Boundaries - We all need them
Since the beginning of time humans have been living, working, thriving, and sharing the world with other animals. Some became our friends (dogs!), some became our food (chickens), and some we have learned to live with (all the others). As our presence continues to expand further and move into more remote regions, we can’t help but create human-wildlife contact.
When humans and wildlife interact, the outcomes are almost always worse for the wildlife, and that's okay! Here at The Casual Conservationist we are Pro-Human. But we still struggle with our relationship amongst the other creatures of the natural world, and because of it, millions of animals die every year.
I think the most reasonable goal would be to create conditions where the interests of both people and wildlife are satisfied. Balancing our social desires and nature’s ecological needs to find a happy medium where both can sustainably exist.
I think how we choose to enact these types of boundaries or conditions will shape the abundance and distribution of many of our iconic wildlife species. If we want to continue to grow and expand exponentially, there may not be room for the roaming grasslands with elephants and buffalo, but that's a tradeoff we will have to decide, otherwise it’s going to be made for us.
The problem with our current system for human and wildlife management is that human-wildlife contact, generally becomes human-wildlife conflict. Think about the rancher, who loses a ram to wolves, or the alligator that lives in the local pond, or the bear that is rumbling through your trash. These situations usually involve loss of life and livelihoods, fear, anger, and wildlife killed in defence or retaliation.
Our interaction and safety with wildlife has traditionally been addressed through short-term mitigation and incident preparedness measures, such as the deployment of deterrents or lethal control methods for problem animals. These approaches only tackle the symptoms, but not the underlying causes.
As you can tell by now, because I’m 7 paragraphs in, there is no “solution” to this problem. This is going to be a local government, a region-by-region, and a community led effort, if we are going to make any tangible difference. But there are 2 things we absolutely need to do:
Ensure that the creation and implementation of any plans explicitly enhance coexistence of natural resources and biodiversity conservation, that takes into account the long-term needs of both human and wildlife populations.
Provide information to institutions and/or organisations that engage in addressing these issues, so they have a better understanding of the local situation to improve its management.
The people making the laws and regulations have to know what's going on, and that comes from us. We can be the eyes and ears that help make it possible for humans and wildlife to interact in a safe and fruitful way.
