Presentation Abstract

Title: Predator "management" in the United States: Values, ethics & alternatives.
Session Title: Linking Animal and Conservation Ethics: A Challenge in Conservation
Session Number: 61
Session Time: Tuesday, Oct 16, 2012, 1:30 PM - 5:20 PM
Presentation Time: Tuesday, Oct 16, 2012, 2:50 PM - 3:10 PM
Author(s): Camilla H. Fox1, Adrian Treves2, David Parsons3, Michael Soulé3, 1Project Coyote & Animal Welfare Institute, Larkspur, CA & Washington DC, CA, 2Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, 3Project Coyote, Larkspur, CA, Contact: chfox@earthlink.net
Abstract Body: Perhaps at no other time in United States history has predator “management” been more controversial. Increasing numbers of lawsuits, ballot measures, legislation, and federal petitions reflect a growing discontent with conventional predator management practices and policies.
In the U.S., conflicts between predators and livestock have historically been carried out by the Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services program under the federal “Animal Damage Control Act” through taxpayer subsidized control programs that emphasize lethal control through trapping, poisoning, and aerial-gunning. This program has been criticized for:
• being unaccountable to the public;
• lacking transparency in and failing to incorporate ethical review of its processes, policies and practices;
• failing to integrate shifting public values toward wildlife at a time of rapid social and ecological change.
Public opposition to the federal predator control program and greater understanding of the ecological importance of predators has led to increased demand for humane and ecologically sound approaches that integrate ethics and animal welfare.
Modes of civic processes that foster inclusion, transparency, and public involvement in community-based problem-solving are needed. This presentation will discuss “practice-based improvements” using actual experience and adaptive management practices to address site-specific conflicts as the basis for developing improvements in human-wildlife conflict resolution. Key findings of an analysis of an alternative, community-based model adopted in Marin County, California will be presented and questions raised regarding the controversies, social context, and planning processes that precipitated the adoption of this model.


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