Negative
Ecological Impact
Targeting top predators wreaks havoc on ecosystems. Small mammal densities can surge and encourage diseases to spread and invasive flora to thrive. Killing apex predators is also ineffective at decreasing the overall population. Coyotes, for example, typically oat small animals and studies show when coyote numbers decrease, prey animal populations increase.
As a result, mother coyotes have larger litters and decades of killing has not reduced overall coyote numbers. Killing an adult male mountain lion tends to lead to more attacks on domestic animals because removing that established male encourages more aggressive juvenile lions to take his place.
