Abstract
Capture and manipulation are an integral part of wildlife research and
management. These practices, however, can affect animals either directly
or indirectly, and studies should generally evaluate the consequences of
captures to ensure animal welfare and reduce sampling bias. Here, we
investigated the indirect, behavioural effects of live-capture on escape
response to humans in Alpine marmot Marmota marmota within the Stelvio
National Park (central Italian Alps) over three seasons (2021- 2023). We
used flight initiation distance (FID) as a measure of escape response
and tested it in relation to capture status using linear mixed
modelling. Captures did not have any detectable effect on escape
response, and FID was best explained by covariates such as starting
distance, distance to nearest burrow, current behaviour during the
observation and year of observation. It might be that, in marmots,
escape response to humans is a rather inert behaviour, and as such,
although we cannot rule out unmeasured effects, capture may not
represent an excessively traumatic experience which could trigger
immediate behavioural modification. In turn, capture is unlikely to
compromise animal welfare or cause scientific bias in studies
investigating escape response in this species, at least over the short
term.