Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for
Date of this Version
December 1985
Abstract
Let me first indicate that I have been interested in wildlife damage control programs for a good part of my life. My first experience, at the tender age of 6 years, was hard to accept when coyotes killed my 4-H pig. The importance of wildlife damage control has been clear to me since that time. Unfortunately, the importance of control is not often clear to those people who have not directly experienced wildlife damage. On my first arrival in Texas in 1962. coyote populations were increasing in the state. At that time I was given the charge from the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (TAES) of conducting sheep and goat research at one of the stations near the Ft. Hood military reservation. It became apparent that this location was really not the place to conduct sheep and goat research because of extensive predation. As a matter of fact, probably because of that experience more than anything else, TAES has conducted some research on a continuous basis to develop techniques to protect sheep and goats. The type of protection researched has ranged from electric fencing and other barriers to guard dogs, repellents and attractants.