Nonlethal Alternatives for Predation Management

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In the United States, predation management has evolved from an attempt to eradicate or limit predator populations to the application of focused approaches for minimizing the damage done by predators. Lethal control methods are also often at odds with conservation needs (Shivik et al. 2003, Haber 1996) and the general public favors the use of nonlethal methods of predation management (Reiter et al. 1999). Nonlethal methods provide a means of keeping predators established, while protecting livestock from predation and thus, a great amount of effort has been spent identifying and evaluating nonlethal predation-management options (Linnell et al. 1996).

Categories of Nonlethal Methods

Conflicts between humans and predators occur when food-acquisition behaviors of predators vie with food-production behaviors of humans. Thus, decreasing the level of conflict is largely a matter of altering human behavior or altering predator behavior (or both).

*all information on nonlethal predator techniques from: SHIVIK, J. A., A. TREVES, AND P. CALLAHAN. 2003. Nonlethal techniques for managing predation: primary and secondary repellents. Conservation Biology 17:1531-1537.

Literature Cited and References