Management of Vertebrates Pests

Vertebrate animals can also be nuisance, harmful, and menace toward human. They can be considered as a pest if they periodically or consistently threaten human life and well-being or significantly has conflicts human activities or interests. In general, vertebrate pests are a diverse group of animals, but only some of the groups are considered as the important pests such as rodent (small mammal) and starling (bird). The conflict between men and these animals have been recorded in many parts of the world such as the vectors for diseases and direct attacks on humans. However, the damage to agricultural crops is the most common factors of conflicts. In crop protection, this type of infestation is more difficult to cope, and the control program will consume a lot of time and money. Nevertheless, their infestation resulted on huge loss in agriculture-based economy especially the primary commodity of a country. For example, the rodent infestation in oil palm plantation contributed up to 80% of loss in immature palm and reduced up to 10% of total production. Management and control of their infestation is also facing many issues such as animal welfare concern, tolerance to method of killing, cost effectiveness, and controlling at an adequate scale. Therefore, this chapter will not only be pointing out the important vertebrate pests in line with tropical crop protection, but also will cover other issue which are related to the vertebrate pest management and control.