Wildlife are everywhere. Regardless of where you live, chances are that you have experienced a wildlife encounter. Frequently, these experiences are enriching and are the source of enjoyment and wonder. However, not all experiences with wildlife are positive. Overabundant wildlife or individual animals found in locations that are not compatible with human activities can cause problems for many people. Native and non-native species may cause damage to personal or business property, to other wildlife populations, and the habitats they require. Although relatively infrequent, wildlife can also cause harm and injury to people via attacks, vehicle collisions and transmission of disease. Problems associated with wildlife can result in their being viewed as a nuisance. The Center believes in comprehensively addressing human-wildlife conflicts to resolve the issue rather than treating each occurrence as an isolated event. This approach is also known as Integrated Vertebrate Pest Management.
Integrated Vertebrate Pest Management (IVPM) relies upon the application increasingly intensive approaches to resolve human-wildlife conflicts to treat the root causes of the conflict. Thus initially simpler and easier approaches are tried, with the intensity of increasing until the problem is resolved. Lethal control is viewed as a method of last resort.
IVPM outlines 3 general approaches that can be used to resolve an issue. In order of intensity they are: 1) Husbandry, 2) Non-lethal approaches, 3) Lethal approaches.
We will help walk you through a typical process for resolving a human-wildlife conflict using a IVPM-based approach so that you can understand what is involved and attempt to solve the problem yourself.