A farm manager walks among chickens at a South African chicken farm. Photo by Shiraaz Mohamed/AFP via Getty Images.
New and innovative thinking is needed to deal with the reality on the ground in South Africa.
Shutterstock
A non-fatal crocodile attack on a tourist last week made headlines. But talk of culling is an over-reaction to a fairly isolated incident.
Public acceptance of killing urban wild animals varies.
Elena Berd/Shutterstock
Here’s what determines if a problematic wild animal is saveable or cullable.
Avian influenza (‘bird flu’) is a highly transmissible and usually mild disease that affects wild birds such as geese, swans, seagulls, shorebirds, and also domestic birds such as chickens and turkeys.
(CDC and NIAID)
Avian influenza — commonly known as ‘bird flu’ — is infecting domestic and wild birds in Canada and around the world.
Nigeria has to step up biosecurity measures to check frequent bird flu outbreaks.
Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images
Bird flu has been recurring in Africa since 2006 and Nigeria is heavily affected. High-level biosecurity measures are required to keep people and animals safe.
Red squirrels have little immunity to squirrelpox virus spread by grey squirrels.
Hugh Rowlands
There is no single, straightforward way to safeguard the future of this native mammal at the moment – but here are some options
The strain of H5N1 bird flu identified in Canada, the United States and Europe can cause severe disease and high mortality in domestic poultry.
(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Avian influenza virus — or bird flu — can infect domestic poultry such as chickens and turkeys, as well as wild birds. The H5N1 strain has been identified in Canada.
Scooperdigital/Shutterstock
Squirrel feeders laced with contraceptives could be used to suppress grey squirrels in the UK.
Jacques de Speville
Conflict between fruit-growers, the Mauritian government and conservationists has dragged on for years – it’s time for a new approach.
Andrew Colefax
Recent shark-related deaths fuel the debate around the best way to keep people safe in the water, without hurting marine wildlife.
Ponies grazing in a bluebell meadow in Dartmoor National Park, Devon.
Helen Hotson/Shutterstock
Wild ponies have lived in Britain for over 4,000 years, but they’re in danger of dying out.
Shutterstock
Introduced species are often targeted for culling in conservation, but killing charismatic animals like foxes can be controversial.
Bruce MacQueen/Shutterstock
If harm to native wildlife is the main concern then there are much bigger targets for control than grey squirrels.
The fate of deer carcasses is a crucial consideration in monitoring the success of future culling.
Emma Spencer
The NSW government has announced plans to remove feral deer from its list of official game animals. With careful monitoring, the resulting free-for-all could help curb their booming numbers.
Shutterstock/Vitaliy6447
They swim, they eat, they multiply.
The government’s target to kill 2 million feral cats sounds impressive, but lacks scientific rigour.
The plan to kill 2 million feral cats nationwide by 2020 makes for good headlines. But it’s also a simplistic goal that won’t necessarily deliver conservation benefits to native species.
Boxing Day Hunt, 2016.
Aidan Crawley/EPA
Fox hunting has been banned in the UK since 2004 – so why is it still happening?
Martin Prochazkacz/Shutterstock.com
Wild boars are being scapegoated for an epidemic of African swine flu that threatens the pork industry.
Warning sign at a Cape Cod beach.
Carlos García-Quijano
The return of white sharks to Cape Cod, Massachusetts was a tourism success story – until a shark killed a swimmer. Can the Cape’s residents and visitors learn to share the ocean with these apex predators?
Wedge-tailed eagles have been found poisoned in East Gippsland.
Simon Cherriman
The poisoning of dozens of wedge-tailed hawks in Victoria could affect the entire wild population.