ホンシュウジカのメス成獣が高確率で接触する箱わなにおける蹴り糸の位置

抄録

 In Japan, sika deer (Cervus nippon) cause serious agricultural damage. To reduce the damage, it is important to use fencing and to capture the deer causing the damage. Box traps are recommended for capturing deer around farms. However, there is little information about where to position the trip line to capture adult deer with a box trap. We determined the optimal position of the trip line where there was a high probability that a deer would be in contact with it. Three reared adult female deer were used to determine this, along with a mobile cage and polyester yarn as the box trap and the trip line, respectively. The height of the trip line was randomly changed between 20 cm to 90 cm at 10 cm intervals, while the distance of the trip line from the bait was positioned between 20 cm to 50 cm at 10 cm intervals. We investigated whether deer made contact with the trip line at each position. The relationships between trip line position and deer contact were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models. We found that trip line height significantly affected the deer contact. In contrast, the distance between the bait and the trip line did not affect the deer contact. The contact probabilities estimated by the best fitting model were high at trip line heights from 40 cm to 60 cm. In these positions, the deer contacted the trip line with their heads, necks, thoraxes, and backs.