Human- wildlife conflict

Human-wildlife conflict, for some people it can be a bit weird. It’s not a topic most people think about when it comes to saving animals but it’s still a very important topic. Hundreds of animals are dying because of this conflict. So what is human-wildlife conflict? Human – wildlife conflict is when encounters between human and wildlife go south, such as damage to property and most of the time people kill the animals due to the conflict. It’s really unfortunate. Moreover, humans are the ones escalating the conflict but we blame it on the animals.

Unfortunately, human-wildlife conflict is on the rise, as we destroy animal habitats, animals start to wander into urban areas, humans panic and they attack, animals become scared and they try to fight for their life and the animal ends up dying. This is how it works most of the time. Actually, it’s our fault because we are destroying their habitat, and we expect them to stay out of their home. This is just one of the examples of how humans are escalating this conflict. Human-wildlife conflict is also encouraged by animal stereotypes. Human-wildlife conflict happens because the person got scared of the animal, and he/she killed the animal because of fear, this is caused by animal stereotypes.

Sometimes people confuse poaching and human-wildlife conflict, poaching is for profit, human-wildlife conflict is because of animal stereotypes. Some examples of human-wildlife conflict can be when some wild animal comes and destroys a farmer’s crops. Or when a cheetah attacks a farmer’s livestock, then the farmer most of the time kills the animals. And it does nothing good, the animal dies a painful death, that’s the only thing it achieves. This is very much not humane. Also human-wildlife conflict threatens the economy, for example if animals destroy crops, the food industry will be affected. This way, almost everything is affected by human-wildlife conflict.

Stopping human-wildlife conflict may seem daunting, but it is possible. For example, Project Cheetah is placing guard dogs to protect sheep from cheetahs. These dogs don’t hurt the cheetah but simply scare it away with their loud barking and growling, this can be a solution. And we need to educate people on what to do if you come across a wild animal, we need to teach people to ensure their safety and the animal’s safety. Moreover, these are just 2 solutions, there are thousands more that are possible. In addition, governments around the world need to work hard on this project to stop human-wildlife conflict, governments need to fund these projects. But I am optimistic that if we continue trying to stop this conflict, one day we will have a world where no animal will have to die because of animal stereotypes and we will have saved millions of innocent lives.