Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for
Date of this Version
2008
Abstract
This issue of Human–Wildlife Conflicts deals with an important topic: deer–human conflicts. Wildlife biologists face a dilemma over managing deer populations. On the one hand, deer are the foundation of our state agencies concerning hunting and license revenues. On the other hand, however, deer populations in many states have increased to the point that hunting is not serving as the regulatory tool that it has been in the past. Changes in habitat, urban sprawl, and hunting pressure have contributed to large populations of deer. Excessive deer populations have serious ramifications, including impacts on agriculture, private landowners, and, most tragically, on human life, as fatalities due to deer–vehicle collisions increase. To compound the problem, large deer populations have the potential for transmitting disease that could be devastating to local, even regional, deer populations. The articles in this issue of Human–Wildlife Conflicts address this important conflict.
Comments
Published in Human-Wildlife Conflicts Volume 2, Number 1, Page 6, Spring 2008. Published and copyright by Jack H. Berryman Institute. http://www.berrymaninstitute.org/journal/index.html