Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences
Date of this Version
September 1985
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Animal damage control professionals are faced with the monumental task of absorbing an enormous amount of literature about animal species. For example, one person cannot become an expert on all facets of dozens of species, much less the 1000 or more fish, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and birds that fall under the wildlifer's jurisdiction. An important new aid to the wildlife damage control specialist is the computerized fish and wildlife information system (CFWIS). A CFWIS is a tool for systematically compiling and managing information about animal species which reside in a state. Cushwa and Kopf (1984) summarized the development of state CFWISs from the 1970's through 1984. At present 11 states are implementing a CFWIS using a variety of hardware and software. Categories of information in CFWISs generally follow the "Procedures" system (Mason et al. 1979). Currently, Virginia, Colorado, Missouri and Pennsylvania have working Procedures-type CFWISs. Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Wyoming are in the implementation stage, and decisions are pending in many other states.