Humane control of vertebrate pests

Extract

As the editors of this recently-published proceedings point out in their introduction ‘The practice of controlling animals perceived as threats to human or environmental interests is uniquely placed on an intersection of various ethical, scientific, economic, social and conservation issues.’ There are many complex, practical and ethical dilemmas in controlling pests. For a start, there is no simple definition of what is and is not a pest. Perspectives and opinions also vary widely on the subject. Incidentally, with the human population of the world at over 5.5 billion and bearing in mind the damage which humans can do to the interests and viability of many other species, who best deserves the label ‘pest’ is an interesting point.