Urban wildlife populations have expanded as animals adapt to city environments. Coexistence requires understanding urban wildlife ecology, managing conflict humanely and resisting calls for lethal control.
Urban wildlife coexistence is a welfare challenge because lethal control is often the default response to human-wildlife conflict in cities. Urban foxes causing minor garden disturbance, badgers digging under fences, and deer browsing ornamental plants are frequently met with calls for pest control, despite the availability of effective non-lethal deterrents. The welfare of urban wildlife depends on public attitudes shifting from tolerance to genuine coexistence - understanding that wild animals adapting to urban environments are doing so to survive, and that non-lethal management supports both their welfare and sustainable coexistence.