Dense populations of domestic cats kill thousands of birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates in urban areas every year. In an experimental study we found that belled collars reduced prey catch among regular hunters by 50% (birds) and 61% (rodents). Whether this reduction in catch is enough to ensure the viability of some species is unknown, and in New Zealand, where rodents are introduced predators of native wildlife, cat control measures should be implemented carefully.

Rodent pests cause significant pre-harvest losses to food staples. In Asia alone, rodents cause losses of 5?10% in rice production; a 6% loss is sufficient to feed 215 million people for 12 months. This paper reports that ecologically-based rodent management (EBRM) successfully managed the rice-field rat, Rattus argentiventer, in villages of 80-100 ha in West Java, Indonesia. EBRM is an appropriate approach to manage overabundant rodents in irrigated lowland rice-based agro-ecosystems and possibly in other agro-ecosystems.

Understanding the movement patterns of animals following wildlife management interventions is important for effective population management. We examined the impacts of shooting and fencing on two common macropods in Tasmania, the Tasmanian pademelon and red-necked wallaby. Shooting induced small shifts in home-range distributions of remaining individuals in the population and fencing induced whole-scale population movements of individuals. Wildlife management strategies, which are increasingly constrained by socio-political and financial considerations, should incorporate ecological and behavioural data regarding likely responses of target populations. Photograph by Natasha Wiggins.

Increasingly, management agencies need to justify their pest management activities and expenditure on protecting native biodiversity and agricultural production. A survey of regional pest management agencies in New Zealand found they did little measurement of the benefits of pest management, and what was done was poorly designed. Improvements in measuring benefits will requires better design of monitoring, additional resources, improved institutional/political support for long-term programmes, and better definition of long-term outcomes and objectives for pest management. Photograph by Phil Cowan.

Moving nuisance animals to new areas (translocation) is popular with members of the public opposed to lethal control, but there is little evidence that it is effective in solving human?wildlife conflicts. This review found that relocated animals may try to return home after release, resume their nuisance behaviour, spread diseases, or die, and that the actual cost of translocations is unknown. Before a translocation is proposed, stakeholders should be aware that other wildlife management techniques may offer better long-term solutions.

Citizen scientists are a potentially vast source of information about urban wildlife. We fitted conspicuous tags on two iconic urban species (black swans and eastern grey kangaroos) and received many reports of marked individuals from far beyond the spatial and economic reach of conventional monitoring techniques. We conclude that interactive web-based tools have the capacity to further inform and involve citizen scientists in research and management projects on urban wildlife. Photograph by John Eichner.

Since 2007, a spate of rodent outbreaks has led to severe food shortages in Asia affecting highly vulnerable and food insecure families. This paper synthesises what we know about rodent outbreaks in both upland and lowland rice agro-ecosystems of Asia, and identifies important gaps in our knowledge. Photograph by Grant Singleton.

Estimates of small mammal population size are widely used in ecological studies, with methods of determining population size reliant on restrictive assumptions including the requirement that all individuals have the same probability of capture. This study showed that the parasitic state of wood mice can affect their probability of being trapped, with parasitised individuals being more ‘trap-prone’ than non-parasitised individuals. This has potentially far-reaching implications for studies that use estimates of population size.

Assessing the viability of wildlife populations in the wild is difficult or impossible due to limited data. We defined suitable habitat for large mammals in the Western Forest Complex, Thailand, and to assess their current and future viability status. If park rangers and stakeholders wish to upgrade the viabilities of large mammals, they should aim to increase the amount of usable habitat by approximately 17% of existing suitable habitats, to enhance ungulate habitats and to increase connectivity of suitable habitats. Photograph by Kwanchai Waitanyakaran.

The northern bobwhite is an economically important game species in the USA. However, bobwhite populations have been declining throughout its range, despite intensive management efforts to reverse the trend. Here, we show that hunting mortality is largely additive to natural mortality during winter and that excessive hunting pressure has contributed to the decline of a bobwhite population on public land in south Florida. Recovery of this population is highly unlikely without substantial reduction in hunting pressure. Photograph by Tom Right.