Center, Internet, Wildlife Damage Management
Human–Wildlife Interactions
Managing Risk from Bears and Other Potentially Lethal Wildlife: Predictability, Accountability, and Liability
Date of this Version
Spring 2013
Document Type
Article
Citation
Human–Wildlife Interactions (Spring 2013) 7(1): article 2
doi: 10.26077/17b9-xs38
Abstract
Accountability and liability of managers for protecting the public from wildlife should not assume an unrealistic ability to forecast attacks approaching the certainty of 20:20 hindsight after an attack. Although analysis of past attacks can yield valuable insights, it is likely to create exaggerated perceptions of average risk, of how much risk can be reduced by management actions, and of how predictable individual animals are during any given encounter. Such exaggeration can be minimized by understanding each species’ aggression within the whole scope of its social behavior, body language, and interactions with humans.
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Producing and implementing management plans with the 5 characteristics listed above would be markedly facilitated by better support for innovative research on wildlife behavior. If ursid predatory behavior had been better understood, then the quick return of the bear to the Ives campsite might have been predicted and adequate countermeasures taken. Knowledge can save both lives and money.