THE ROLE OF INDUSTRY IN DEVELOPING NEW MATERIALS FOR VERTEBRATE PEST CONTROL

In the first paper presented to you today by Dr. Spencer, an expert in the Animal Biology field and an official authority at the same time, you heard about the requirements imposed on a chemical in order to pass the different official hurdles before it ever will be accepted as a proven tool in wildlife management. Many characteristics have to be known and highly sophisticated tests have to be run. In many instances the governmental agency maintains its own screening, testing or analytical programs according to standard procedures. It would be impossible, however, for economic and time reasons to work out all the data necessary for themselves. They, therefore, depend largely on the information furnished by the individual industry which naturally has to be established as conscientiously as possible. This, among other things, Dr. Spencer has made very clear; and this is also what makes quite a few headaches for the individual industry, but I am certainly not speaking only for myself in saying that Industry fully realizes this important role in developing materials for vertebrate control and the responsibilities lying in this. This type of work - better to say cooperative work with the official institutions - is, however, only one part and for the most of it, the smallest part of work which Industry pays to the development of compounds for pest control. It actually refers only to those very few compounds which are known to be effective. But how to get to know about their properties in the first place? How does Industry make the selection from the many thousands of compounds synthesized each year? This, by far, creates the biggest problems, at least from the scientific and technical standpoint. Let us rest here for a short while and think about the possible ways of screening and selecting effective compounds. Basically there are two different ways. One is the empirical way of screening as big a number of compounds as possible under the supposition that with the number of incidences the chances for a "hit" increase, too. You can also call this type of approach the statistical or the analytical one, the mass screening of new, mostly unknown candidate materials. This type of testing can only be performed by a producer of many new materials,that means by big industries. It requires a tremendous investment in personnel, time and equipment and is based on highly simplified but indicative test methods, the results of which would have to be reliable and representative for practical purposes. The other extreme is the intellectual way of theorizing effective chemical configurations. Defenders of this method claim to now or later be able to predict biological effectiveness on the basis of the chemical structure or certain groups in it. Certain pre-experience should be necessary, that means knowledge of the importance of certain molecular requirements, then the detection of new and effective complete molecules is a matter of coordination to be performed by smart people or computers. You can also call this method the synthetical or coordinative method.

BLOOD AND TISSUE IDENTIFICATION OF SELECTED BIRDS AND MAMMALS, PART II: Cross Reaction Patterns of Birds and Mammals, Using Deer, Bovine, Raccoon, Chicken and Mallard Duck Antiserum, part 5

Part 5 (pp. 114-117) References Appendix

A Culture of Relationships: Early Care for Italian and American Children

A culture of childhood is a shared vision – an agreed upon vision – of the needs and rights of children, including ideas about how the people of the community can collectively nurture them and at the same time be renewed by them. In other words, it is a set of values, beliefs, and practices that people have created to guide their way of nurturing young children and their families. The vision is about investing in young children and investing in the supports and relationships that children need to learn and grow, both for the reason that children carry our future and because they carry our hopes and dreams for the future. These hopes and dreams begin with birth. Sensitive, emotionally available parents create the framework for interaction with their children by responding to the baby’s cues, engaging the baby in mutual gazes, and imitating the baby. The baby, born with a primary ability to share emotions with other human beings eagerly joins the relationship dance. The intimate family circle soon widens. Providers, teachers, and directors of early childhood programs become significant figures in children’s lives—implicit or explicit partners in a "relationship dance" (Edwards & Raikes, 2002). These close relationships are believed to be critical to healthy intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development in childhood and adolescence as well. These conclusions have been documented by diverse fields of science, ranging from cognitive science to communication studies and social and personality psychology. Close relationships contribute to security and trust, promote skill development and understanding, nurture healthy physical growth, infuse developing self-understanding and self-confidence, enable self-control and emotion regulation, and strengthen emotional connections with others that contribute to prosocial motivation (Dunn, 1993; Fogel, 1993; Thompson, 1996). Furthermore, many studies showing how relationship dysfunction is linked to child abuse and neglect, aggression, criminality, and other problems involving the lack of significant human connections (Shankoff & Meisels, 2000). In extending the dance of primary relationships to new relationships, a childcare teacher can play a primary role. The teacher makes the space ready--creating a beautiful place that causes everyone to feel like dancing. Gradually, as the dance between them becomes smooth and familiar, the teacher encourages the baby to try out more complex steps and learn how to dance to new compositions, beats, and tempos. As the baby alternates dancing sometimes with one or two partners, sometimes with many, the dance itself becomes a story about who the child has been and who the child is becoming, a reciprocal self created through close relationships.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRIVATE NUISANCE WILDLIFE CONTROL INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK

