Conservation and management of large carnivores in North America

Abstract

Between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries in North America, large carnivores were significantly reduced in numbers and distribution. Wildlife management priorities changed during the last century to emphasize recovery and conservation with benefits to all species. Populations of large carnivores are likely to persist and expand into new areas within their original range where habitats are both socially and biologically suitable. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are an exception to this pattern as major contractions in numbers and distribution caused by global warming are now unavoidable. The extinction of polar bears during the twenty-first century is possible without great reductions in atmospheric greenhouse gases. Conservation and management of large carnivores is complicated because they require large landscapes, they may compete with hunters for ungulate prey, they can adversely impact economic activities such as livestock operations, and they sometimes, although rarely, attack and kill people.

Keywords:

• Black bears
• Brown bears
• Cougars
• North America
• Polar bears
• Wolves

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the helpful comments on earlier drafts by T. France and S. Scaggs by referees E. Bangs, D. Smith and M. Obbard, and by editorial staff M. Trindale, J. Weir and S. Mahoney. We thank S. Mahoney for asking us to prepare this manuscript. Support during manuscript preparation was provided by the National Wildlife Federation, the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, and the University of Alberta.