Conservation Officer Service

Wildlife - Human Conflicts Prevention Strategy

Dial Toll Free 1-877-952-7277 (RAPP) to report wildlife-human interactions where public safety is at risk.

British Columbia, with its far-ranging network of roads, widely dispersed communities and innumerable tracts of wilderness, offers a multitude of opportunities for human and wildlife interactions. While this is a wonderful opportunity for learning to appreciate the natural world and its inhabitants, not all encounters are mutually beneficial.

Wildlife-Human conflicts occur in both urban and rural areas and range from nuisance encounters, to attacks on humans, pets and livestock.  Past practices to manage these conflicts have focused primarily on reactionary measures, frequently relying on destruction to eliminate problem wildlife behaviour. Focusing on reactionary measures to these situations has proved to be at best a short term solution and often results in needless destruction of the province’s wildlife.  In addition, reactionary measures have been costly in terms of government resources dedicated to managing this problem.

Consistent with the new directions toward shared stewardship identified in the Ministry Service Plan a Wildlife Conflicts Working Group was struck in 2002. The Working Group was tasked with developing a prevention strategy that would respond to the strategic shift toward shared stewardship and shared responsibility. The Working Group developed a Wildlife-Human Conflicts Prevention Strategy following extensive public consultations and input from an MLA Advisory Committee.  The strategy calls for government agencies, local governments, non-government organizations and individuals to start changing some behaviour and to take some responsibility for doing things in a way that will prevent wildlife conflicts from occurring.

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