Authors: Kutal, Miroslav; Duľa, Martin;Royer, Alisa;López-Bao, José Vicente;

Lethal actions are among the most controversial issues within large carnivore management and conservation. Variation in the legal status of grey wolves (Canis lupus) between European countries provides good opportunities to test if current lethal management practices reduce the number of livestock losses. In this study, we aim to evaluate the influence of a wolf-hunting scheme (i.e., annual hunting quotas) on livestock depredation levels in Slovakia at the district level. We analyzed the relationship between livestock damages caused by wolves (all livestock species pooled) in individual districts in the years 2014-2019 and the number of wolves killed, factoring in the estimated total number of wolves in each district. We also considered two potential covariables that could influence depredation levels: the number of livestock and the available biomass of wild ungulates. We did not find a relationship between the proportion of wolves killed from the total number of wolves estimated in a district and cases of livestock depredation. A strong negative relationship was observed between biomass of wild prey and the number of damages caused by wolves. If the justification for district-level hunting quotas was to reduce livestock depredations, our results indicate that the action did not accomplish its goal.