Human-wildlife conflicts are commonly tackled by excluding, relocating or lethally controlling animals, with the goal of preserving public health and safety, protecting property or conserving other valued wildlife. However, declining wildlife populations, a lack of efficacy of control methods in achieving desired outcomes, and changes in how people value animals, have triggered widespread acknowledgement of the need for ethical and evidence-based approaches to managing such conflicts. International perspectives and experiences were explored by a diverse panel of 20 experts in a two-day workshop to develop consensus principles for ethical wildlife control. It is proposed that efforts to control wildlife should: (1) begin wherever possible by altering the human practices that cause human-wildlife conflict and by developing a culture of co-existence; (2) be justified by evidence that significant harms are being caused to people, property, livelihoods, ecosystems and/or animals; (3) have measurable outcome-based objectives that are clear, achievable, monitored and adaptive; (4) use methods that predictably minimize animal welfare harms and cause them to the least number of animals; (5) be informed by community values as well as scientific, technical and practical information; (6) be integrated into plans for systematic long-term management; and (7) be based on the specifics of the situation rather than negative labels (pest, overabundant) applied to the target species. We recommend that these principles guide development of international, national and other standards, together with local control decisions and implementation.
