Editing Pest control (section)

====Hunting====
[[File:Passenger pigeon shoot.jpg|thumb|A contemporary wood engraving of varmint hunters shooting [[passenger pigeon]]s, a varmint species that was known to damage crops. [[Overhunting]] resulted in complete extinction of the species.]]
{{main|Varmint hunting}}
Pest control can also be achieved via [[culling]] the pest animals — generally small- to medium-sized [[wildlife|wild]] or [[feral]] mammals or birds that inhabit the [[ecological niche]]s near [[farm]]s, [[pasture]]s or other [[human settlement]]s — by employing human [[hunter]]s or [[trapping|trapper]]s to physically track down, kill and remove them from the area.  The culled animals, known as [[vermin]], may be targeted because they are deemed harmful to agricultural crops, livestock or facilities; serve as [[host (biology)|host]]s or [[vector (epidemiology)|vector]]s that [[transmission (medicine)|transmit]] [[pathogen]]s [[cross-species transmission|across species]] or [[zoonotic disease|to humans]]; or for [[population control]] as a mean of [[conservation biology|protecting]] other [[vulnerable species]] and [[ecosystem]]s.<ref>Tellman, Barbara. "Varmint control in Cochise County over the years." (2005)</ref>

Pest control via hunting, like all forms of harvest, has imposed an artificial [[Selective breeding|selective pressure]] on the organisms being targeted.  While varmint hunting is potentially selecting for desired [[ethology|behavioural]] and [[population ecology|demographic]] changes (e.g. animals avoiding human populated areas, crops and livestock), it can also result in unpredicted outcomes such as the targeted animal [[adaptation|adapting]] for [[r-selection|faster reproductive cycles]].<ref>Allendorf, Fred W.; Hard, Jeffrey J. "Human-induced evolution caused by unnatural selection through harvest of wild animals." ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' 106. Supplement 1 (2009): 9987-9994</ref>