Small Animal Damage Control

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

• 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

INTRODUCTION
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Small Animal Damage Control
Objective of Control Program

• Reduce and/or Eliminate Economic Loss
• Access the Damage
• Positive Pest Identification

Who ?... Me !?!
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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

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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

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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

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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

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Small Animal Damage Control
Rodent Control

• Rodenticides

Rodenticides are substances or a mixture of
substances intended for destroying, repelling, or
mitigating rodents.
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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

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Small Animal Damage Control
Specific Products Commonly Used
Strychnine
Zinc Phosphide
Anticoagulants
Aluminum Phosphide
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Small Animal Damage Control
Strychnine
ALL ABOVE GROUND USES 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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Small Animal Damage Control
Ground Squirrels

• Control
• Fumigants
• Gas Cartridges

• Trapping
• Toxicants

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Small Animal Damage Control
Skunks

• Control
• Preventive control foremost - Seal Openings

• Trapping - Lethal live traps
• Shooting
• Large gas cartridge
• Toxicants - NONE

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Small Animal Damage Control
Bats
Most bats are protected varying state or federal
laws
Heres your problem - a bunch of bats in your
chimney!
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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

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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

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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

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Small Animal Damage Control
Bird Control

• Urban sanitation problems - pigeons, sparrows,
  starlings, and increasingly geese

• Control
• Habitat manipulation
• Aversion
• Exclusion
• Trapping baiting

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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

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Small Animal Damage Control
Bird Control
Methods most effective when used intermittently,
in combination with other techniques AND before
birds establish regular feeding habits
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Small Animal Damage Control
- Diseases - Highest Exposure Risk
Plague
Rabies
Hantavirus
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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Small Animal Damage Control
Summary

• More rodent predator information

Dept. Of Agriculture http//wyagric.state.wy.us/t
echserv/tsindex.html Control Information http//w
ildlifedamage.unl.edu/
QUESTIONS ?