Abstract: An apparatus and method for autonomous and accurate identification of target animal species, such as in animal species control and management systems for use in public or private agricultural and related communities. An intelligent, autonomous, dual-sensory, animal species-specific recognition system useful for activating wildlife management and related devices when a particular animal species approaches the system is provided. The device and method use a combination of both acoustic and visual sensors, together with efficient and robust recognition algorithms and signal/image processing techniques, to maximize accurate target-specific identification and reject false alarms.