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National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) |
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Repellents in Wildlife Management: Proceedings
Foreword
There is an increasingly critical need for the development of repellents and other non-lethal methods for wildlife damage management. This increase in importance reflects the preferences of an urbanized citizenry for alternatives to traditional management methods, and a growing conviction among an increasing number of wildlife professionals that repellents and other non-lethal tools should be an important component of integrated wildlife damage management.
This volume is the outcome of an international symposium on the use of repellents for wildlife management. Sponsored and organized by the National Wildlife Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the symposium brought together leading scientists, industrial experts, and representatives of prominent special interest groups from North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. As readers will discover, presentations were wide-ranging in subject matter and broad in species and problem situations.
The opening address by Dr. Gary Beauchamp, Director of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, focused on the scientific challenges inherent in the development of repellents, particularly the development of biologically-relevant substances. During the general session, chemical, evolutionary, physiological, and learning mechanisms underlying repellent effectiveness were discussed. Subsequent sessions on particular species or animal groups considered chemical repellents for the management of herbivorous and omnivorous mammals, granivorous and herbivorous birds, and the brown tree snake. Throughout the symposium, most speakers emphasized the development and testing of olfactory, taste, and trigeminal repellents. However, a paper by Dr. Steven Shumake examined the utility of sonic repellents, another by Mr. Lawrence Kolz considered in-water electroshocking to repel aquatic mammals and birds, and a third by Dr. Louis Best showed that grit size selection by birds could be used to design bird-safe granular pesticides. Significantly, the final session considered regulatory issues, public support for the use of non-lethal technologies, and the commercial development of repellent technologies. Speakers placed the basic science of repellentdiscovery within the practical context of commercial development and the need for increasing dialog with regulatory agencies.
We hope that this proceeding will serve not only as an overview
of the current knowledge about repellents and repellent development, but also
as a catalyst and guide for future research in this rapidly growing area of
wildlife damage management research. We look forward to the development and
practical application of new repellent technologies, and foresee an increasing
reliance on these emerging wildlife management tools, forged from partnerships
among academic, governmental and industrial science.
| Dr. Richard D. Curnow, Director National Wildlife Research Center USDA/Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service Fort Collins, Colorado |
Dr. Al Dyer, Dean College of Natural Resources Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado |
Last Modified: June 27, 2007