Human Wildlife

"A book that just about everyone will find in some measure fascinating, disturbing, engaging, repulsive and funny... Buy it for a friend who worries about 'germs'." -- American Scientist

This book won the 2023 The Wildlife Society Publication Award in the authored book category. Human-wildlife interactions increase exponentially as more and more humans and wildlife crowd into the same limited space. Such interactions often become conflicts when wildlife threaten human health and safety, well-being, or the food supply. This second edition of Human-Wildlife Interactions: From Conflict to Coexistence provides a comprehensive review of the severity of these problems and the methods used to resolve clashes between humans and wildlife. During his forty-year career as a wildlife professor and scientist, Dr. Michael Conover, founder of journal Human-Wildlife Interactions, has become a recognized leader of the scientific field of human-wildlife interactions. In this book, he presents the range of methods for wildlife damage management, including employing lethal methods; distributing supplemental food; changing the behavior of either humans or wildlife; and excluding or repelling wildlife. Backed by numerous case studies and informative side bars, the book documents resolutions to specific human-wildlife conflicts throughout the literature. Containing full color illustrations throughout, the second edition of Human-Wildlife Interactions: From Conflict to Coexistence provides authoritative coverage and depth of both theoretical and practical information. It serves as an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and professional wildlife managers. Disclaimer: Figure 7.7 (b) on page 251 was incorrectly attributed in previous printings. The photographer of figure 7.7 (b) is Cynthia Herrick.

Presents solutions to turn conflict into tolerance and coexistence, with an emphasis on the human dimensions of human-wildlife interactions.

As more and more people crowd onto less and less land, incidences of human-wildlife conflicts will only increase. A comprehensive overview of this emerging field, Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflicts: The Science of Wildlife Damage Management discusses the issues facing wildlife managers and anyone else dealing with interactions between wildlife and

This is the first human-wildlife conflict (HWC) book to focus on the marine system, exploring the complexity of HWC in marine-based conservation through the 'Level of Conflict' model, a theoretical yet highly practical tool developed in the peace-building field.

This book is about conflicts between different stakeholder groups triggered by protected species that compete with humans for natural resources. It presents key ecological features of typical conflict species and mitigation strategies including technical mitigation and the design of participatory decision strategies involving relevant stakeholders. The book provides a European perspective, but also develops a global framework for the development of action plans.

Conflicts about wildlife are usually portrayed and understood as resulting from the negative impacts of wildlife on human livelihoods or property. However, a greater depth of analysis reveals that many instances of human-wildlife conflict are often better understood as people-people conflict, wherein there is a clash of values between different human groups. Understanding Conflicts About Wildlife unites academics and practitioners from across the globe to develop a holistic view of these interactions. It considers the political and social dimensions of ‘human-wildlife conflicts’ alongside effective methodological approaches, and will be of value to academics, conservationists and policy makers.

Human-wildlife conflict is a major issue in conservation. As people encroach into natural habitats, and as conservation efforts restore wildlife to areas where they may have been absent for generations, contact between people and wild animals is growing. Some species, even the beautiful and endangered, can have serious impacts on human lives and livelihoods. Tigers kill people, elephants destroy crops and African wild dogs devastate sheep herds left unattended. Historically, people have responded to these threats by killing wildlife wherever possible, and this has led to the endangerment of many species that are difficult neighbours. The urgent need to conserve such species, however, demands coexistence of people and endangered wildlife. This book presents a variety of solutions to human-wildlife conflicts, including novel and traditional farming practices, offsetting the costs of wildlife damage through hunting and tourism, and the development of local and national policies.

Who Cares About Wildlife? integrates social science theory in order to provide a conceptual structure for understanding and studying human interaction with wildlife. A thorough review of the current literature in conceptual areas, including norms, values, attitudes, emotions, wildlife value orientations, cultural change, and evolutionary forces/inherited tendencies is provided, and the importance of these areas in studying human-wildlife relationships is highlighted. No other book both considers the human relationship with wildlife and provides a theoretical framework for understanding this relationship on the individual, as well as cultural level. Who Cares About Wildlife? will be valuable both to students and to practitioners in wildlife management and conservation, as well those interested in the human relationship with wildlife, natural resources, and the environment.

For centuries Christians believed that God granted humanity dominion over the animal kingdom, meaning that we had a moral right to kill, manage, and eat animals including wildlife. Recently, however, environmental and animal rights activists have assaulted this traditional perspective. They argue that dominion as expressed in meat eating and hunting has resulted in species extinction and environmental degradation. Christian Animal Rights (CAR) activists suggest that the church must reevaluate its traditional beliefs in light of the fact that God's original creation was free of human on animal violence. God, they argue, did not want man's dominion to be expressed through trapping, killing, and eating of animals. These violent activities only came about after the Fall, as God condescended to our hardness of heart. CAR activists point to Christ's sacrificial work of reconciliation as a model for modern Christian behavior: as Christ sacrificed for us, we should avoid eating meat and hunting as ways we can participate in Christ's non-violent work of reconciling creation to himself. In this book, Stephen Vantassel investigates the biblical, ethical, and scientific arguments employed by the CAR movement concerning human-wildlife relations. In this regard, the book engages in practical theology by addressing several important questions: How should Christians treat our wildlife neighbors? Has the Church been wrong in its understanding of human dominion? Does God want Christians to avoid hunting, trapping, fishing, and adopt a vegetarian lifestyle? This book provides answers to these questions by detailing a theology the author calls, "Shepherdism."