Copyright (c) 2005 University of Nebraska - Lincoln All rights reserved. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3 Recent documents in Proceedings of the Third Vertebrate Pest Conference (1967) en-us Thu, 22 Dec 2005 03:18:21 PST 3600 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/33 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/33 Tue, 20 Dec 2005 07:49:18 PST The Third Vertebrate Pest Conference was an enormous success with 265 in attendance, of these, 203 were registered participants. The attendance was made up of individuals having varying interests in vertebrate pest problems including foresters, agriculturalists, conservationists, pest control operators, vector control specialists, health officials, wildlife specialists, product distributors and manufacturers, instructors and researchers from twenty three states plus Washington D. C. and South Africa. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/32 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/32 Tue, 20 Dec 2005 07:48:03 PST The record of this meeting will stand as a tribute to all of those who participated in the Third Vertebrate Pest Conference. It should remind them for years to come of their worthwhile contributions. Richard H. Dana http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/31 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/31 Tue, 20 Dec 2005 07:45:47 PST This is a hasty and in many ways superficial review of the motivations that started us in the business of importing new, strange, beautiful, and hopefully useful wildlife. It is a capsuled account of the high cost of ill-advised introductions and of near misses that were avoided thanks to a few individuals who viewed such transplants with skepticism and even alarm. And I have touched also on the highlights of the legislative base from which we now operate in efforts to safeguard agriculture and other values from ravages of exotic wildlife; wildlife that may succeed too well with us and behave not at all as they do at home. But our best efforts still leave room for caution and concern. With the arrival of the age of jet air travel we have traded one problem for another. In the closing years of the last century our vulnerability centered on a lack of legal authority to control imports. And yet a built-in safeguard may have partly concerned the deliberate travel of ocean liners and the complexities involved in transporting live animals by that means. Today we are less than a day removed from any part of the globe, and the ease and success of moving wildlife by air has greatly increased traffic in many new, unusual and even poorly understood species. The cage bird business has grown explosively. Not the least of our problems now center on inadequate staff to inspect the flood of shipments. And inspections can be involved because working with the bird life of the world (and its fish life, too) can be a job for highly accomplished taxonomists of which there are none too many. Even in the most practiced hands there are problems of identification to flabbergast the experts. Joseph P. Linduska http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/30 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/30 Tue, 20 Dec 2005 07:37:32 PST In an earlier paper (Hey, 1964 an account was given of the topography and climate of the Cape Province, a description of the vertebrate animals and birds which might be considered to fall in the category of problem animals and the control methods used. The present paper will, therefore, deal with advances in control techniques which have since been made. At this juncture, it would be appropriate to record our sincere appreciation to the Director and Staff of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and particularly to the Senior Officers of the Denver Research Center, District Agents Malcolm Allison and Milton Caroline and the members of their field staff for invaluable advice and assistance in dealing with our problems. Mr. Malcolm Allison spent three months in the Cape Province adapting coyote getter techniques to meet our conditions. At the outset it must be stressed that in contrast to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, our Department does not undertake the direct control of problem animals. The control programme is based on a system of technical and financial aid to existing hunt clubs and local authorities. Any hunting which is done by officers of the Department is merely incidental to the training of hounds or the testing and perfecting of new techniques. The system of technical aid was planned to replace the old bounty system gradually, and this aim has now been realized except in areas where no hunt clubs exist. The Cape Province, covering an area of 277,000 square miles is largely subdivided into farms. State land is chiefly limited to the mountain ranges under the control of the Department of Forestry, and used for afforestation and water conservation purposes. The Province is subdivided into 92 Divisions, each controlled by a Divisional Council which deals with matters such as roads, public health and predator control. The legislation relating to this latter function empowers the Divisional Councils to subdivide their divisions into wards and establish hunt clubs in each. Such hunt clubs are established at the request of the local farmers. The number of clubs in a Division may vary from one to five, depending upon