The nuisance wildlife control industry is rapidly expanding in New York State. To gain additional insight about this industry and the number of animals handled, we reviewed the 1989-90 annual logs submitted by Nuisance Wildlife Control Orators (NWC0s) to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The specific objectives of this study were to determine: (1) the number and species of different wildlife responsible for damage incidents, (2) the cause of damage complaints, (3) the disposition of animals handled, (4) the location of damage events (i.e., urban, suburban, rural), and (5) an estimate of the economic impact of the nuisance wildlife industry in Upstate New York. The Nuisance Wildlife Logs (NWLs) were examined for 7 urban and 7 rural counties (25.5% of Upstate counties), and these data were used to estimate total NWCO activity in DEC Regions 3 through 9 (excludes Long Island). Approximately 75% of NWCOs licensed by DEC were active during 1989-90, and nearly 2,800 complaints were handled in the 14 counties sampled. More than 90% of complaints came from urban counties, and we estimated that NWC0s responded to more than 11,000 calls in Upstate New York. At a conservative estimate of $35/call, revenue generated by this industry exceeded $385,000 annually. Six wildlife species accounted for 85% of the nuisance complaints in urban and rural counties. During 1986 to 1993, the number of NWCOs licensed by DEC nearly quadrupled, and there is no indication that this trend will change in the near future.

EFFECTS OF A BIRD HAZARD REDUCTION FORCE ON REDUCING BIRD/AIRCRAFT STRIKE HAZARDS AT THE ATLANTIC CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, NJ

Bird-aircraft strikes at the Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) increased from 18 in 1989 to 37 in 1990. The number of bird-aircraft strikes involving gulls (Larus spp.) during this time rose from 6 to 27, a 350% increase. The predominant species involved in bird strikes was the laughing gull (L. atricilla). Pursuant to an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)l Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)/Animal Damage Control (ADC), ADC established a Emergency/Experimental Bird Hazard Reduction Force (BHFF) at ACY in 1991. An Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the 1991 Emergency/Experimental BHRF was executed and signed by the FAA on 19 May 1991. The BHRF was adopted at this time by the FAA Technical Center as an annual program to reduce bird strikes at ACY. The BHRF goals are to minimize or eliminate the incidence of bird-aircraft strikes and runway closures due to increased bird activities. A BHRF team consisting of ADC personnel patrolled ACY for 95 days from 26 May until 28 August 1992, for a total of 2,949 person-hours. The BHRF used a combination of pyrotechnics, amplified gull distress tapes and live ammunition to harass gulls away from the airport from dawn to dusk. Gullaircraft strikes were reduced during BHRF operations in 1992 by 86% compared to gull strikes during summer months of 1990 when there was not a BHRF team. Runway closures due to bird activity decreased 100% compared to 1990 and 1991 closures. The BHRF should continue at ACY as long as birds are a threat to human safety and aircraft operations.

COMPLETE CONTROL OF NUISANCE BIRDS IN AIRPORT HANGARS

Fogging of ReJeX-iT7 TP-40 offers a very efficient method for the control and dispersal of nuisance birds from many diverse areas. The amount of the repellent is greatly reduced over any other control method. The method is direct and is independent of the activity of the birds. The applications with any fogger, thermal or mechanical, that can deliver droplets of less than 20 microns, can be manually or fully automated and pose only minimal risks to operators or animals. All birds that became a nuisance and safety problem in the hangars of TWA and AA at LaGuardia, and TWA warehouse at Newark Airport were successfully driven out by fogging ReJeX-iT7 TP-40 with a Curtis Dyna-Fog AGolden Eagle@ thermal fogger.

