The emergence of human–wildlife conflict management: turning challenges into opportunities

Abstract

With the increase in wildlife populations in response to protection, human–wildlife conflicts also have increased. In the past, rural residents, especially agricultural producers, and forestry owners bore the brunt of wildlife damage. More recently, urban residents and other wildlife stakeholders are increasingly experiencing wildlife damage. The phrases ‘animal damage control’, ‘problem wildlife management’, and ‘wildlife damage management’ have been traditionally used to describe actions taken to reduce economic losses to agricultural produce caused by wildlife. More recently, the phrase ‘human–wildlife conflict management’ is being applied to these and other situations that involve any negative interactions between humans and wildlife. These conflicts can be either real or perceived, economic or aesthetic, social or political. Human–wildlife conflicts also may encompass damages to the individual that result from federal, state, or local wildlife legislation, regulations, or policies that are designed to protect or conserve wildlife, public benefits, and individual property rights. In this paper, I discuss the emergence of the field of human–wildlife conflict management and identify how public and private wildlife conservation agencies and organizations can turn these new challenges into opportunities to increase public support for professional management.