Lures do not increase box‐trapping success of an endangered felid in South Texas

Abstract Live capturing of wildlife is important for research and conservation, but is rife with challenges including animal welfare concerns, resource commitments (e.g., time and effort), and low capture success rates. Such challenges may be especially apparent for species listed under the Endangered Species Act and species whose ecology impacts capture success. Thus, it is important to investigate and implement strategies that can improve the capture success of endangered carnivores while reducing human effort and risk to animals. In the United States, ocelots ( Leopardus pardalis ) are a federally endangered species. To minimize risk to ocelots, capture efforts for research in Texas are limited to box trapping, but capture success is generally low. We tested whether visual and scent lures can increase capture success of ocelots and other co‐occurring mesocarnivores with box traps baited with a live bird on a private ranch in the Texas‐Tamaulipan thornscrub ecosystem. From December 2023 through April 2024, we used a randomized design and placed visual (hanging compact disc [CD] or shiny ribbon) and scent (civet musk or ocelot urine) lures at a total of 20 box traps and established 5 control traps across 3 temporally and geographically discrete trapping sessions for 75 trapping locations. We used linear regression to assess 2,900 trap nights and found that none of the lures (scent nor visual) impacted capture success of ocelots, bobcats (Lynx rufus ), or coyotes (Canis latrans ). Further, lures did not increase or decrease capture of non‐target animals. Based on our findings, we cannot recommend the use of CDs, ribbon, civet musk, or ocelot urine as lures to increase ocelot box trapping success, as they did not increase capture success of ocelots or other target carnivores nor decrease captures of non‐target species. We suggest that researchers prioritize other strategies to increase capture success (e.g., setting additional traps) rather than the addition of lures we tested.