Rural System's
Modern Wild Faunal Resource System Management
Stocking Game
Stocking game is a general phrase used by the press and by many sportspeople. There are four possible meanings:
- Primary stocking occurs when animals from various sources are brought to new areas where the species has not been previously seen
- Secondary stocking brings animals to areas from which they have been exterminated
- Primary Transplanting collects animals from the field and moves them to areas where the population is low or where it once occurred but no longer does.
- Secondary Transplanting is typically release of game-farm animals into areas where the same species recently (or now) occurs. This has been called release before the gun, put and take, or dump and shoot.
The pros of stocking are:
- There may be a high probability of success
- There may be great returns (hunting success, fame, financial returns)
- The parallels with the successful ring-necked pheasant are unmistakable.
The cons are:
- It is costly
- There may be high subsequent costs for maintenance as well as pest-condition controls
- There is a high probability of failure
- It does not favor native species and may be harmful to them (even to extinction as in some species in Hawaii)
- Equal or greater game increases might be possible through habitat management for native species
- Disease may be transmitted with the new animals, disease harmful to native wildlife
- Hybridization may occur
- Range abuse (e.g., from introduced grazers onto over-grazed range) may occur
- Scarce funds may be diverted
- It is a palliative, allowing an escape from the hard work of native species management
- There is rarely a re-dress from any damage the new animals cause
- They easily become pests or over populated since their enemies or predators are not stocked also
- Wildness and game characteristics animals are typically reduced
- There is a sense of gambling with public funds when stocking is done by agencies
- There are few if any controls on movements of animals
- The demand is usually small, but very vocal.
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Last revision January 19, 2004.