BIWFC Participates in 2019 International Urban Wildlife Conference
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The Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control (BIWFC) participated in the 2019 International Urban Wildlife Conference (IUWC) held in Portland, Oregon. BIWFC hosted an exhibit table and sponsored a symposium on “Fertility Control to Mitigate Human-Wildlife Conflicts” at the conference which took place on the campus of Portland State University. Our symposium presentations included:
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Urban Deer Population Management with PZP: State of the Art
Allen Rutberg
,
Director of the Center for Animals and Public Policy at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University
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A Role for Fertility Control in the Management of Suburban Kangaroo Populations in Australia
Catherine Herbert, Associate Professor at the University of Sydney
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Macaque Contraceptive Programme in Hong Kong
Chung-tong Shek, with the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department
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A New Competitor in the Urban Rat Race
Brandy Pyzyna, Vice President of Scientific Operations and Technical Services of SenesTech, Inc.
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Management of Urban Black-tailed Prairie Dog Populations Using Non-lethal Reproductive Control
Jackson Runte, Resident Assistant at Colorado State University
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Hosted by the Urban Wildlife Working Group of The Wildlife Society, this conference, which included several hundred attendees from around the world, focused on the theme of collaboration and conservation, emphasizing how research, community connections, and conservation efforts can benefit both wildlife and the people who coexist with them.
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Kangaroo Management Webinar
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The BIWFC hosted a free webinar that provided an overview of the management challenges posed by peri-urban kangaroo populations and reviewed the current state of fertility control as applied to free-living kangaroo populations in Australia. This webinar was presented by Catherine Herbert, Associate Professor
at the University of Sydney. This webinar can viewed on the Institute's
website
.
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Fertility Control Advocate Priscilla Cohn Dies at 85
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Priscilla Cohn, 85, passed away on June 27 in her home in Villanova, PA. Dr. Cohn was a professor of Philosophy and pioneered courses on animal ethics in the 1980s. An avid animal rights advocate, she published books on the humane alternatives to control wildlife populations and worked closely with the late Dr. Jay Kirkpatrick. Inspired by her frustration surrounding her attempts to implement the use of fertility control on a deer population in a Philadelphia suburb of Pennsylvania, Dr. Cohn organized the First International Conference on Fertility Control in Wildlife in November 1987. During the 8
th
International Conference for Wildlife Fertility Control in July 2017, Dr. Cohn was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for her dedication to advancing the field of wildlife fertility control. Her full obituary can be read
here
.
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Support for Public Policy & Educational Projects
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The BIWFC seeks public policy research projects that advance the knowledge, acceptance and implementation of wildlife fertility control as a method of wildlife management throughout the world. The BIWFC goal is to support projects that will help the public and policy makers understand and evaluate existing policies on wildlife fertility control. Potential projects include: seminars, documentaries, and human dimension studies. More information can be found
online
.
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BIWFC Now on Social Media
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In addition to our
website,
you can now learn more about The BIWFC on social media by following our
Facebook
and
Twitter
pages.
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PZP Immunocontraception Conference, August 7-9, 2019
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The
PZP Immunocontraception Conference
, supported by a BIWFC grant and hosted by the Science and Conservation Center in Billings, Montana, will bring together representatives from various fields who work on controlling wildlife populations with the immunocontraception vaccine Porcine Zona Pellucida (PZP). They will have the opportunity to discuss successes, and challenges encountered in their PZP fertility control projects. In addition, researchers will update the attendees on the ongoing studies and share what the future of fertility control may hold.
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Pathways 2019: Human Dimensions of Wildlife Conference and Training, Sept. 22-26
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The BIWFC will exhibit, sponsor, and plans to host a symposium on the global use of fertility control in managing wildlife populations at
Pathways 2019: Human Dimensions of Wildlife Conference and Training
in Estes Park, CO.
The conference and training program is designed to address the myriad of issues that arise as people and wildlife struggle to coexist in a sustainable and healthy manner. Its mission is to increase professionalism and effectiveness in the Human Dimensions of Wildlife Management field.
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American Fisheries Society & The Wildlife Society Joint Conference, September 29 - October 3
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Pennsylvania Urban Deer Conflict Management Seminar, Dates TBD
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This free seminar will educate the public about how to resolve deer problems in their backyards and neighborhoods while helping municipalities learn effective and sustainable ways to co-exist with deer and other wildlife. Subsequent seminars are planned for later in 2019. More details can be found
here
as they become available.
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Severe Human-Wildlife Conflicts Lead to Radical Strategies
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While the rhesus macaques population has dropped from 3.2 million in 2004 to 2.1 million in 2015, incidences of aggression between the macaques and the Indian people seemed to remained the same. Following the poorly executed sterilization program, the Indian government is considering immuncontraception. The
Gizmodo
explains
the challenges of this approach.
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California Bill for More Humane Methods of Rodent Control
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The Environmental Quality committee of the California State Senate is working to ban the use of
Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs) due to their delayed effect on target pest and secondary non-target exposure. Read more
here
about the importance of having other tools to manage rodent populatio
ns in California, including ContraPest.
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New Jersey Officials Meet to Discuss Deer
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A meeting among Bergen county officials and
chief of state Department of Environmental Protection Division of Fish and Wildlife Management questioned the need for collective action towards reducing deer. According to
Pascack Press
, a major hurdle is that "half of the council opposes hunting but a hunt is the only state-approved method for reducing deer population."
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Innovative Solutions to Monkeys in Kenya
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Monkeys can be detrimental to Kenyan farmers and their source of income.
P
aul Kamuya invented a trap to capture the monkeys humanely.
The Star
explains
how Mr. Kamuya is working with Kenyan Wildlife Services to make his trap more effective and potentially contracept monkeys he has captured.
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OvoControl P Now Available in Mexico
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According to
Pest Control Technologies
,
OvoControl P is now available in Mexico. A representative of Econtrol, the Mexican distributor of OvoControl P, commented that their "pest control
customers and their clients are keenly interested in innovative options to control the pigeon population, safely and humanely."
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Click
here
to view more articles
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Stephanie Boyles Griffin - Science and Policy Director
Monique Principi - Managing Director
Rachel Soroka - Program
Assistant
Rosalie Lombardo - Communications Officer
Elizabeth Leitzell - Digital Media Specialist
Carolyn Rauch -
Senior Meeting Specialist
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For more information, please visit our
website
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