Large carnivore conservation and traditional pastoralism: An economic analysis on the efficacy of bear-reindeer predation mitigation measures: Dataset for 2014–2016 corralling versus forest treatment analysis

While wildlife and cultural preservation goals can be either complimentary or counteractive, the goals of large carnivore conservation and traditional pastoralist lifestyles are often at odds. Livestock depredation can negatively impact the economies of livestock herders, while subsequent lethal removals contribute to local carnivore population declines. Here, we collaborated with two Sámi reindeer herding communities (2010–2016) situated in Sweden's boreal forest to evaluate the efficacy and economic feasibility of three brown bear predation mitigation measures: corralling pregnant reindeer during parturition, lethal bear management removals, and public bear-license hunting. Calving corrals increased survival for reindeer calves born to average-sized females by 7% to 15% and by 14% to 30% for calves born to small females. However, the realized cost of implementing calving corrals outweighed the financial gain for both our study areas (net losses ranged between €1,111 and €6,210 per calf saved from bear predation per year when using the updated 2021 calf value), as well as for almost every theoretical scenario we explored (net losses €234 and €13,995 per calf saved from bear predation). The exception was the theoretical scenario where small herding communities overlapped large bear populations, which crossed the breakeven efficacy bear/reindeer ratio of 13.5 bears/100 reindeer and had a potential net gain of €36 per saved calf. Similarly, the cost of lethal management removals of bears also outweighed the potential financial gain from saved calves, with net losses between €75 and €239 per calf. License hunting, where the hunters voluntarily incur the monetary costs of removing bears, is in most cases the only economically viable mitigation measure where the cost of mitigation did not outweigh the financial gain from increased reindeer survival. While the annual public license hunt was the most cost-effective mitigation measure, it may be less biologically effective, i.e., bear hunting occurs in the fall and reindeer parturition the following spring which leaves time for the empty niche of harvested bears to be filled by survivors. Economically and biologically effective predation mitigation measures are key for promoting coexistence, and we suggest that potential mitigation measures should be studied in collaboration with local people.

尽管野生动物保护与文化保护的目标既可能相辅相成，也可能相互冲突，但大型食肉动物保护与传统游牧生活方式的目标往往存在对立。牲畜被捕食会对牧民的经济造成负面影响，而随后针对食肉动物的致死移除则会导致当地食肉动物种群数量下降。本研究与瑞典北方针叶林内的两个萨米（Sámi）驯鹿放牧社群（2010—2016年）开展合作，评估了三类棕熊捕食防控措施的效果与经济可行性：分娩期圈养怀孕驯鹿、管理性致死移除棕熊，以及公开猎熊许可狩猎。分娩圈栏可使体型中等母鹿所产驯鹿幼崽的存活率提升7%至15%，使体型较小母鹿所产幼崽的存活率提升14%至30%。但在两个研究区域中，实施分娩圈栏的实际成本均高于其所带来的经济收益（按2021年更新后的幼崽价值计算，每拯救一头免遭棕熊捕食的幼崽，年净损失介于1111欧元至6210欧元之间）；本研究探索的几乎所有理论场景中亦是如此，每拯救一头幼崽的净损失介于234欧元至13995欧元之间。唯一的例外是小型放牧社群与高密度棕熊种群区域重叠的理论场景：当棕熊/驯鹿比例达到13.5头棕熊/100头驯鹿这一收支平衡阈值后，每拯救一头幼崽可获得36欧元的潜在净收益。同样，管理性致死移除棕熊的成本也高于拯救幼崽所能带来的潜在经济收益，每拯救一头幼崽的净损失介于75欧元至239欧元之间。猎熊许可狩猎模式下，猎人需自愿承担移除棕熊的相关成本，在大多数情况下，这是唯一符合经济可行性的防控措施——其防控成本未超过驯鹿存活率提升所带来的经济收益。尽管年度公开猎熊许可狩猎是成本效益最高的防控措施，但其生物学防控效果可能欠佳：因为猎熊活动在秋季开展，而驯鹿分娩则在次年春季，这会留出足够时间让被猎杀棕熊的生态位被幸存个体填补。兼具经济与生物学有效性的捕食防控措施是促进人兽共存的关键，本研究建议应与当地社群合作开展潜在防控措施的相关研究。