As urban areas expand, wildlife including coyotes, raccoons, foxes, and deer increasingly interact with humans, creating conflicts that often result in lethal control of animals that could be managed through coexistence strategies.
Urban wildlife conflict creates welfare harm on multiple sides: animals harassed, trapped, or killed for responding naturally to food opportunities that humans create, and occasional genuine threats to pets or children when wildlife becomes habituated or cornered. The welfare-preferred approach — removing attractants and using non-lethal hazing — is also the more effective approach at reducing conflict long-term, since lethal removal simply creates a vacancy filled by other individuals. Shifting community norms toward coexistence and away from reflexive lethal response is both a welfare and a practical wildlife management improvement.