Habitat factors affecting vulnerability of moose to predation by wolves in southeastern British Columbia

We compared habitat features at sites where wolves (Canis lupus) killed moose (Alces alces), sites 500 m from kills, telemetry locations of moose, and random sites, to examine the influence of logging and other landscape features on the vulnerability of moose to predation by wolves in southeastern British Columbia during the winters of 1984-1985 through 1995-1996. Moose-kill sites were located farther from the edges of seedling and pole size-class patches than telemetry locations. Road density was lower and wolf use was higher in areas where kill sites occurred than in areas where relocation or random sites occurred. Kill sites were located at lower elevations than relocation or random sites. A logistic regression model using road density, elevation, distance from trails, and distance from size-class polygon edges successfully classified 94.5% of sites as either kills or locations. Moose density was greater and hiding-cover levels were lower at kill sites than at control sites. Forest harvest practices in this study area apparently did not increase the vulnerability of moose to wolf predation.