LEUKOCYTE COPING CAPACITY AS A TOOL TO ASSESS CAPTURE- AND HANDLING-INDUCED STRESS IN SCANDINAVIAN BROWN BEARS (URSUS ARCTOS)

Abstract

PREFACECompilation of this document was initiated by the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management in order to establish recommended protocols for capture, chemical immobilization, anesthesia and radiotagging of free-ranging brown bears (Ursus arctos), gray wolves (Canis lupus), wolverines (Gulo gulo) and Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). In addition, procedures to ensure proper sampling of biological materials for management, research and banking purposes have been included.The current protocols are based on nearly 3,000 captures of free-ranging brown bears, wolves, wolverines and lynx carried out from 1984 through 2012 in Scandinavia. Some of the results have been published as peer reviewed papers, conference presentations, theses, and reports. However, a large amount of data are still on file and will be published in the future. In addition, comprehensive reviews of the global literature on brown bears, wolves, wolverines and lynx have been carried out in order to include pertinent information from other sources.These protocols have been approved by all ongoing research projects on brown bears, wolves, wolverines and lynx in Scandinavia.We thank the contributors for their cooperative efforts. We also thank the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management for their support. This document will be updated on a regular basis and will be available in pdf format at:

Quantifying capture stress in free ranging European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)

“…We attribute this lack of correlation to a large individual variation in how animals cope with a stressful situation behaviorally and physiologically [15, 69, 70], impeding the detection of quantitative effects of a stressor, at least at low sample sizes like they are commonly faced in field studies. Moreover, our results are supported by the findings of Esteruelas et al [32] showing that LCC levels did not correlate with heart rate, N:L ratio nor cortisol concentrations in Scandinavian brown bears. It should be noted, however, that those animals were anesthetized, resulting in additional physiological alterations.…”

“…It should be noted, however, that those animals were anesthetized, resulting in additional physiological alterations. As in our findings, the classical parameters measured by Esteruelas et al [32] indicated that animals were certainly stressed, but likewise did not allow for quantifying stress responses [61]. This, however, is apparently not the case for the LCC.…”

“…Other species investigated so far reached LCC peak performance only at 15 min (e.g. European badger [31], Brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) [32]). This finding could potentially be explained by the fact that roe deer are prey animals [57, 58] and need to adjust their physiology rapidly in response to a threat by a predator.…”

“…There is growing evidence of the effects of stress on parts of the innate immune system [28–30] indicating that it is possible to quantify stress by directly measuring immune responses [31, 32]. White blood cells, more specifically neutrophil granulocytes, of stressed individuals show a substantially decreased capacity to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) compared to less stressed animals.…”

“Feelings and Fitness” Not “Feelings or Fitness”–The Raison d'être of Conservation Welfare, Which Aligns Conservation and Animal Welfare Objectives

“…Several authors have previously indicated the need for a common language to unite conservation and animal welfare sciences and have attempted to identify common metrics to do so and to more clearly delineate the point at which biological fitness and welfare converge. “Stress” was proposed as that unifying concept, and measurements of stress have been widely used to evaluate the fitness and welfare impacts of human-generated conditions and procedures on animals of wild species [e.g., ( 42 , 75 , 78 , 91 , 92 , 94 , 155 , 156 )]. Stress has usually been characterized according to physiological responses, primarily activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis elicited by external threats or disruptions to internal conditions, i.e., homeostasis ( 157 , 158 ).…”