Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for
Date of this Version
January 2002
Abstract
The Wildlife Services (WS) program, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), helps alleviate wildlife damage to agricultural, urban, and natural resources. WS also addresses wildlife threats to public health and safety and protects endangered and threatened species from predators. WS receives Federal funds to conduct its work; however, cost sharing is an integral part of the WS program. The most challenging task in determining the savings resulting from WS activities is predicting how much more damage animals would have caused if control methods had not been used. Indirect costs associated with wildlife damage are not always taken into consideration in standard cost-effectiveness studies of the WS program.