Eli5: How do conservation officers verify which animal to euthanize?

Question

You know when everytime a wild animal attacks a human ie bears attack, that animal usually gets euthanized. But how do conservation officer tell exactly which bear is the one that attacked? How do they trace and confirm?

In: Biology

Answer 1

You usually don’t find too many identical predators in the same location.

So if bear/cougar/wolf attacks someone at trail X; there is a high chance of encountering that same animal again near trail x

Tracking is still a good skill with prints giving details on size and location

Then you can look for hopefully distinguishing marks/colorings or wounds.

Finally (and likely most accute) animal behavior – once a predator attacks (successful or not) a human; the chance for a repeat attack is high…..if officers encounter an animal and there is “unafraid” or needlessly aggressive this is a good indicafion