Techniques Recommended 

 by WS 



Whether or not a particular action is 

 appropriate or practical depends on 

 a variety of factors, including the 

 species causing damage, the type 

 of damage and its geographic 

 location, and laws and regulations. 

 In general, three types of actions 

 can be considered for resolving 

 instances of animals damaging a 

 resource. 



One approach is to move the 

 resource away from the animal 

 causing damage. Moving sheep out 

 of a pasture to reduce the likeli- 

 hood of predation by coyotes and 

 moving beehives to an area away 

 from marauding black bears are 

 examples of this approach. 



A second possibility is to exclude 

 an animal from the resource. Using 

 scare tactics to keep birds away 

 from crops and electric fencing to 

 keep predators away from livestock 

 are examples of this technique. 



The third possibility is to relocate or 

 remove the animal causing the 

 problem. Snaring and removing a 

 bear from a sheep allotment and 

 trapping a coyote that has been 



killing calves are examples of this 

 approach. 



Often, the most effective strategy to 

 resolve wildlife damage problems is 

 to integrate the use of several 

 methods or approaches, either all 

 at once or in turn. This is known as 

 integrated pest management (IPM). 

 WS uses and recommends IPM to 

 reduce damage by wildlife while 

 minimizing any harmful effects of 

 the management measures on 

 humans, nontarget wildlife, 

 domestic livestock, and the 

 environment. IPM may incorporate 

 husbandry techniques like shed 

 lambing, modifying habitat (e.g., 

 removing bird roosting cover 

 adjacent to crops), or using 

 trapping, snaring, or shooting 

 methods. 



WS personnel use and recommend 

 the best methods available, but 

 some of the methods currently 

 used in wildlife damage manage- 

 ment are not new. For example, 

 cage and leghold traps have been 

 used for hundreds of years. They 

 continue to be important in wildlife 

 management for situations where 



Beavers cause damage 

 through the flooding of 

 property, roads, crops, 

 and forests. 



