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 humans. By defining the discipline of wildlife damage management, this book fills a void in the fields of wildlife management and ecology. The director of the Jack H. Berryman Institute, the only academic institute devoted to wildlife damage management, author Michael Conover is the leader in this field. In this book, he stresses the inter-relatedness of wildlife damage management within the larger discipline of wildlife conservation and provides an extensive review of the scientific literature. He includes case-studies that document how an integrated approach to wildlife management can resolve wildlife-human conflicts. Nowhere else will you find the authoritative coverage and depth of theoretical information available in Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflicts: The Science of Wildlife Damage Management. The combination of descriptive prose, historical details, and liberal use of informative sidebars add to its appeal as a textbook, while the organization and scope make it the ideal reference for professionals.

Table of Contents:
Philosophy Definitions Philosophies of Wildlife Management What Positive Values Are Provided by Wildlife? What Is Wildlife Damage Management? Why Worry About Human-Wildlife Conflicts? Contributions of Wildlife Damage Management to the Larger Field of Wildlife Management Alternative Definitions for Wildlife Damage Management What Is In a Name? What Are the Necessary Ingredients for Damage by Wildlife? The Role of Government in Wildlife Management The Role of Government Wildlife Biologists History Prehistoric Wildlife Management Wildlife Damage Management in the Ancient World Wildlife Damage Management in Medieval Europe Wildlife Management in Colonial America from 1620 to 1776 Wildlife Management in the U.S. from 1776 to 1880 Why the Closing of the Frontier and the Industrial Revolution Sparked a New Philosophy of Wildlife Management Consequences of the World Wars and the Great Depression on Wildlife Management Wildlife Management in Modern America Wildlife Management in the 21st Century: What Now? Threats to Human Safety Why Do Animals Attack People? How Often Are Humans Injured or Killed by Wildlife? Snakebites Bear Attacks Shark Attacks Alligator Attacks Attacks by Wolves and Coyotes Cougar Attacks Attacks by Large Herbivores Why Has There Been a Recent Increase in Wildlife Attacks on Humans in North America? What Can Be Done to Reduce the Frequency of Wildlife Attacks on Humans? Human Injuries and Fatalities from Ungulate-Automobile Collisions Human Injuries and Fatalities from Bird-Aircraft Collisions Zoonoses Bacterial Diseases Viral Diseases Fungal Disease Economics Economic Analysis of Wildlife Values What Are the Sources of Economic Data about the Positive Values of Wildlife? Why Is It Important to Have Accurate Economic Data about Losses from Wildlife Damage? Measuring Wildlife Damage by Making a Direct Assessment of Losses Assessing the Extent of Wildlife Damage by Surveying People Lost Opportunity Costs Economic Assessment of Wildlife Damage in the U.S. and Worldwide Do High Levels of Wildlife Damage Mean that Wildlife Populations Are Too High? Wildlife Damage to Agricultural Production in Other Parts of the World Environmental Damage and Exotic Species What Is An Exotic Species? Impacts of Exotic Species on the Native Biota Hawaii Galapagos Islands Guam Australia North America Resolving Environmental Problems Caused by Exotic Animals Can We Predict when an Exotic Species Will Cause Environmental Damage? Which Sites Are Vulnerable to Exotic Species? Developing an Integrated Program to Stop the Spread of Exotics Lethal Control Intrinsic Growth Rates of Wildlife Populations What Effect Does Lethal Control have on a Wildlife Population's Birth and Mortality Rates? What Effect Does Lethal Control have on a Wildlife Population's Immigration Rate? Is There a Correlation between Wildlife Population Levels and Wildlife Damage? How Do Values Provided by Wildlife Change as Their Populations Increase? Should Lethal Techniques Be Directed at specific Individuals, Specific Subpopulations, or the Entire Population? Are Lethal Methods Legal? Are Lethal Methods Effective at Reducing Wildlife Damage? Should Lethal