By Chuck Quirmbach Wisconsin Public Radio
As the state prepares for another wolf hunting season, wildlife experts are debating whether the public can learn to tolerate meat-eating wild animals like wolves, coyotes and black bears.
Conservationists have lost the battle to save several large carnivores. Other meat-eating species, however, seem to be in good shape, and in fact are sometimes criticized for attacking too many things like deer, cows, and pets, or pawing through garbage.
Mark Damian Duda conducts public polls about wildlife issues. He says people’s attitudes about carnivores varies by animal, location, and other factors. That includes opinions on hunting the animals.
“Nationwide, it’s about half of the public that supports hunting for black bear,” Duda said. “Americans support hunting, but they have different opinions on different species.”
Other researchers say opposition to some carnivores can be extreme, and lead to special hunting seasons against them.
John Shivik of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources says a decline in the deer population there have led to people killing thousands of coyotes, even though urban sprawl and other factors also affect deer.
“We can’t stop the sprawl, we can’t stop invasive species, we’ve got limited habitat — can’t make more of that — can’t control the weather, [and we] can’t manage human expectations apparently either, so we come up with what I call the ‘predator placebo,’” Shivik said. “Killing these things is making people feel better.”
Shivik says targeted hunting of predators can work, but he says killing coyotes in Utah hasn’t helped the deer population.
Shivik spoke at the Wildlife Society national conference in Milwaukee.