Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

Animal protectionists John Hadidian, Camilla Fox, and William Lynn exhorted wildlife professionals to engage the ethical issues associated with wildlife damage management. After outlining several ethical principles, they raised three common “nuisance” wildlife scenarios to illustrate the ethical difficulties they believe need thoughtful consideration. Despite their honorable desire, their paper exemplifies why the substantive dialogue on the ethics of wildlife control has not been achieved. First, their presentation neglected to wrestle with the role of competing worldviews. Second, the authors avoided acknowledging how animal protectionists’ rhetoric and behavior has undermined the trust necessary for wildlife managers to engage in dialogue. I conclude by offering several ways animal protectionists can build the fund of good will essential to initiating dialogue and finding common ground.