Management and control of wild canids alongside people.

SILLERO-ZUBIRI C.; J. REYNOLDS ; A. J. NOVARO

Biology and conservation of wild canids.

Oxford University Press

Año: 2004; p. 107 - 122

Canids command attention in a way that is disproportionate to their number of species or abundance, chiefly because they so frequently and successfully contest human interests. As a result of such conflicts, many canid species have a long history of persecution by man, often well co-ordinated, at national scale, and state-funded. Although some canid species have gone extinct as a result, many have been notoriously resilient to widespread and sustained persecution. For instance, coyotes, jackals, red foxes, and three Pseudalopex fox species in the southern cone of South America are all thriving despite tremendous hunting pressure for the pelt trade or as targets of eradication campaigns. Other canids currently have an improving conservation status. Of these, several are medium-sized opportunists that have extended their distributions recently, sometimes aided by the removal of larger carnivores, sometimes due to flourishing in new, man-made environments. In this chapter we explore why canids frequently find themselves in conflict with humans, and how managers and conservationists have tackled these conflicts. We distinguish approaches based on deterrence or removal of individual problem animals and those directed at populations.