the type of agriculture, the topography and the hunting methods used. The Department of Nature Conservation subsidises the clubs and furnishes technical aid in the form of equipment, trained hounds and undertakes the training of hunters. Periodic inspections of hunt clubs are made to ensure that these are functioning efficiently and to advise hunters on the field application of the latest techniques. While the Department endeavor's to render all reasonable assistance to clubs, the actual elimination of problem animals is the responsibility of the individual farmers and their hunt clubs. This system is proving increasingly effective and is sound conservation practice, for animals are hunted only when they are a nuisance and not merely for the sake of hunting. The present problems relating to specific animals will now be discussed. Douglas Hey http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/29 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/29 Tue, 20 Dec 2005 07:34:15 PST This paper briefly introduces the subject of vertebrate pest control, integrates and interprets some important ecological principles of control methodology, and intercalates these discussions with analysis of the biological backlashes and other ecological interactions that may be created whenever troublesome species of vertebrates are controlled by biological means. Insight in this area must be deepened if we are to fulfill our primary objective of learning how to manage a healthy environment in perpetuity. One important merit of biocontrol is that most people accept carefully planned ecological dislocations in nature more readily than they do the repugnant and hazardous aspects of eliminating nuisance vertebrates with poisonous materials. Walter E. Howard http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/28 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/28 Tue, 20 Dec 2005 07:32:04 PST Rodents damage is important to forest management and is adequately described in the literature (Kverno, 1964; Hooven, 1958, 1959; Lawrence, 1958; Isaac, 1943; Kangur, 1954; Tevis, 1956a). It is not the intent of this paper to reiterate the types of damage or the rodents involved; the reader who is interested in this topic is particularly directed to the work of Lawrence, Kverno, and Hartwell (1361). This paper is concerned with the major forest rodent control efforts currently being employed in northwestern California. It will describe the background of literature and investigation from which present practices evolved, the implications that these practices have on forest management, and the indicated future needs for the control of forest rodents. Jarrold B. Cone http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/27 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/27 Tue, 20 Dec 2005 07:29:41 PST Accurate evaluation of rodent control techniques has always been a laborious undertaking. It generally involves tedious pre- and post-treatment censusing by trapping, marking, track counts, reduction of activity, etc., and results, at best, must necessarily contain a significant amount of speculation by the investigator. The biologist conducting such studies has been constantly harassed by uncontrollable parameters such as trap response, immigration, emigration, predation, disease, and many others. Thus, there has been a pressing need of a more definitive technique for evaluating rodent control trials. During the last decade, a new tool called biotelemetry has become available to the wildlife biologist. This technique has been defined as, "the instrumental technique for gaining and transmitting information from a living organism and its environment to a remote observer" (Slater 1965). As a practical tool, it is still in its infancy. Among its first reported uses in wildlife work were the telemetering of incubating temperatures of penguin eggs by Ecklund and Charltin (1959), a study of salmon movements by Trefethen et al. (1957), and a study of woodchuck movements by LeMunyan et al. (1959). Since these earlier studies, there has been a significant increase in telemetry studies of wildlife. These vary in complexity from simple movement studies to sophisticated telemetry of physiological variables. Many sizes and species of animals have been involved, such as deer mice, large ungulates, marine mammals, thrushes and buzzards. Probably the major obstacle to further advances in wildlife telemetry is the inability of the biologist to meet the cost of development. The cost of telemetric systems can be fantastic and often precludes their use by most investigators. Another earlier limiting factor was the bulk of the necessary electronic equipment to be carried by the instrumented animal. However, recent advances in the development of miniaturized components such as the solid-state transistor, mercury cell battery, and printed circuit, have essentially removed this problem. These, plus the ingenuity of biologically oriented electronics personnel, have made wildlife telemetry possible. Wendell E. Dodge http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/26 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/26 Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:02:22 PST Toxicants have been widely used for several decades to reduce numbers of problem animals. The utility of these substances, however, has been limited by hazards to other animals and man, inadequate effectiveness