Study: Wolf behavior undeterred by tailings ponds and pit mines
From ScienceDaily.com:
Wolves do not avoid areas of human disturbance when hunting moose in Alberta’s oil sands region.
New UAlberta research shows that predation rates of moose have increased near areas of high human disturbance, but low human activity, such as tailings ponds and pit mines.
“Wolves are not avoiding these features,” explained UAlberta PhD candidate Eric Neilson, who compared the population density of moose to the distribution of wolf-related moose deaths in the region. “In fact, they are using space near mines as they usually would, demonstrating that these spaces are not a deterrent.”
