Society’s struggle with unwanted species: what centuries of history reveal about species bounty programs
Julian D Olden, Jessica O Diallo, Rachel M Fricke, Emily Jameson, Rachelle C Johnson, Rebekah R Stiling, Brielle K Thompson · 2026
Read Society’s struggle with unwanted species: what centuries of history reveal about species bounty programs by Julian D Olden, Jessica O Diallo, Rachel M Fricke, Emily Jameson, Rachelle C Johnson, Rebekah R Stiling, Brielle K Thompson (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13303918.txt.
Description
Julian D Olden and a large team assemble, in a 2026 review, the first global history of paying bounties for killing unwanted species. Governments have enlisted the public this way for centuries, against everything from wolves to invasive fish. The authors gathered records spanning eight hundred years.
At least 283 species were targeted by 449 programmes across sixty countries, covering mammals, birds, plants, insects, and more. Motives split between protecting livelihoods, defending ecosystems, and guarding human health. Designs ranged from carefully managed schemes to hasty reactions with no follow-up. Side effects included killing the wrong species and, perversely, helping targets thrive, while fraud surfaced in several programmes. Keeping the public engaged proved a constant struggle.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Julian D Olden, Jessica O Diallo, Rachel M Fricke, Emily Jameson, Rachelle C Johnson, Rebekah R Stiling, Brielle K Thompson |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 62 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |