What Is Human-Animal Conflict, and Why Should You Care?

In the world today the human population is about 7.6 billion people, which is a whole lot of people to share this world with! We are not only sharing this world with each other, but with all different kinds of wildlife-from pesky bees to roaring lions. As the human population continues to expand, a lack of natural space for many animals causes increases in human-wildlife conflicts. Human-wildlife conflict can be defined as any interaction between humans and wildlife that results in negative impacts on humans, wildlife and/or the environment. These conflicts are not all considered equal; they fall on a scale of very minor to life threatening situations. Local examples include wildlife-vehicle collisions with moose or deer, raccoons rummaging in the trash, to more international problems such as elephants in Africa eating crops and lions killing livestock. Human-wildlife conflict is very important, and affects all of us whether we know it or not.

All of the wildlife on our planet play essential roles in establishing ecosystems. For example, bumblebees and honeybees are huge pollinators for plants. Without them we would have to hand pollinate all of our plants in order to get food, which is not only extremely time consuming, but also very expensive. It’s also imperative to protect apex predators, such as lions, who have no natural predators and are on the top of their food chains. All apex predators play an essential role in keeping balance in their respective ecosystems. Without them, the natural order of the ecosystem would fall apart. Our blog will focus on different types of conflicts, from local examples such as black bears and bees, to international conflicts in Asia and Africa. We will also discuss topics surrounding human-wildlife conflicts, such as hidden consequences, preventative measures, and successful resolutions of these conflicts.