Speaker
Description
Smith, Graham1*; Cowan, Dave2; Palphramand, Kate1
1 National Wildlife Management Centre, APHA, Sand Hutton, York, UK
2 Wildlife Consulting, York, UK
* graham.smith@apha.gov.uk
DOI: 10.20315/evmc.2025.032
Wildlife can cause conflicts with humans through economic losses, impacts on health, the environment and social impacts. Here we have collated, or estimated, the damage for each mammalian species in Britain in each of these categories. A five-point scale of impact was used to categorise each impact, with this starting at no, minimal or less than £10,000 per year, up to widespread severe effects or more than £10 million economic loss per year. The results will be presented in terms of individual species, taxa (e.g. deer or bats) and whether they are native or not. While deer, rats and rabbits are often assumed to be the major pest species, we will put this into perspective with some probable surprises for the impact of other mammal species. Results from a total of 28 terrestrial and 18 bat species that are considered native, 12 introduced species and a few feral species will be presented. A similar exercise was completed in 2013 and we will compare changes over the last 10 years.
