The hidden dimensions of human–wildlife conflict: Health impacts, opportunity and transaction costs

An interdisciplinary review of current and future approaches to improving human–predator relations

“…Attempts to understand the behavior of damage-causing predators determine the most effective methods for reducing attacks (such as guarding livestock or providing safe water-collection points to avoid crocodile attacks), and educate local communities about employing methods to reduce their vulnerability have had some success (e.g., Balme et al 2009;Marker & Boast 2015). However, such interventions have also foundered in many places for a range of reasons, including failure to involve local people, high opportunity costs of effective livestock protection methods, and resistance to perceived infringements on freedom of behavior (Barua et al 2013), or as a result of epistemological disagreements over what causes predator attacks (Wallace et al 2011;Pooley 2016).…”

Taking the Elephants' Perspective: Remembering Elephant Behavior, Cognition and Ecology in Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation

“…They may have an agricultural, environmental and/or financial impact related to crop-raiding or foraging (King et al, 2011;Chiyo et al, 2012;Wilson et al, 2015), damage to property and water and grain stores (Wilson et al, 2015), and impacts on vegetation (Midgley et al, 2005). They may also have a direct impact on the different parties' lives, manifested in the perceived effects of the conflict on human wellbeing (Barua et al, 2013), injury and death of humans and livestock, and retaliatory killing of elephants by humans (Dunham et al, 2010). How often and where each of these events occurs varies widely in Africa and Asia alongside variation in environmental factors such as resource distribution, agricultural practices, human occupation of land, seasonal climatic conditions and habitat connectivity (Bal et al, 2011;Cook et al, 2015;Goswami et al, 2015;Wilson et al, 2015).…”

The impacts, characterisation and management of human–leopard conflict in a multi-use land system in South Africa

“…Conservation efforts in the twenty-first century face unique challenges; reconciling the requirements of human activities with the needs of wildlife in changing ecological, socioeconomic and political landscapes (Barua et al 2013). The expansion of human presence into wildlife habitats due to human population growth and land use transformation has caused habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation for many species (Inskip and Zimmermann 2009).…”

“…To date research on human-wildlife conflicts has focused on providing alternative solutions to managing problem animals that do not rely on retaliation alone (Treves et al 2009). However, many strategies applied to protect livestock such as shepherds and livestock-guardian dogs produce opportunity costs for people including loss of sleep, reduced school attendance, employment opportunities and greater exposure to disease, but are rarely explored by researchers (Barua et al 2013). Researchers advocate a need to adopt participatory approaches that draw on the experiences of local people affected by wildlife in order to develop locally relevant mitigation strategies, since currently, these groups are largely underrepresented (Hill 2004).…”

“…Conflicts involving large carnivores result from their protein-rich diets and extensive home ranges, drawing them into competition with humans (Treves and Karanth 2003). People that depend on game and livestock are at risk because wildlife damage and predation impose significant economic and hidden costs, which induce negative social and cultural impacts to affected farmers (Barua et al 2013).…”