I noticed my observations of bison and elk at LBL in Kentucky were marked as captive. Is this correct? Am i opening a can of worms with this debate?
There’s a previous topic here about this subject - the forum describes it as a 45 min read, but you can also try out the top replies feature:
Following iNaturalist’s guidelines, managed, fenced herds (like this one) of native animals like bison and elk are considered captive on iNat - they are confined to the locations people intend them to be - in this case, a relatively small 700 acres, and looks like the animals are also regularly tested and sold or sent for reintroduction efforts in other locations.
Interesting. It is a shame, since they are supposed to be there in the first place, and the only reason they are fenced in is because landowners would throw a hissy fit if they saw anything natural in their life, lol. I drove through it, and its a pretty huge area. I doubt the animals even realize they are fenced in (if they have the capabilities to think about such things). As for them being auctioned off, I see no difference between that and say, hunting deer or trapping raccoons. I dont think anyone would argue that all deer should be marked as captive because we regularly take out members of their population or test them for CWD. I would argue that the LBL population would be considered wild, but I do not make these decisions.
You can see in the other topic that it’s an area of differing opinions, so you may find people voting in various ways. But personally I think if bison in the wild move 2-3 miles a day on average, with an avg “home range” of 12-39 square miles, then a 1 square mile fenced in area like Land Between the Lakes presents a significant barrier to their natural daily movement.
If captive/cultivated/non-wild observations didn’t get relegated to a messy bin of observations with data quality issues, I think people would find marking them captive less frustrating (though that’s a discussion for another topic, e.g. this one).
As one of the people who does regularly go through and mark these observations as captive I will offer up some of my reasoning. They are limited to the fenced in area of either the north or south bison range, they are monitored every day, they get vaccinations and veterinary care, they also get supplemental feed in the winter or as needed. I think the design of the elk and bison prairie is great, it really feels like you are going through a large, wild area, the barn and corral are not visible, but though it may seem as if the animals are left to their own devices there is a lot more care given than they would receive as wild animals.
This makes sense. Thanks for your perspective!
Keep in mind that many bison herds and even some elk herds are actually owned as livestock or as captive game farm animals. By some state laws they are not actually classified as wildlife.