New policies for a new wildlife: A road map for the wildlife manager of the future

Abstract

Historical human persecution of wildlife unintentionally shaped a shy fauna of large bird and mammalian predator and prey species that has survived in ecological refuges until recently in Europe. Rural exodus and changed human attitudes have decreased human persecution of these species and they are now getting out of their refuges, losing fear to humans and getting closer to urban areas. These changes have followed a non-linear pattern during the last few decades and are now starting to being noticed. Wildlife management policies will have to adjust rapidly to this new paradigm. We review the current situation in Europe and suggest a number of policy changes that may be necessary to cope with wildlife shifts in distribution and behaviour. New policies could include downgrading some protected areas but increasing the protection of currently unoccupied sites, changes in translocation programs, prevention of accidents, promotion of scavenging wildlife access to anthropogenic food sources far from urban areas or new awareness agendas, among others, to face the new paradigm and preserve the biodiversity inherited from the recent past.