Targeting hunter distribution based on host resource selection and kill sites to manage disease risk

Abstract

Endemic and emerging diseases are rarely uniform in their spatial distribution orprevalence among cohorts of wildlife. Spatial models that quantify risk-drivendifferences in resource selection and hunter mortality of animals at fine spatialscales can assist disease management by identifying high-risk areas and individuals.We used resource selection functions (RSFs) and selection ratios (SRs) toquantify sex- and age-specific resource selection patterns of collared (n = 67)and hunter-killed (n = 796) nonmigratory elk (Cervus canadensis manitobensis)during the hunting season between 2002 and 2012, in southwestern Manitoba,Canada. Distance to protected area was the most important covariate influencingresource selection and hunter-kill sites of elk (AICw = 1.00). Collared adultmales (which are most likely to be infected with bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacteriumbovis) and chronic wasting disease) rarely selected for sites outside of parksduring the hunting season in contrast to adult females and juvenile males. TheRSFs showed selection by adult females and juvenile males to be negatively associatedwith landscape-level forest cover, high road density, and water cover,whereas hunter-kill sites of these cohorts were positively associated with landscape-level forest cover and increasing distance to streams and negatively associatedwith high road density. Local-level forest was positively associated withcollared animal locations and hunter-kill sites; however, selection was strongerfor collared juvenile males and hunter-killed adult females. In instances wheredisease infects a metapopulation and eradication is infeasible, a principle goal ofmanagement is to limit the spread of disease among infected animals. We maphigh-risk areas that are regularly used by potentially infectious hosts but currentlyunderrepresented in the distribution of kill sites. We present a novel applicationof widely available data to target hunter distribution based on hostresource selection and kill sites as a promising tool for applying selective huntingto the management of transmissible diseases in a game species. © 2013 The Authors.