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Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflicts: A Book Review

© Stephen Vantassel

With all the chatter and clamor surrounding wildlife damage management, citizens, politicians, reporters and other interested parties need a source that can help them put the topic in proper context. So many people claim that this chemical or that technique is the be all and end all for controlling certain animal damage situations. There are even entire lobby groups, thanks to the non-profit programs in our nation's tax code, who receive money to extol the virtues of their purported humane and effective control techniques. Readers of this suite101.com area, know full well of my opposition to the animal rights protest industry that is making such headway in the hearts and minds of our country. What you may not know is the scientific and practical reasons why I am so opposed to these groups.

Rather than just having you hear about the issue from me, I thought I would talk about a book by Michael Conover that does a splendid job detailing the complexities of wildlife damage control. The book is called Resolving Human-Wildlife Conflicts: The Science of Wildlife Damage Management. This 440 page book, published by CRC press in 2001, is essentially an introductory textbook for freshman college students on the subject of wildlife damage control. Before you get scared away by the idea of a college level book, let me assure you that the text is very readable and has plenty of subject headings as well as exceptional organization.

Dr. Conover, a national expert in the wildlife damage field, pulls no punches. He tells the good, the bad and the ugly by synthesizing research from a variety of peer reviewed scientific journals and various books on animal control. If you want to learn about the state of science relating to the use of wildlife contraceptives, this book will tell you. If you are interested in learning about the pros and cons of repellents, this book will tell you. If nothing else, reading this text will convince you that anyone who tells you that there is one single solution for every situation is essentially wrong. There is no magic in wildlife damage management.

Conover provides plenty of pictures, graphs and charts to help explain the material. It should also come as no surprise that each chapter ends with an extensive reference list.

With this book, Conover has made a major contribution to the subject of wildlife damage control. I can only hope that more people will read it so that the hope of finding more scientifically based solutions to societies wildlife problems can be achieved.