkin said. Often five to 10 people are present, and everyone is instructed to talk quietly and avoid making loud noises. A handful of people work directly with the animal on assigned tasks, Fitkin said, taking temperature, respiration and heart rate, and attaching ear tags or fitting radio collars. “At any given moment no more than a couple people are touching the animal,” Fitkin said.

Conservation Northwest, a non-profit environmental organization, conducts non-invasive wildlife monitoring programs such as cameras and hair snags. Jasmine Minbashian, special project coordinator at Conservation Northwest, said trapping and handling animals poses some risks, “but there’s a trade-off, especially when you’ve got a new or threatened or very sensitive population.” 

“With collaring wolves… there’s a certain amount of risk. In places where there are threats from poaching like we have in the Methow, collaring can help us keep track of the animals and provide a disincentive to poaching.”

The Lookout Mountain gray wolf pack was the first confirmed wolf pack in the Cascades for more than 70 years. Researchers wanted to place collars on some of the wolves because “we didn’t have much information about how wolves were using the landscape… what is the potential for them to come into contact or conflict with livestock,” Fitkin said. 

For animals that are being considered for listing as an endangered or threatened species, like wolves, research data is needed to determine whether the listing is justified, Fitkin said. “As a wildlife agency our wildlife studies are pretty management driven. How are we going to manage for sustainable, healthy populations?”

Most species require some level of active management, Fitkin said. “In a perfect world we wouldn’t have to put animals through any stress and management would be simple and straightforward. If we’re going to perpetuate animals on the landscape some hands-on work is required,” he said. 

“We’ve messed so much with Mother Nature, particularly in the lower 48 [states], that we don’t have large enough unimpacted chunks of land left where natural processes can be left unimpeded.”