Urbanization decreases the amount of natural habitat available to wildlife but some
species are able to adapt to and even thrive in human-dominated landscapes. When
humans and wildlife live in close proximity the number of conflicts increase. Natural
resource and agricultural departments were not designed to handle urban problems or the
number of complaints that arise in urban areas, and the nuisance wildlife control (NWC)
industry has developed in response to the unmet demand for assistance. Members of the
wildlife profession have expressed concerns over the impact the nuisance wildlife
control industry may have on wildlife, the public, and wildlife management, but no
national studies were found that examined the size, growth, and/or economic impact of
the industry. The most recent national reviews of regulation and oversight took place
≥10 years ago. This study examines 2 broad features of the NWC industry: 1) size and
economic impact of the industry in the U.S. (e.g., number of businesses, annual sales
revenue generated); and 2) the national regulatory environment. A total of 3,153 NWC
businesses were identified in the U.S., and a conservative annual sales figure of $140
million was estimated for the wildlife removal services only. Changes in the regulatory
environment from 1997-2007 were examined using a 10-category scoring system
developed during an earlier study, and comparing the results of both studies. Changes
were observed (P ≤ 0.05) for 9 of 10 characteristics, and the average cumulative score
rose from 2.20 to 4.28 out of 10.0.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1638 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Lindsey, Kieran J. |
| Contributors | Adams, Clark E. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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