Social acceptability of wildlife management actions in suburban areas: 3 cases from New York

Despite notable successes, wildlife damage management in suburban situation s is widely perceived as difficult because of the vocal resistance of some suburban residents to many mitigation measures. We examined suburban reside nts' experiences with, concerns about, and acceptance of management actions for white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), beaver (Castor canadensis) , or Canada geese (Branta canadensis) in 3 areas of New York state. We cons idered 4 types of interventions which represented degrees of invasiveness t o the animals of concern: human behavior modification, nonlethal-noninvasiv e, nonlethal-invasive, and lethal. Results demonstrated that residents' con cerns about wildlife were elevated by increasingly severe problem experienc es. In addition, residents' acceptance of invasive and lethal methods to re solve wildlife problems in suburban areas was higher than many wildlife man agers might expect. Contrary to our predictions, acceptance of invasive and lethal methods was more strongly related to concerns about nuisance and ec onomic damage issues than to concerns about health and safety issues. Our r esults provide useful information to wildlife professionals for management planning and communication regarding problem-causing wildlife in suburban a reas.