Wildlife versus Wildlife: Killing One Species to Save Another. In my Wildlife Politics book, I have a section on “Values and Conflicts between Species.” There are many cases where humans protected one (threatened or endangered) species by killing its predator species. For example, I discuss several cases of such conflicts including sea lions (salmon), barred owls (spotted owls), loggerhead shrike (San Clemente fox), Lake trout (cutthroat trout), ravens (tortoises), and mountain lions (bighorn sheep). There are other cases such as with wild geese and wild horse populations where the species have detrimental impacts on the habitat of other species so that many environmentalists support their removal. In these conflicts, one species may be favored by a powerful interest group (e.g., lake trout are supported by angler groups and wild horses who have several powerful NGOs supporting them) who counter the influence of biologists pushing for the removal of the “problematic” species. Thus these “interspecies conflicts” can become complicated by human politics and the outcome is not determined just by the “best available science” but also by the relative influence of the contending groups on wildlife conservation policymaking. Julia Rosen (in High Country News) has written an excellent, detailed account of the conflict between bighorn sheep in the California Sierras and mountain lions. These sheep population declined due to a number of reasons so that by the 1990s only “100 bighorn sheep remained” in the area. To support restoration of the bighorn sheep, wildlife managers put restrictions on grazing of domesticated sheep in the area as well as a program to eliminate mountain lions that preyed on them. The mountain lions do have NGOs that “speaks for their interest,” Panthera and the Mountain Lion Federation but they did agree to a time-limited killing of “guilty lions.” Rosen says that large, healthy herds of bighorn can coexist with lions but struggling herds need help. But Rosen’s article also points out the complexity of causation in determining causes of threats to species—a point I discuss in detail in Ch.2 of my book concerning science and wildlife conservation. She cites the debate whether it is the top predator (the lion) or bottoms-up (e.g., availability of grass and habitat) that drives the major increases or decreases in populations. Weather is another major factor—droughts eliminate pasture for them to feed on while “brutal winters” also kill off many bighorn. Government and politics play crucial roles. A 1990 California law protected lions from hunting. But bighorn sheep became protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act in 1999 which overrides the state law so that lions could be taken to protect bighorn. According to Rosen, ranchers remain influential—wildlife managers did not try to increase bighorn sheep herd sizes “in the northern part of their range” where the heaviest domestic sheep ranching exists. This case again illustrates the enormous complexity of wildlife politics—policy is the outcome of a mixture of competing human and wildlife interests along with science (albeit a degree of uncertainty about causation). It is complex. Rosen’s article is available as follows: Rosen, Julia. The Cost of the Bighorn Comeback: In California’s Eastern Sierra, bringing back bighorns has meant killing more mountain lions. HCN, May 29, 2017. http://www.hcn.org/issues/49.9/Wildlife-Services-mountain-lion-killing
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2/8/2019 03:53:09 pm
I don't know what to feel regarding this article. Of course, animals have their own understanding about different matters. Perhaps, they need to kill another species for their own survival, and that has been part of the cycle they live in. Perhaps, it has something to do with food chain. But if there are species that have reached the endangered level, we must know the steps on what to do. This might require a bit of process of study from people, but it takes action for the protection to take place.
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During my research for the book, I noticed that there was no blog available for sharing informaton on wildlife conservation and thus I set up this blog to accomplish this purpose. Please share any informaticoncerning issues related to wildife policy and politics. I welcome feedback from users concerning this blog and website.
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