Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for
Date of this Version
December 2001
Abstract
The Federal Government’s Wildlife Services (WS) program works to alleviate wildlife damage to agricultural, urban, and natural resources and threats to public health and safety. The WS program also protects endangered and threatened species from wildlife depredation. WS is part of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Most WS work is conducted on private lands, but WS also manages wildlife damage problems on public lands, particularly those under the responsibility of USDA’s Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Land Management. Land management agencies authorize or request WS assistance for several different reasons.