1 - The impact of human–wildlife conflict on natural systems

Summary

INTRODUCTION

This book is concerned with resolving conflicts that occur between people and threatened wildlife. Wildlife are often subject to control if they are perceived to harm the livelihoods, lives or lifestyles of people. Many wildlife species can thrive despite such control: our continued need for mouse- and cockroach traps is testament to the resilience of some species in the face of extensive lethal control. While a panoply of invertebrate (especially insect) pests, and adaptable vertebrates such as coyotes (Canis latrans), ground squirrels (e.g. Spermophilus californicus) and red-billed quelea (Quelea quelea) continue to out-wit pest control experts, other species are not so well equipped to resist the effects of lethal control, Many have become seriously endangered as a result. This raises a serious challenge: what do we do when a highly endangered animal genuinely causes serious damage to human lives or livelihoods? How can we reconcile the need to conserve the species with the need to protect the rights and property of people who share its environment? Resolving such conflicts will be crucial to the success of conservation development plans that require coexistence of people with wildlife. For many sensitive species, effective conservation will be near-impossible to achieve unless such conflicts can be resolved or at least mitigated.

The scope and structure of this book

In this book, we seek resolutions to the most widespread and serious conflicts involving people and threatened wildlife: crop raiding, livestock depredation, predation on managed wildlife (such as farmed or otherwise managed game species) and, least common but most emotive, killing of people.