Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law

In modern parlance, conservation denotes protecting nature. However, up until the 1970s, the idea of conservation meant the protection of livestock for farmers and ranchers, and wilderness, game animals, and fish for hunters, fishers, and in earlier decades, fur trappers. The author points out that even the National Wildlife Research Center is part of the US Department of Agriculture, which prioritizes farmers and ranchers. She feels it is an uneasy relationship for the State Department of Fish and Wildlife to be largely funded by the licenses for hunting and fishing, but often, naturalists with an interest in protecting wildlife end up working for such agencies, as well as companies making pesticides because the “jobs are few, and that’s where they lie” (176).

Habituation is when an animal becomes accustomed to something, not perceiving it as a threat. Increasing human-bear interactions, for example, habituates bears to human presence, which makes them more likely to go near them, their cars, or their houses in search of food. This makes controlling bears more difficult and raises the probability of a violent encounter. Habituation is at the heart of the difficulty behind most frightening devices for birds. When a loud noise or sudden movement is not followed with a consequence, the birds soon realize that they can return to what they were doing.