2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
8/23/2017 | 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM | Emerging Tools for Managing Wild Horses and Burros;Headed in the Right Direction | Salon F
Emerging Tools for Managing Wild Horses and Burros;Headed in the Right Direction
Researchers from USGS and Colorado State University are in the process of developing and testing new tools for the management of wild horses and burros: tools to count animals, to mark them and track their movements, to evaluate the effects on population growth and behavior of sterilizing a portion of the population, and to model and compare the costs of management actions. We tested the use of infrared cameras coupled with Distance sampling analyses to count wild horses. Results were within 10% of known population size, which is comparable to other population estimation methods currently employed by BLM. We are developing a hybrid simultaneous double observer model to better estimate wild burro populations, which are notoriously difficult to count. To mark and track wild horses and burros we tested several radio collar and tag designs in a 1-year pasture trial, and are now conducting a field test in 4 wild populations (2 WH herds, 2 burro herds) in Utah and Arizona. We are currently collecting pre-treatment data in a stallion sterilization study; gelding treatments are scheduled for fall 2017. The mare spay study has been funded but not yet initiated. Preliminary results and status of each of these studies will be discussed.
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Presenters/Authors
Kate Schoenecker
(), USGS and Colorado State University, schoeneckerk@usgs.gov;
Dr. Schoenecker has conducted research on the ecology of ungulates for the past 19 years at USGS. She received a master’s degree from the U of A in Tucson on the ecology of desert bighorn sheep, and a PhD from Colorado State University on elk and bison grazing ecology in the Great Sand Dunes ecosystem. She currently leads the wild horse and burro research program at the Fort Collins Science Center.
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Sarah King
(), Colorado State University, sarah.king@colostate.edu;
Dr. King has been conducting research on the behavioral ecology of small mammals and equids for the past 15 years. Her Ph.D. from the University of London was on the behavioral ecology of Przewalski's horses reintroduced to Mongolia. Her research has often focused on endangered species, and she ran two conservation programs in Mongolia. She is co-chair of the IUCN/SSC Equid Specialist Group and is currently PI or co-PI on several wild horse and burro projects at Colorado State University, working in collaboration with USGS.
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