discussion / Human-Wildlife Conflict  / 2 September 2016

New journal article shows deficiency of studies on effectiveness of predator controls

Hi all,

 

I thought I'd alert you to this recent journal article, which looked at all published research on predator controls in Europe and North America to determine how robust the studies were:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.1312/full

It found that most studies were not rigorous in their design, methods and/or analyses, which means that it is difficult to ascertain the real effectiveness of the intervention schemes.  In particular, there was a real lack of robust studies looking at lethal control methods, but this was also a problem for those looking at non-lethal controls.

A call for action for those of you who are trying to demonstrate effectiveness of interventions - ensure you are following rigorous scientific procedures to ensure robust results and valid conclusions.

 

Best wishes,


Niki

WWF-UK