The Probe, Issue 206 – November 1999

Wildlife Damage Conferences: When, Where, and Why? -- Robert M. Timm, Editor, THE PROBE Booklet Review:"The Problem with Skunks!!" by Edward Kellems (34 pages, illustrated. $14.95) New NWCO Web Page url is http://www.wildlifedamagecontrol.com/nwcoa.htm Abstracts from the 2nd International Wildlife Management Congress, Hungary Human Disturbance as a Design Factor to Aid Displacement of Canada Geese from Urban Parks -- P. C. Whitford, Biology Department, Capital University, Columbus, OH Leopard Problems in Nepal -- T. M. Maskey, National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department, Kathmandu, Nepal Elk-human Conflict Management in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada -- J. A. McKenzie, Banff National Park Wildlife Laboratory The Avoidance of Virtual Barriers by Wolves in Captivity -- M. Musiani*, E. Visalberghi*, andL. Boitani, *CNR Psychology Institute, Rome, Italy Successful Field Trials of a New Slow-Release Capsaicin-Based Animal Repellent for Reducing a Variety of Human-Wildlife Conflicts in Israel -- S. C. Nemtzov, Dept. of Terrestrial Ecology, The Nature and National Parks Protection Authority, Jerusalem, Israel Educational Workshops: A Proactive Approach to Conflict Resolution in Wildlife Management -- K. B. Reis, H. R. Campa III, R. B. Peyton, and S. Winterstein, Dept. of Fisheries & Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Traps and Trapping in Sweden -- T. Svensson, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Stockholm, Sweden Actual Problems of Predator Management in Hungary -- L. Szemethy, M. Heltai, and Z. Biro, Dept. of Wildlife Biology & Management, Godollo University of Agricultural Sciences, Godollo, Hungary Crop and Livestock Depredation by Wildlife -- N. Udaya Sekhar, Centre for Int'I. Environment & Development Studies, Aas, Norway Conservation of the Iberian Wolf in Portugal—The Everlasting Conflict with Man -- J. V. Vingada*, C. Eira, S. Scheich, C. Fonseca, M. Soares, F. L. Correia, M. Fana* P. Carmo, A. Ferreira, A. Soares, and B. Bobek. *Dept. deBiologia da Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Portugal Barkpeeling Damage in Relation to Red Deer Density and Forest Structure in Austria -- F. H. Voelk, Institute of Wildlife Biology & Game Management, Universitaetfuer Bodenkultur Wien, Vienna, Austria Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolution: National Imperatives and Strategies -- P. 0. Wander a Kenya Wildlife Service, Nairobi, Kenya An Overview and Evaluation of Deer Herd Management Programs in Urban and Suburban Communities of the USA -- R. J. Warren, Warnell School of Forest Resources, Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA

THE CURRENT STATUS OF PLAGUE IN CALIFORNIA

At the first Vertebrate Pest Control Conference in 1964, I traced the history of plague control in California and outlined a revised approach, based on newer concepts of plague ecology. In our state of relative ignorance, this required a number of unproved assumptions about plague occurrence in California that verged on crystal ball gazing. These were principally that (1) plague persists in relatively resistant rodent species in certain favorable locations, (2) ground squirrels and chipmunks experience periodic epizootics, but are not permanent reservoirs, (3) plague "foci" of the past were merely sites of conspicuous epizootics, they did not necessarily correspond to permanent foci, and could result from epizootic migrations over considerable distances, and (4) a number of assumptions about areas of greatest epizootic potential can be made by analyzing the pattern of recurrent plague outbreaks in the past. Since then the validity of these assumptions has been tested by the largest outbreak of plague since the early 1940's. We believe that the results have proved the crystal ball largely correct, resulting in much more precise and efficient epizootic surveillance and deployment of control measures than in the past. The outbreak was for us an administrative emergency that exceeded the capacities of the State Health Department. We greatly appreciated the vital help and cooperation of other agencies and individuals. The U.S, Public Health Service accepted a heavy burden of laboratory testing through its San Francisco Field Station, and provided emergency field personnel. The contributions of State Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Weed and Vertebrate Pest Control; U.S. Parks, Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management; local health and agriculture department; and State Division of Parks personnel were essential in accomplishing control work, as well as epizootic surveillance.

Optical properties of boron carbide (B5C) thin films fabricated by plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition

Variable angle of incidence spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to determine the optical constants near the band edge of boron carbide (B5C) thin films deposited on glass and n-type Si(111) via plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition. The index of refraction n, the extinction coefficient k, and the absorption coefficient are reported in the photon energy spectrum between 1.24 and 4 eV. Ellipsometry analysis of B5C films on silicon indicates a graded material, while the optical constants of B5C on glass are homogeneous. Line shape analyses of absorption data for the films on glass indicate an indirect transition at approximately 0.75 eV and a direct transition at about 1.5 eV. ©1996 American Institute of Physics.

