July 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 16

Front Page

Research Update: More Than a Feeling
How and why emotional connections with wildlife contributes to effectively managing
parks and open space
By Jonathan Hicks

N

ot every park agency actively considers wildlife in its mission statements
or management practices (Hicks 2010). Still, wildlife is finding ways to
survive in places it never could before, and for perhaps the first time,
some people are beginning to welcome the animals. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service reported that Americans spend $3 billion annually on bird seed, and another $800 million on bird feeders, baths and houses (USFWS 2007).
Meanwhile, a trip to the local feed
store reveals squirrel feeders, bat houses and tools to create butterfly gardens.
People are buying salt licks for deer
and trail cameras to snap photos of
backyard raccoons. Researchers have
documented this phenomenon across
the country, repeatedly finding that,
particularly in urban areas, more and
more people prefer non-consumptive
to consumptive wildlife recreation.
Since the 1970s, hunting participation
has declined while wildlife viewing
has increased (Whitehead and Aiken
2000; USFWS 2007). In other words,

14

Parks & Recreation

people are becoming less likely to
shoot animals with a gun and more
likely to shoot them with a camera.
Sometimes lost in the shuffle, however,
is that even though a majority of people
appreciate wildlife, they are often very
specific about where they want to see
wildlife. Herein lies perhaps the greatest challenge for managers: How do we
balance the numerous feelings and attitudes that many people express? For the
most part, it is not wildlife to which people are opposed, it is the situations that
arise from the presence of wildlife. For
instance, most people genuinely enjoy

| J U LY 2 0 1 3 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

seeing deer at their local forest preserve.
However, seeing one through your car's
windshield is far less appealing. Having
Canada geese in the river may be quite
enjoyable, but having them on your golf
course is more problematic.
It is these situational inconsistencies
that make dealing with people and
wildlife so complex and oftentimes
emotional. On one side of your home,
you may have a neighbor who wants to
shoot deer that eat their vegetable gardens, while your neighbor across the
street feeds and tries to pet the same
deer. Both are upstanding citizens who
pay taxes and value local parks, yet
their behaviors and emotional responses are different. Many communities,
including some in suburban Chicago,
have dealt with these conflicting emotions with regard to coyotes. Some
members of the public were concerned
for the safety of their pets and young
children. However, when officials decided to trap and kill several coyotes,
many people were upset.
In reality, the coyotes were probably
not a threat. Reports of coyote attacks
on humans are rare; coyotes are not
pack hunters like wolves, and pets kept
indoors, inside fences or on leashes are
generally not at risk. Examinations of
trapped coyotes have revealed that their
stomachs were not filled with human
children or pets - they were almost entirely filled with carelessly disposed human food and pet food residents left outside (Gese et al. 2012). In other words,
many of the same people who do not
want coyotes around are unknowingly
contributing to their presence.



July 2013 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2013 - Parks & Recreation

July 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 1
July 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 2
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