Methods Be Used Ahead of Time to Prevent Wildlife Damage or Only After Damage has Begun? Are Lethal Techniques Cost Effective? Do Lethal Techniques Pose a Risk to Nontarget Species? Are Lethal Techniques Humane and Socially Acceptable? Common Methods Used in Lethal Control Fertility Control Normal Reproductive Function Mechanical and Surgical Techniques to Reduce Fertility Reducing Fertility by Disrupting Endocrine Regulation Immunocontraception Administering Fertility Drugs to Animals Controlling the Release of an Antifertility Drug to the Body When Should We Use Contraception In Wildlife? Uses of Contraception in Wildlife Oiling, Addling, or Puncturing Eggs Efforts in Australia to Resolfe Human-Wildlife Conflicts Using Immunocontraceptives What are the Drawbacks to Wildlife Contraception? Public Perceptions of Wildlife Fertility Control Laws Governing the Use of Fertility Control to Manage Wildlife Wildlife Translocation Examples of the Use of Translocation to Resolve Wildlife Conflicts Do Translocated Animals Return to the Site where They Were Captured? Do New Animals Replace the Translocated Ones so that the Problem Persists? Do Translocated Animals Create the Same Problem Elsewhere? What Happens to Translocated Animals? What are the Consequences of Translocation on Resident Wildlife Populations? Is Translocation Cost-Effective? What are Governmental Policies Concerning the Translocation of Nuisance Animals? When Is Translocation Warranted? Fear-Provoking Stimuli Visula Stimuli Auditory Stimuli Olfactory Stimuli Chemical Stimuli The Problem of Habituation Can Habituation to Fear-Provoking Stimuli Be Delayed? Using Live Predators as Fear-Provoking Stimuli Using Guard Dogs as Fear-Provoking Stimuli Hazing or Harassment Chemical Repellants How Plants Use Chemicals to Defend Themselves from Herbivores Biological Basis of Food Preferences Types of Repellants Conditioned Food Aversions Based on Deception Similarities between Batesian Mimicry and DBFA Factors Influencing Repellant Effectiveness to Reduce Wildlife Damage Laws Governing the Use of Vertebrate Repellants Diversion Optimal Foraging Theory Large Group Formation as an Antipredator Behavior - A Natural Form of Diversion Examples of Diversion to Resolve Human-Wildlife Conflicts Creating a Food Diversion through Habitat Modification Response of Wildlife to Supplemental Food Response of Wildlife Diversion Cost Effectiveness What Type of Food or Crop Should Be Used in Diversion? Where Should a Feeder Station or Diversion Crop be Located? Can Wildlife Damage and the Effectiveness of Diversion Be Predicted? Which are Better, Diversionary Crops or Feeder Stations? Can Diversion Be Used with Other Techniques? Exclusion Factors Influencing the Cost Effectiveness of Fencing to Reduce Wildlife Damage Fences to Exclude Deer Using Fences to Reduce Predation on Livestock Using Exclusion to Reduce Predation on Nesting Birds Using Barriers to Protect Individual trees from Herbivores Exclusionary Devices to Prevent Beaver from Rebuilding Dams Using a Trap-Barrier System to Reduce Rat Damage in Rice Fields Using Exclusion to Solve Bird Damage Excluding Wildlife from Buildings Habitat Manipulation Reducing Human-Wildlife Conflicts by Modifying the Resource Reducing Human-Wildlife Conflicts by Modifying the Habitat around the Resource Reducing Human-Wildlife Conflicts at the Landscape Level Human Dimensions Societal Responses to Wildlife Damage Differences in Attitudes toward Wildlife Stakeholder Perceptions of Wildlife Damage Impact of Wildlife Damage on a Person's Attitudes toward Wildlife The Concept of Cultural Carrying Capacity Why is the Management of Human-Wildlife Conflicts So Controversial? Making Policy Decisions Regarding Wildlife Damage Management Forming Partnerships between Wildlife Agencies and People Suffering from Wildlife Damage Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflicts through the Human Dimension Are People's Perceptions about Wildlife Damage Accurate? Developing an Integrated Approach Reducing Blackbird Damage to Sunflowers Reducing Bird Predation at Fish Farms Protecting Ground-Nesting Birds from Mammalian Predators Appendix Latin Names for Species Mentioned in the Text All chapters include a Summary section and Literature Cited.