Publication: L.A. Times

UCLA Expert: Daniel Blumstein: Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Professor, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis: Blumstein explains the ethics of behavior-based management, in which an animal’s behavior is encouraged, modified or manipulated to achieve positive conservation outcomes.

UCLA News: Behavioral interventions can conserve species and ecosystems without shooting, poisoning or trapping animals that people view as problems, writes Blumstein. This is particularly appealing where the animal is endangered. Yet such interventions also open up new ethical questions, or raise old questions in new ways. While avoiding poisoning or shooting animals can reduce overall harm, behavioral management may generate other forms of harm. For example, using aversive stimuli such as loud noises, harassment or mild pain to train species to avoid an area may cause distress and even trauma. In other cases, there are incidental harms to other species, such as animals killed to be used as “bait” in behavioral interventions.

Read more at L.A. Times.