Small Animal Damage Control

1. Small Animal Damage Control Hank Uhden WY Dept. Of Agriculture

2. Small Animal Damage Control INTRODUCTION • Manual & Handouts • Purpose of Training • Training Outline: • Commonly Used Products • Commonly Controlled Animals • Need for Control or Disease Vectors • Bird Control • Diseases of Major Health Concern • Plague, Rabies, Hantavirus

3. Small Animal Damage Control Objective of Control Program • Reduce and/or Eliminate Economic Loss • Access the Damage • Positive Pest Identification Who ?... Me !?!

4. Small Animal Damage Control Correct Control Solution • Preventive or Protective Control • Habitat Alteration • Removal of Food Supply • Exclusion • Aversion Techniques • Repellents • Pyrotechnics • Scare Devices • Trapping, Lethal & Non-lethal • Epizootics • Toxicants • Shooting

5. Small Animal Damage Control Toxicology • Bait • Food item w/ toxicant • Lethal Dose (LD) • LD LD • Milligrams of toxicant / kilogram of body weight • Lower LD s are more toxic 50 100 50

6. Small Animal Damage Control Toxicology • Grains Commonly Used: • Barley, Wheat, Oats • Grains: • Whole • Mechanically Altered • Dependent upon 1) Pest to be controlled; 2) Site of Application; 3) Protection of non-targets

7. Small Animal Damage Control Safety Precautions • Label Equipment • Poison • Skull & Crossbones • Wear Respirator • Never carry toxicants in passenger compartment • Prohibit: • Smoking, eating, or other hand to mouth contact

8. Small Animal Damage Control Rodent Control • Rodenticides Rodenticides are substances or a mixture of substances intended for destroying, repelling, or mitigating rodents.

9. Small Animal Damage Control Rodent Control • Rodenticides • Color Additives: • Protect seed eating birds • Aid in bait identification • Aid in bait preparation • Prevent accidental human consumption • Prevent diversion for use as livestock feed

10. Small Animal Damage Control Specific Products Commonly Used Strychnine Zinc Phosphide Anticoagulants Aluminum Phosphide

11. Small Animal Damage Control Strychnine ALL ABOVEGROUNDUSES HAVE BEEN CANCELLED • Uses limited to below ground - pocket gophers only • Acute, single dose toxicant • White, bitter tasting powder - Made from seeds of the Asian strychnos nux vomica tree

12. Small Animal Damage Control Strychnine • Available only in an alkaloid form • Almost insoluble in water • Will breakdown if exposed to heat & light • Other characteristics • Is not cumulative • Has a slight odor • Is not selective • Toxic to most animals • Rapidly absorbed - effects rapid

13. Small Animal Damage Control Zinc Phosphide PRE-BAITING IS NECESSARY! • Use restricted to July - December • Prozap™ (HAACO) allows use in WY March 1 - June 30 (SLN - 24c) • Labeled for: meadow mice, voles, ground squirrels, prairie dogs, various species of rats and other rodents.

14. Small Animal Damage Control Zinc Phosphide • Characteristics: • Heavy, finely ground gray-black powder • Strong, pungent, garlic like odor • Insoluble in water & alcohol • Reacts with acids readily • Less toxic than strychnine • Slowest acting of the commonly used rodenticides

15. Small Animal Damage Control Anticoagulants • Characteristics: • Reduce clotting ability of blood • Death occurs from internal & external bleeding • Affected animals die quietly • Poison of choice in and near cities • Little danger to domestic animals • Available as dry bait, or water soluble • Vitamin K is the antidote

16. Small Animal Damage Control Aluminum Phosphide • Characteristics: • Registered for control of various burrowing rodents (e.g. Prairie dogs) • Tablet form • Moisture produces phosphine gas • Labeled for outdoor use only • Rangeland & pastures • Non-cropland areas

17. Small Animal Damage Control Gas Cartridges • Produces carbon monoxide • Unrestricted use product - easy to use • Precautions: • Do not use near buildings or flammable materials • Carbon Monoxide is odorless, colorless • Labeled uses: • Small Gas Cartridge: burrowing rodents • Large Gas Cartridge: coyotes, skunks

18. Small Animal Damage Control Vertebrate Pests Commonly Controlled Prairie Dogs Porcupines Pocket Gophers Moles Ground Squirrels Skunks Bats Birds

19. Small Animal Damage Control Prairie Dogs • Baiting • Zinc Phosphide requires pre-baiting • Best when green forage is not available • Use one (1) teaspoon of bait/burrow • Fumigants • Clean-up following bait applications

20. Small Animal Damage Control Prairie Dogs • Precautions • Always wear gloves • When working with toxicants • When handling carcasses - host to plague infected fleas • Black-Footed Ferret Searches • Dependent upon size of treatment area, species of prairie dog

21. Small Animal Damage Control Pocket Gopher • General Information: • Extensive underground burrow system • Eat plant roots & stems. Girdle trees or clip tree roots • Mounds are horseshoe shaped • Active in winter

22. Small Animal Damage Control Pocket Gopher • Control: • Most Effective: Toxicants and traps • 0.5% Strychnine Oats • Large or heavily infested areas - use burrow builder • Hand baiting, fumigation, or trapping for small areas

23. Small Animal Damage Control Ground Squirrels • General: • More destructive than prairie dogs - larger numbers & range • Estivation - tend to live in one place • Active year around • Host to plague infected fleas