Academentia: Physiological Stress, Toxic Work Sites and the Neutralization of Blackness by the Whiteness Standards of Professionalization

Using auto-ethnographic methods, supplementing by current race theories, along with interviews from other scholars, I regard academentia as a form of professionalism most readily communicable to academics of color seeking advance. It can also infect those whose embrace of blackness (widely defined across cultures) is the least tolerant of the racial designs of white cultural practices. Where in the interest of students and colleagues, such academics challenge the whiteness criteria defining academic success, most of their peers adhere to the racial standards of professionalism.

SIGNIFICANCE AND CONTROL OF FUNGAL DISEASES RELATED TO BIRD ROOSTS

Certain fungi have been found frequently as saprophytes in areas containing large amounts of bird excreta. These fungi have the ability to survive, multiply, and cause disease once they have entered a host. Two of these are Crypto-coccus neoformans and Histoplasma capsulatum. Both may easily become airborne and be disseminated throughout an area by the prevailing winds. C. neo-formans is commonly isolated from the excreta of pigeon habitats, and in turn has been associated with clinical cases of cryptococcosis, while blackbird roosts, harboring H. capsulatum, have been responsible for several outbreaks of histoplasmosis. When either of these fungi have become established in nature, the sites may become foci for infection and epidemics may occur if the sites are disturbed. This has led to investigation of these organisms with respect to: 1) the frequency of isolation of H. capsulatum from the soil beneath blackbird roosts in a histoplasmosis endemic area; 2) the infectivity of undisturbed roosts positive for H. capsulatum; and 3) the effectiveness of chemical decontamination of areas containing C. neoformans or H. capsulatum.

ENHANCEMENT OF THE FAA’s ON-LINE WILDLIFE AIRCRAFT STRIKE DATABASE WITH AN INTERACTIVE GRAPHICS CAPABILITY

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Prescott, AZ, USA) was awarded a grant from the William J. Hughes FAA Technical Center in October 1999 to develop and maintain a web site dealing with a wide variety of airport safety wildlife concerns. Initially, the web site enabled users to access related topics such as wildlife management (at/near airports), bird identification information, FAA wildlife management guidelines, education, pictures, current news, upcoming meetings and training, available jobs and discussion/forum sections. In April 2001, the web site was augmented with an on-line wildlife strike report (FAA Form 5200-7). Upon submittal on-line, “quick look” email notifications are sent to concerned government personnel. The distribution of these emails varies as to whether there was damage, human injuries/fatalities, and whether feather remains were collected and will be sent to the Smithsonian Institution for identification. In July 2002, a real-time on-line query system was incorporated to allow federal and local government agencies, airport and operator personnel, and USDA and airport wildlife biologists to access this database (which as of June 2005 contains 68,288 researched strike reports added to at a rate of approximately 500 strike reports/month) to formulate strategies to reduce the hazards wildlife present to aviation. To date (June 2005), over 15,000 on-line real-time queries were processed. In June 2004, ERAU was authorized to develop a graphical interface to this on-line query system. Current capabilities include mapping strikes (by species) on the US map, each of the contiguous 48 state maps (with AK and HI being added), and airport diagrams of the major metropolitan airports as well as the next 46 airports with the most reported strikes The latter capability depicts strikes by runway in plan as well as in elevation view. Currently under development is the ability to view time-sequenced strikes on the US map. This extensive graphical interface will give analysts the ability to view strike patterns with a wide variety of variables including species, seasons, migration patterns, etc. on US and state maps and airport diagrams.

EXTRALIMITAL RECORDS OF THE MEXICAN FREE-TAILED BAT (TADARIDA BRASILIENSIS MEXICANA) IN THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES AND THEIR BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Two new records of Tadarida brasiliensis mexicana are reported from Nebraska. The literature records of this taxon from the central United States are summarized. In this region of North America, these bats occupy a “natal range” where the species carries on regular reproductive activities and the populations are relatively stable, including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. To the north of the natal range of T. b. mexicana is a “pioneering zone” where, under favorable conditions, the species is capable of reproducing and conducting its normal activities. The pioneering zone of the Mexican free-tailed bat includes Barber and Comanche counties in Kansas and as far north as Mesa and Saguache counties in southwestern Colorado. Finally, to the north of the pioneering zone, there is a much larger area that is proposed as the “exploring zone” in which only a few individuals of the species are found. Reproductive activities do not occur on any regular basis in the exploring zone, which encompasses the remainder of Colorado and Kansas as well as the states of Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and southeastern South Dakota.

RURALS 1008: Title of another article

yyy xx