against the target species, and restrictions on use. The ecological complexity of most habitats in which animal control is undertaken requires utilization of new poisons that are less hazardous, more effective, and more specific. Gophacide1, Bayer 38819, 0_, 0-bis(p-chlorophenyl) acetimidoylphosphoramidothioate, is generally favorable in these respects. Tests with Gophacide were initiated at the Denver Wildlife Research Center in late 1961; and more recently, this chemical has also been tested at several field stations under different conditions. The initial and major emphasis has been to determine its usefulness in pocket gopher control. Techniques of use have been described (Ward et al., 1967).PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Technical Gophacide is a white crystalline powder which is soluble in chlorinated hydrocarbons, acetone, or warmed corn oil, and melts at 104-106 F. It is an organophosphate, and like related compounds, inhibits the cholinesterase activity of the blood. We don't know yet what the animal metabolites or oxidates of Gophacide are or the activity of such materials. The anticholinesterases, in general, are not accumulated for long periods in fatty tissues, and the hazard to wildlife is considered to be less from chronic than from acute poisoning (Casida, 1964). Voit B. Richens http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/25 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/25 Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:00:11 PST In recent years the Bureau of Land Management's range rehabilitation program in the high sagebrush areas of northeastern California has included control of sagebrush preceded by the seeding of drought resistant grasses such as crested wheatgrass. Jack rabbit browsing and uprooting of young seedling plants has in many instances severely retarded the establishment of these grasses. Because of this it has become apparent that rabbit reduction in many of these areas is essential if a grass stand is to become established. A comparison of Figures 6 and 7 illustrates the problems jack rabbits can cause to range rehabilitation projects where these animals become abundant. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the jack rabbit depredation problems experienced on the Bureau of Land Management's range rehabi1itation projects being conducted in the high sagebrush areas of Eastern California and along with this present the control techniques employed to reduce this depredation on one of these sites. The specific jack rabbit control program under discussion was conducted on the Boggs Crested Wheatgrass Seeding located fifteen miles north of Cedarville, California near the California-Nevada border. At this site a total of 6,000 acres were aerially treated with herbicide to eliminate the sagebrush. Preceding this approximately 1,000 acres of the total parcel was seeded to crested wheatgrass. The site is typical of the areas where range rehabilitation of this type will be conducted in the future; therefore, the jack rabbit control practices employed here should prove quite adaptive to similar sites. Frank A. Wetherbee http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/24 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/24 Mon, 19 Dec 2005 14:55:58 PST This paper is intended to bring you up-to-date on the progress of various winter starling control projects conducted by our Bureau on feedlots in Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. This report briefly covers the field work accomplished since that reported by the late Mr. H. Nelson Elliott in his paper delivered to the second meeting of your conference held in Anaheim, California, in March 1964. Prior to the winter of 1960-61 we experienced a tremendous build-up of starling populations in feedlot situations throughout the Pacific Northwest. The expanding livestock feeding industry was receiving great economic losses from starlings eating livestock feed and fouling additional feed and water. Conventional measures such as hazing and shooting were ineffective in protecting the feed yards. It was evident to this Bureau that means and measures had to be found to reduce starling numbers in feedlot situations. Due to starling build-ups an intensive experimental control project under field conditions was undertaken in Idaho in the winter of 1960-61. The experimental research was under the leadership of biologists of the Bureau's Denver Wildlife Research Center. The field operations were made possible through financial participation of the Idaho Cattle Feeders and the Idaho Department of Agriculture. Various control techniques were utilized and a summary of these is contained in Mr. H. Nelson Elliott's presentation to the Second Vertebrate Pest Control Conference. He also reported that the use of thallium sulphate baiting had reduced starling damage in feedlots, but the Bureau did not anticipate registration of thallium for bird control and that further emphasis would be placed on the development of more selective lethal agents. Homer S. Ford http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/23 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/23 Fri, 16 Dec 2005 15:04:11 PST Several years ago starling problems in cattle feed lots exploded to economic proportions. In 1964 one northern California feed lot operator reported a loss of $1,000 per day during the winter months. This resulted