Wolves with high hunting threat get stressed out: study

Wolves in areas where the animals are heavilyhunted experience social disruption and psychological stress, says anew study.

The study, published in the scientific journal FunctionalEcology, involves scientists from B.C., Alberta and Israel whomeasured hormone levels in small tufts of wolf hair gathered inAlberta, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Researchers found that wolves facing a greater hunting threathave higher levels of stress and reproductive hormones, which theysay alters a wolf pack's elaborate social structure and might haveevolutionary consequences.

Co-author and University of Calgary Prof. Marco Musiani said thehormonal changes could result in unintended increases inreproduction rates and altered genetic structure for the animals.

The Raincoast Conservation Foundation, whose researchersparticipated in the study, opposes B.C.'s grey wolf management plan,which was released this spring after a review of more than 2,500public input submissions.

Raincoast's executive director Chris Genovali says the studyhighlights that lethal control programs should take psychologicaland social effects on animals into account, not just numbers.