Living with wolves
If there is a conservation organisation or scientific programme near you that traps and collars wolves, you may be able to participate and use these collars to help deter wolves from entering your land.
RADIO COLLARS AND RAG BOXES
Studying the movements of wolves normally involves capturing them and releasing them with radio-transmitting collars. If you know the signals given out by collars on your local packs, you can use radio receivers to detect when wolves are approaching your land. Measures can then be taken to scare them away, including non-lethal munitions (see video), and Radio-Activated Guard boxes.
RAG boxes were invented by Edward Cummings, a rancher from Montana. They work by detecting the radio-collars of wolves entering a specified area such as a small pasture, and triggering a set of stimuli such as strobe lights or loud noise recordings. These stimuli scare away wolves and prevent them from entering the restricted zone, classifying them as ‘disruptive stimuli’ because they interrupt the wolves' hunting behaviours. RAG boxes are automatic and require no human input to use beyond maintenance and installation.
Detecting radio-collared wolves allows you to scare them away if they approach vulnerable livestock.
EVIDENCE OF EFFECTIVENESS
A study in 2002 across ranches along the Salmon River in central Idaho tested the effectiveness of the Avian Systems Model 9000 Frightening System, a type of RAG box, at deterring wolves from entering cattle pastures.
The study matched up instances of the RAG systems firing with wolf tracks left in the area and concluded that the device had successfully scared wolves away from calving pastures. No cattle were killed during 30 days of using the RAG boxes at one ranch, whereas when the cows and calves were moved to unprotected pastures, 6 calves were killed in the following week.
The boxes were also successful at another site elsewhere on the Salmon River, where over several months, only a single calf was killed when the system failed to function due to the receiver being switched off.
LIMITATIONS
RAG boxes can be an expensive method of wolf deterrent; the systems used in the previous study cost $3,800 per unit. Another issue with RAG boxes is that wolves can become used to the stimuli (a process known as habituation) and no longer scared away. Using a variety of different stimuli can limit this - the systems tested in the study had 30 different sound recordings in order to increase the time before wolves became habituated.
For these reasons, RAG boxes are best used over short periods and in small pastures e.g. during calving (see Changes to Practice for more information).
SHOCK COLLARS
Electric shock collars form a part of the ‘aversive conditioning’ approach to deterring wolves. As well as causing wolves coming near pastures to flee like RAG boxes (disruptive stimulus), shock collars aim to condition wolves to avoid returning to the pastures in the future as they associate this behaviour with a negative effect e.g. receiving an electric shock.
Several studies have been carried out on the effectiveness of shock collars. One Wisconsin study in 2003 and 2004 found that wolves fitted with shock collars visited baited sites less often and spent less time there than wolves without collars. Both during and after the shocking period, the wolves shifted their activity to 0.7k away from the baited sites - a change that would be significant in protecting pastures. A similar study in 2005 and 2006 found that the period in which wolves avoided the sites once shocking had ceased was at least 40 days. This study also calculated the cost of setting up a shocking system at $1725-2225 per wolf excluding monitoring labour costs.
Using shock collars is a theoretically feasible strategy for managing wolf depredation, but normally requires that collars have already been fitted by local organisation.
Electric shock collars can cause distress and suffering. We are opposed to their use on any animals.
- RSPCA spokesperson
Using shock collars on wild wolves is a highly controversial management strategy, and many conservationists believe it is unethical or only preferable to lethal management.
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Breck, S.W., Williamson, R., Niemeyer, C. & Shivik, J.A. (2002) Non-lethal Radio Activated Guard for Deterring Wolf
Depredation in Idaho: Summary and Call for Research, USDA National Wildlife Research Center - Staff Publications. 467.
Rossler, S. T., Gehring, T. M., Schultz, R. N., Rossler, M. T., Wydeven, A. P. and Hawley, J. E. (2012), Shock collars as a site‐aversive conditioning tool for wolves. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 36: 176-184. doi:10.1002/wsb.93
Hawley, J., Gehring, T., Schultz, R., Rossler, S., & Wydeven, A. (2009). Assessment of Shock Collars as Nonlethal Management for Wolves in Wisconsin. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 73(4), 518-525.
Shivik, J.A. & Martin, D.J. (2000) Aversive and disruptive stimulus applications for managing predation, Wildlife Damage Management Conferences -- Proceedings. 20.