from daily activity of over a million starlings. Along with consuming and contaminating large amounts of cattle feed, the birds disturbed the cattle and prevented regular feeding habits. This reduced weight gains drastically. To combat what had become a state-wide problem, in 1962 a cooperative program between the California Department of Agriculture, the county agricultural commissioners, the United States Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, and the University of California was put into action. The early work consisted of field trials in feed lots located in Solano, Madera, Merced, and Contra Costa Counties to develop behavioral information and control methods. In northern California, McDougal's feed lot near Collinsvilie, Solano County, was selected as the field trial site. During winter of 1963-1964 the work consisted of bait preference trials and progressed to use of TEPP treated grain baits. This resulted in a calculated kill totaling 4l4,000 starlings. Pilot control programs, under general supervision of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Wildlife Services, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, were conducted at McDougal's feed lot during fall and winter of 1966 and 1967. The objective was to reduce the starling population to an economic tolerable number. To achieve this objective it was decided that, weather permitting, it would be necessary to have bait continuously exposed for starling consumption. Paul E. Levingston http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/22 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/22 Fri, 16 Dec 2005 14:58:37 PST Much has already been said and written about the use of live traps for the control of starlings in the State of Washington and our efforts have evidently been viewed with interest for we have received letters and questions about our program from all over the world. Our interest in the possibilities of the live trap began back in 1960 when spring and summer surveys revealed a high nesting population and an increasing percentage of bird damage to a very valuable cherry growing industry. This damage was mainly attributable to the local flocks of juvenile starlings. Over the years we have learned much about, the habits and characteristics of the starlings and apply this knowledge to the present day program. Adult birds strive to bring off two broods. The first brood leaves the nest in early May and the second in mid-June. Small flocks of juveniles will then develop in widely scattered areas, usually in irrigated pastures, throughout the county. Even the city reared bird will join its country cousin in these feeding and training areas. These young birds are easily caught and we find that traps located in these communal areas, or along flyways will reduce local populations before cherries become ripe. We also strive to intercept them enroute to the orchards. Traps located in prime nesting areas will take a few adult starlings during April and May, However the catch will pick up significantly as the young leave the nest. Records kept of one man's monthly catches over the years reveal that the average take for the month of May is about 700 starlings and the average for June exceeds 7,000. Vincent Bogatich http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/21 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/21 Fri, 16 Dec 2005 14:55:28 PST Summer starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are known to have caused damage to the agricultural industry of Tulare County since 1960. At this time the first confirmed appreciable damage to grapes occurred. Since that year the threat has grown considerably as populations have increased. Annual monetary losses have fluctuated but damage has increased steadily and many losses are going unreported or unevaluated by the growers. Known total monetary losses in Tulare County have reached over $28,500.00 in a single summer and the unknown or unrealized losses would probably double this figure. The diversity of crops damaged has mounted steadily, as anticipated, and grapes of various varieties are still the hardest hit, with plums approaching a close parallel. Certain varieties of figs are preyed upon extensively even though they are not the kind predominently grown commercially now in Tulare County. Nectarine, peach, berry, apple, cherry and olive varieties are also affected by this gregarious pest. William R. Clark http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/20 http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/vpc3/20 Fri, 16 Dec 2005 14:53:19 PST The Denver Wildlife Research Center has been investigating methods to combat starling (Sturnus vulgaris) problems at livestock feeding areas since 1960. A variety of chemicals, baits, and methods of bait placement have been tested. This paper summarizes these investigations.CHEMICALS TESTED About 500 chemicals have been screened for toxic and stupefacient effects on starlings. Although several chemicals have been found that immobilize starlings in the laboratory, they have been largely ineffective in the field; most starlings regurgitate the treated baits, and seldom have substantial numbers been affected. Of the toxicants screened, four compounds, TEPP, DRC-632, DRC-1327, and DRC-1339, have shown enough activity as control agents for starlings to warrant intensive investigation in the laboratory and the field. Richard R. West