The Predator Paradox: Ending the War with Wolves, Bears, Cougars, and Coyotes

Shivik, a leader in the field of nonlethal predator control, lays out the difficulties in supporting healthy predator populations while trying to protect humans, as North Americans are “on a collision course with remaining and rebounding populations of wolves, bears, cougars, and coyotes.” Although humans are far more likely to be killed by a deer than one of its natural predators, we instinctively fear the latter. The argument against killing predators arose with the environmental movement, and Shivik addresses that history, the concerns of farmers, and the American sense of entitlement of cheap food. He follows researchers of predator behavior as they attempt to develop means of dissuading the animals from killing livestock and frequenting human recreation and living areas. Shivik notes, “While effective nonlethal methods for preventing predation exist, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.” Dealing with the wildlife is only part of the equation, as “managing animals is difficult, but managing people is hell.” Predators provide tremendous benefits to ecosystems, but there are “costs and difficulties of managing them.” Shivik concludes with the hopeful example of Churchill, Manitoba, where polar bear tourism tenuously coexists with town life without resort to lethal force. Both ranchers and predator advocates will have something to learn from Shivik’s survey. (May)