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Damage Problems

Professional wildlife damage specialists must resolve a broad scope of problems caused by wildlife. Wildlife damages agriculture through depredation on crops and forest resources and predation on livestock. Additionally, animal nesting, burrowing, feeding, or other activities can damage buildings and other structures and properties. Wildlife may be a nuisance (e.g. Canada geese in parks), may endanger human safety and health, and may sometimes negatively affect other wildlife. Damage can be relatively minor, or it can be severe enough to affect the livelihood of producers or property owners.

Scientists for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services (WS) Program have established a means of identifying and prioritizing wildlife conflicts needing research through development and use of a "Research Needs Assessment." The results of the 2001 assessment (based on surveys) identified high priority research areas including bird damage to agriculture and aquaculture, waterfowl, goose and vulture impacts in urban/suburban situations, wildlife problems at airports, and predation impacts on livestock and other wildlife and human health and safety.

KEY DAMAGE AREAS

Agricultural Crops

Nearly half of all field crop produced suffered losses to wildlife in the 1989 National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) survey (Wywialowski 1994). Deer were the main wildlife species causing damage in the northeastern and north-central United States, with over 41% of producers citing losses. Birds cause more than $100 million in losses each year to corn, sunflower, wheat, sorghum, rice and fruit crops. Much of the damage is caused by nonnative species such as starlings and sparrows that have displaced native species in many areas. In addition, fruit crops such as grapes, cherries, and blueberries can be targets of birds such as house finches, robins, and cedar waxwings.

Airports

Wildlife-aviation strike hazards pose the greatest problem in areas surrounding airports. Conover et al. (1995) estimated that there are approximately 8,000 collisions between military aircraft and wildlife each year-causing about $112 million in damage. There are also approximately 6,000 bird strikes to civilian aircraft annually (U.S. GAO 2001). In 2002, research objectives in the National Wildlife Research Center Bird Research Program included developing guidelines for managing wildlife habitat at airports, developing and managing the Federal Aviation Administration Wildlife Strike Database and evaluating methods to control wildlife damage and improve hazard management at airports (Tobin 2002).

Aquaculture

Fish-eating birds such as cormorants and herons create a loss of millions of dollars to the commercial aquaculture industry. In a survey of catfish producers from 15 states, 69% reported some wildlife-caused losses with estimated national losses to aquaculture estimated at $12.5 million (Wywialowski 1994, U.S. GAO 2001).

Livestock

Of the agricultural producers surveyed that raised livestock or poultry, 20% have experienced wildlife-caused losses (Wywialowski 1994). In 2002, predators killed nearly half a million livestock, mostly lambs and calves. Coyotes were the largest cause of livestock losses, especially in the Western states (Fagerstone 2002).

Forestry

Mammals can cause extensive damage to forests. The beaver is the primary wildlife species damaging Southern timber. Beavers also damage non-impounded timber by felling and gnawing on trees. In the South, and Pacific Northwest, reforestation after clear-cutting is sometimes unsuccessful because of damage to planted seedlings by pocket gophers, black bear, deer, and elk. Forest Damage Inflicted by Select Species

Urban/Surburan Areas

Management concerns in suburban areas involve positive and negative people-wildlife interactions, nuisance problems, economic losses, and concerns about individual animals (Decker 2001). Crows, ravens, geese and other birds create problems with their behavior in many urban/suburban environments. In addition to birds, wildlife managers must focus attention on deer, beaver, raccoons, coyotes, mountain lions, and other species. Some common concerns voiced to wildlife managers include general nuisance, horticultural damage, health risks, fecal contamination, spilling of garbage, and damage to hydraulic structures (Fall 2000).

References

BRUGGERS, R., R. OWENS, AND T. HOFFMAN. 2001. USDA/APHIS /Wildlife Services Research Needs Assessment. National Wildlife Research Center, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.

CONOVER, M. R., W. C. PITT, K. K. KESSLER, T. J. DUBOW, AND W. A. SANBORN. 1995. Review of human injuries, illnesses, and economic losses caused by wildlife in the United States. Wildlife Society Bulletin 23:407-414.

DECKER, D. J., T. L. BROWN, AND W. F. SIEMER. 2001. Human dimensions of wildlife management in North America. Wildlife Society, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

FAGERSTONE, K. A. 2002. Professional use of pesticides in wildlife management - an overview of professional wildlife damage management. Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference 20:253-260.

FALL, M. W., AND W. B. JACKSON. 2000. Future technology for managing problems with vertebrate pests and over-abundant wildlife - an introduction. International Biodeterioration & Biodegration 45:93-95.

TOBIN, M. E. 2002. Developing methods to manage conflicts between humans and birds-three decades of change at the USDA National Wildlife Research Center. Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference 20:91-96.

U.S. GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE. 2001. Wildlife Services program: information on activities to manage wildlife damage. GAO-02-138, Washington D.C., USA.

WYWIALOWSKI, A. P. Agricultural producers' perceptions of wildlife-caused losses. Wildlife Society Bulletin 22:370-382.