Ag Wildlife Damage Category 1C Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service Ag Wildlife Damage February 2013 Table of Contents Introduction ........................................................................................ 4 Wildlife Damage Management .......................................................... 6 Laws and Regulations ......................................................................... 8 Threatened and Endangered Species .............................................. 11 Nongame Species ........................................................................... 14 Wildlife Diseases and Humans ........................................................ 18 Public Relations and the Wildlife Professional ............................... 26 Coyotes .............................................................................................. 26 Deer, Elk, and Antelope .................................................................... 32 Rodenticides ..................................................................................... 35 House Mice ....................................................................................... 42 Native Rats ........................................................................................ 46 Native Mice ....................................................................................... 51 Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs ................................................................ 54 Pocket Gophers ................................................................................. 59 Rabbits ............................................................................................... 61 Ground Squirrels .............................................................................. 65 Birds ................................................................................................... 67 Directions for Using this Manual This is a self-teaching manual. At the end of each major section is a list of study questions to check your understanding of the subject. These questions represent the type that are on the certification exam. By studying this manual and answering the questions, you should be able to gain sufficient knowledge to pass the Kansas Commercial Applicators Certification examination. Correct answers appear on page 82. Introduction wildlife damage problems can be In recent years, state and federal prevented with good livestock laws have been enacted to educate management and sanitation people about the safe use of practices. The primary aim should pesticides for effective damage be to prevent damage from control. Wildlife damage control occuring. is an area that deals with animals When it does occur, each problem with backbones (vertebrates), should be studied individually. excluding humans or domestic A pest manager should consider animals. This is a complex topic. damage severity and the The goal is to alleviate problems, recreational and ecological value not to eliminate wildlife. Many of the wildlife causing it. Species 4 and behavior; crop, season and economic benefit. A decision about duration of damage; biological when to control small rodent Introduction characteristics of the nuisance damage should be based on when animal; and legal status of wildlife the pest population is predicted will influence the choice of to reach a level at which control management technique. becomes necessary to prevent Mere presence of an animal economic loss. capable of causing damage does Preventive procedures are most not dictate control. Control level effective against species where must be balanced with cost, effort, damage can be predicted. Seasonal and value of the goods preserved. control is applied during the Damage may be obvious, but it can actual damage season and most be difficult to find objective data commonly for species that are a for a particular problem. problem at a specific time of year The pest manager should identify — coyotes at lambing time, for the damaging species, and then example. choose the appropriate control This manual does not discuss all technique. For example, traps problems and species that conflict may be needed to control beaver with agricultural production, or all damage, while a pesticide might be known control methods. A species a better choice for rats or mice. not covered in this manual is the Often, the species can be beaver. Information about how to identified from physical evidence control beaver damage is available at the damage site. Because most in the publication, Beaver Damage mammals are active at night, Control, http://www.wildlife.ksu. extensive damage may occur before edu/p.aspx?tabid=106. animals are noticed. Rubs, hair, For more information, applicators tooth marks, fecal matter, feathers, are encouraged to obtain a copy and tracks can provide evidence to of the handbook, Prevention and help with accurate identification. Control of Wildlife Damage, from Wildlife requires food, cover, the Cooperative Extension Service water, and space. Habitat must at University of Nebraska, 202 supply these needs. Negative Natural Resources Hall, Lincoln, habitat management or making NE 68583-0819 or contact the the environment inhospitable by nearest K-State Research and removing one of these essentials, Extension office. generally produces a lasting effect. Environmental manipulation may take a long time and be expensive. The economic threshold in wildlife damage control is the degree of damage that justifies control. Below this threshold, the cost of controlling a problem animal exceeds the probable loss, and control is not economically justified. When losses exceed this threshold, control provides an 5 The best wildlife damage manage- occur in response to decreased Wildlife Damage ment program is based on the density. Species that reproduce Management following principles: seasonally exhibit an annual cycle. • Most of the damage is caused During the reproductive period, by relatively few individuals, births normally exceed deaths, and not by all of them; the population increases. When reproduction ceases, mortality • When this individual(s) is exceeds recruitment, and the removed, damage will stop; population declines until the next and breeding season. A population • The people who experience change of two- to fivefold is not the problem are in the best uncommon during an average position to locate the animal animal cycle. Factors that affect and reduce losses promptly. this pattern include immigration, emigration, adverse weather, and Changes in management of the habitat disruption. The cycle is property being damaged may be most pronounced in species that needed to prevent further loss or a produce only one litter per year. recurrence of loss at a later time. Wildlife damage also fluctuates Considerable damage from wild with cycles. animals occurs directly to crops Damage is seldom a problem and livestock and as a health when populations are low. During problem to man and domestic peak years, damage may become animals. Nearly all wild animals severe and require frequent, in Kansas are native, and they intensive, control efforts. Disease provide equilibrium to the is undoubtedly a contributing environment. Managing only the factor in the decline of populations species considered to be good or under stress from other factors. endangered is not recommended. Mammalian predators respond Sometimes animals considered to an increase in prey with large to be beneficial can be equally litters and higher juvenile and damaging, such as deer in an adult pregnancy rates. Raptors orchard, squirrels in a pecan grove, respond with larger clutches. or muskrats in a pond dike. In reality, any animal can be either Weather also affects wildlife “good” or “bad” depending on the damage. When populations are situation. high, damage increases markedly during dry growing seasons. Crop Populations fluctuate due to damage is reduced during years environmental influences. Animals when native forage is readily change normal population available. For example, jackrabbits parameters to recover from the loss may or may not increase in actual of individuals. Because of these numbers during dry years, but compensatory responses, control they appear to be more numerous efforts will be less effective. In because they concentrate on good habitat, animal populations croplands. respond to removal with increased birth rate, decreased mortality, and Seasonal movement of waterfowl decreased emigration. Changes in and blackbirds often results in mortality, birth, and dispersal rates concentrations of these species 6 on ripening crops in late summer in the summer. Management and early fall. Problems associated techniques are dictated by the time Wildlife Damage with fall and winter concentrations interval. A fence may be necessary Management include blackbird roosts in for deer, while a repellent would be urban areas, and deer damage appropriate for blackbirds. to haystacks, nursery stock, and Wildlife cycles are important woodland plantings during periods to damage control planning. of heavy snow. Animal numbers normally reach Duration and season of the their lowest levels in late winter. damage determine the degree of Population reduction at this time, control needed. Protecting tree before young have been produced seedlings from deer browsing or become self-sufficient, removes may be necessary for six months not only adults, but also the young of the year for a decade, while those adults might have produced.