Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for

 

Date of this Version

3-1-1981

Comments

Published in Proceedings of the Fifth Eastern Pine and Meadow Vole Symposium, Gettysburg, PA, March 4–5, 1981, Ross E. Byers, editor. Copyright © 1981 Brooks and Schwarzkopf.

Abstract

In Ontario, herbivorous mammals inflict extensive damage upon fruit tree ocrchards and hardwood plantations (Radvanyi 1974 a, b; C. Dufault pers. commun., Hikichi pers. commun.). Nevertheless, surprisingly little research has been directed toward reduction or control of this damage and, therefore, growers continue to suffer substantial annual economic losses. Ontario appears to offer no specific guidelines to assist growers in developing effective long-term control programs for mammalian pests in their orchards. Recommended methods of control are limited to brief, general pamphlets most of which have shown little substantive change over the past few decades. There have been virtually no experimental studies of the recommended control methods, and there are almost no data on the identity of the species causing damage nor on the extent and cost of the damage. Finally there has been no investigation of safer, more economical or more effective alternatives to the traditional means of control (Miller 1976; Hikichi pers. commun.).

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