24. Small Animal Damage Control Ground Squirrels • Control: • Fumigants • Gas Cartridges • Trapping • Toxicants

25. Small Animal Damage Control Porcupines • Classified as a rodent • Primarily inhabit forested areas • Do not hibernate, rest in same place • Damage:Girdle pine trees, eat fruits, alfalfa, sweet corn • Control:Trapping and/or shooting

26. Small Animal Damage Control Moles • Classified as a rodent • Pest of gardens, lawns, flower beds • Rarely surface above ground • Most damage caused when digging • Voles, white-footed mice, house mice, other animals utilize tunnels, cause damage often blamed on moles

27. Small Animal Damage Control Moles • Control: • Exclusion • Cultural: Re-packing soil, reduce soil moisture • Repellents: Onions/garlic around gardens • Toxicants: Will not take bait readily • Fumigants • Trapping: Only effective method

28. Small Animal Damage Control Skunks • Member of the weasel family • Classified as a predator • Plant & animal foods - insects preferred • Will eat small mammals • Classified insectivorous

29. Small Animal Damage Control Skunks • Health risk: • Rabies • Habitat: • Clearings, pastures, prairies • Usually a den - hollow logs, under buildings • Dormant during extreme cold • Most reports come in early spring and fall

30. Small Animal Damage Control Skunks • Control • Preventive control foremost - Seal Openings • Trapping - Lethal & live traps • Shooting • Large gas cartridge • Toxicants - NONE

31. Small Animal Damage Control Bats Most bats are protected under the Migratory Bird Act Here’s your problem - a bunch of bats in your chimney!

32. Small Animal Damage Control Bats • Insectivorous • Not aggressive, but will bite if handled • Health risk: rabies & encephalitis • Control: • Exclusion (permanent solution) • Ultrasonic devices - not effective, some attract bats • Naphthalene Flakes (Moth balls) • Toxicants - NONE

33. Small Animal Damage Control Bird Control • Migratory birds - 50 CFR 21 • Game & Fish Chapter LII Non-game Regulations • Statutes define: • “Predacious bird” means English sparrow and starling • May be taken any time during the calendar year in Wyoming • Legal to destroy nest & eggs

34. Small Animal Damage Control Bird Control • Statutes Define: • “Protected bird” means migratory birds as defined and protected under federal law • Diseases: • Histoplasmosis • Tuberculosis • Cholera • Parrot Fever

35. Small Animal Damage Control Bird Control • Urban sanitation problems - pigeons, sparrows, starlings, and increasingly geese • Control: • Habitat manipulation • Aversion • Exclusion • Trapping & baiting

36. Small Animal Damage Control Bird Control • Control - continued: • Toxicants (Avicides) & lethal methods - legality? • Chemosterilants • Nest destruction • Poison baits • Carcasses picked up • Eagles most at risk • Contact poisons • Toxic perches • Surfactant or detergent solutions

37. Small Animal Damage Control Bird Control Methods most effective when used intermittently, in combination with other techniques AND before birds establish regular feeding habits

38. Small Animal Damage Control - Diseases - Highest Exposure Risk Plague Rabies Hantavirus

39. Small Animal Damage Control Plague • Bacteria Yersinia Pestis • First discovered in Yellowstone Nat. Park - 1934 • Predominant in prairie dog populations • Causes sudden, unexplained die-offs • Not prevalent in big game populations • Does exist in feline, canine, squirrel, rabbit, chipmunk and other commensal rodent populations

40. Small Animal Damage Control Plague • Human contact plague in 3 ways: • Flea bite • Unprotected contact • Airborne particles • Flea associated with human plague does not exist in Wyoming • Rodent flea though will feed on humans if the opportunity arises

41. Small Animal Damage Control Plague • Last 80 years, all cases of respiratory (pneumonic) plague have been contracted from house cats • Chances of contracting plague are small • Treatable if caught in time • Symptoms similar to flu • Wear impervious gloves (rubber latex) when skinning wild animals • Most at risk are hunters & trappers

42. Small Animal Damage Control Plague • Three types of plague: • Bubonic - Flea bite • Septicemic - Fluids from infected animal • Pneumonic - Secondary/Respiratory droplets • Control of plague vector • Sevin Dust

43. Small Animal Damage Control Rabies • People at high risk can be vaccinated • Any animal is capable of contracting, carrying, and transmitting • Rabies can be latent • Occurs most often in spring and fall • Virus remains active even if frozen • Death is not always probable

44. Small Animal Damage Control Rabies • Animals with rabies or suspected cases: • Cage the animal, notify public health officer • A rabid dog may: • Bite other animals or moving objects • Seizures, muscle incoordination • Die by progressive paralysis

45. Small Animal Damage Control Rabies • Bats with rabies may be controlled with tracking powders • Skunks - for testing • Shoot in body, ship head to State Vet Lab • Rabies can be contracted through open wounds or breaks in the skin • Wear impervious gloves when skinning wild animals

46. Small Animal Damage Control Hantavirus • Deer mouse is primary carrier • Transmitted by: • Direct contact with mice • Inhaling airborne particles • No known person to person transmission • Infection in cats is rare • Similar virus to hemorrhagic fever - no known cure

47. Small Animal Damage Control Hantavirus • Causes flu-like symptoms • Safety Precautions: • Controlling rodents, cleaning areas: • Wet mop • Wear rubber or latex gloves • Wear a HEPA filter - Not paper • Eliminate compatible environment • Disinfection and cleaning bleach

48. Small Animal Damage Control Summary • More rodent & predator information: Dept. Of Agriculture: http://wyagric.state.wy.us/techserv/tsindex.html Control Information: http://wildlifedamage.unl.edu/ QUESTIONS ?