Best practices for nuisance wildlife control operators in New York State

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Ch 5: Step two: Choose management options

Option: Reduce the local breeding population.

Techniques: Regulated hunting and trapping seasons; and special culling operations (permits may be needed).

Do nothing | Make the environment less attractive | Remove the culprit | Scare the animal away | Exclusion

Note: Some communities currently participate in research programs to test wildlife birth-control and sterilization techniques. These techniques are not yet proven, nor are they commercially available.

With most of the species handled by NWCOs, the focus is on an individual problem that generally affects a small area, such as one person's home. Some species, such as Canada geese and white-tailed deer, may cause problems for an entire community. In this case, one aspect of the solution may involve reducing a breeding population. This is often done through regulated hunting and trapping seasons or special culling operations of adults, eggs, or young. Such efforts are usually planned by wildlife biologists, but some NWCOs participate in the project, so we'll give you an overview of the method.

These approaches can be biologically, socially, and legally complex. They require community support and government oversight, and are usually beyond the normal scope of NWCO activity. The group in charge of this major effort may hire NWCOs to provide specific services, such as addling eggs.

Scientists are experimenting with birth control techniques for wildlife. This hasn't yet proved generally effective for controlling populations, but contraceptive and sterilization methods are being tested in a wide number of species on a small scale. (To learn more: Fagerstone, K.A., M.A. Coffey, P.D. Curtis, R.A. Dolbeer, G.J. Killian, L.A. Miller, and L.M. Wilmot. 2002. Wildlife fertility control. Wildlife Society Technical Review 02-2, 29pp.)

The bottom line for the average NWCO: you may not even want to get involved in special culling operations, but you can encourage landowners to allow hunting and trapping on their land, especially if they're dealing with nuisance wildlife. This may be one of the most effective ways to solve problems with beaver, muskrat, raccoons, squirrels, and deer, for example.

Next Section (Keep the animal out of the area)