FEATURED NEWS:
BIWFC Video Crew Travels West to Film Wildlife
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To further advance the BIWFC goal of educating the public about fertility control as a wildlife management option, the Institute is producing a video about the BIWFC and on-going wildlife fertility control efforts. The video will include visuals and audio narrative discussing fertility control, human wildlife conflicts, on-going implementation efforts, and the range of species involved. Selected “sound-bites” from various fertility control experts, project managers and wildlife professionals will be used to produce a comprehensive overview of the field.
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Members of the BIWFC staff recently traveled to Montana and Colorado to film wildlife and interview professionals for this project. They visited free roaming horses on the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range in Montana. The Pryor Herd, which numbers 154, are rare descendants of New World “Spanish” breeds that were brought to this country in the early 1500s.
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Their population growth is currently being managed through fertility control methods, specifically the nonhormonal drug porcine zona pellucida (PZP), to limit births. (Read more about this program
here
.)
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The staff also visited Fort Collins, Colorado, where they explored the Pineridge Natural Area and photographed the inhabitants of a prairie dog colony. While there they spoke with Dan Salkeld, a BIWFC Grantee, Research Scientist and Biology Teacher at Colorado State University’s College of Natural Sciences. Dan is currently working on prairie dog population management through fertility control methods, specifically a GnRH-vaccine that causes females to skip breeding.
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The completed video will be released on our website and social media in 2019.
For more photos of the Pryor Mountains free-roaming horses
CLICK HERE
.
CLICK HERE
for more photos of prairie dogs in the Pineridge Natural Area.
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The Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control attended the 6
th
International Symposium on Non-Surgical Contraceptive Methods of Pet Population Control hosted by the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs (ACC&D) in Boston, MA in late July. In addition to serving as a symposium sponsor, the BIWFC also exhibited and participated in several sessions.
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This inspiring three-day conference, which was attended by scientists, academics, veterinarians, animal welfare advocates and students from around the world, included more than 40 U.S. and international speakers. The event gathered innovators in animal health and welfare, from scientists developing non-surgical alternatives to seasoned field practitioners bringing innovations to help animals in the field and communities worldwide.
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BIWFC’s Science and Policy Director Stephanie Boyles Griffin and BIWFC Advisory Board Members Giovanna Massei and Andrew Rowan served on a panel at the symposium titled “Lessons learned: field studies with cats and with dogs.”
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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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PATHWAYS EUROPE, Sept. 16-18, 2018
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THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY ANNUAL CONFERENCE, Oct. 7-11, 2018
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Stephanie Boyles Griffin, the BIWFC Science & Policy Director, will present at Pathways Europe in Germany alongside Dr. Giovanna Massei, Leader of the Wildlife Research & Control Group for APHA and BIWFC Advisory Board Member. More information about the conference can be found
here
.
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The BIWFC is exhibiting at The Wildlife Society's 25th Annual Conference in Cleveland, OH. TWS Conference is acclaimed as one of the largest gatherings of wildlife professionals in North America. Follow this
link
to view the conference site.
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"State of the Field: Wildlife Fertility Control to Mitigate Human-Wildlife Conflicts" Webinar, 1pm EST Oct. 23, 2018
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The free webinar, presented by Stephanie Boyles Griffin, will provide participants with an overview of some of the major advances that have been made in the field of wildlife fertility control over the last 10 years, the challenges that remain and ongoing efforts by researchers, wildlife managers, policy-makers and communities to address them. Register and learn more about the event
here
.
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PENNSYLVANIA URBAN DEER CONFLICT MANAGEMENT SEMINAR SERIES, January-June 2019
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The BIWFC will launch a seminar series to take place in various areas throughout Pennsylvania in order to educate the public on
urban deer conflict management planning
. Speakers will present
a comprehensive framework that communities can use for developing and implementing humane, sustainable urban and suburban deer management plans and programs
. Check our
events webpage
for details and updates as they become available.
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BIWFC's grant program supports projects that advance wildlife fertility control science, policy and its applications. In each newsletter we plan to spotlight a recipient of our Grant Program.
Meet BIFWC Grantee Dan Salkeld, Research Scientist II, Department of Biology, Colorado State University
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Will you provide some background on what is being experienced with the Black-tailed Prairie Dog populations in Colorado?
Prairie dogs can be something of a lightning rod for human-wildlife conflict opinions. They are viewed either as keystone species important for conservation and iconic of the West, or as soil-eroding, disease transmitting vermin… In urban settings, these issues can be magnified: they’re a visible part of a natural ecosystem, but in limited space, and with fewer predators, population growth can cause problems of over-grazing and habitat destruction.
Are Black-tailed Prairie Dogs currently being managed? If so, how is the issue addressed?
Prairie dogs are being managed in a variety of ways, with land-managers trying everything from curbing movement with visual barriers, encouraging local abundance of raptors, removal to other sites, and as a last resort, lethal control.
What is the goal of your project?
Our project is planning to examine whether we can manipulate prairie dog breeding patterns, so that sustainably managed prairie dog populations can remain on the landscape but without the detrimental impacts of dense populations. We will do this by testing the efficacy of an ‘immunocontraceptive’ – essentially a vaccine that disrupts the hormonal cascade and which will cause females to skip breeding.
What are the results so far?
We are still at an early stage of the project, and permits have been an adventure, but we have worked with local land managers in Fort Collins and Denver to organize sites and lay the groundwork.
What is the next step?
To get into the field properly and start harvesting data from the breeding season.
How do you plan to use these results?
If the methods work, we will work with land-owners to test whether this control method can work financially, logistically and at the right ecological scales for successful prairie dog population management.
More information about the BIWFC Grant Program can be found on our
website
.
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LOOKING FOR THE MAGIC FIX TO CONTROL ELK
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Controlling elk populations and limiting the risk of human-wildlife conflicts "isn't a matter of if it's needed, it's how it should be implemented."
The Daily Astorian
reports
on the debate between culling and the use of contraceptives.
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MANAGING MONKEYS IN THAILAND
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Public hearings in May of 2018 called for the sterilization of Phuket's monkey population in Thailand. As of June,
The Thaige
r
reported
that 216 monkeys have been captured, and 42 monkeys have been sterilized and released.
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DROUGHTS CALL FOR INTERVENTION
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ContraPest® INTRODUCED IN THE STATE OF HAWAI'I
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Severe droughts in the American West have caused volunteers to take action to help the free-roaming horses. The
Tampa Bay Times
reported
that while the government rounds up and adopts out free-roaming horses, critics implore the use of fertility control to manage the populations.
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Markets Insider
reported
that a year-long trial assessing the effectiveness of ContraPest was presented at the 25th annual Hawai'i Conservation Conference. With this data, SenesTech, Inc. plans to "pursue full outdoor use label requirements for ContraPest."
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MANAGING THE LIONS AND ELEPHANTS IN SOUTHERN AFRICAN COUNTRIES
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While elephants and lions are considered endangered in much of Africa,
The Globe and Mail Inc.
explained
that their populations in southern countries have greatly increased to the point of ravaging the ecosystem. Reserves, such as Madikwe in South Africa, are now considering fertility control plans to manage the growing populations.
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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 Associate
Elizabeth Leitzell - Digital Media Specialist
Carolyn Rauch -
Sr. Meeting Specialist
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For more information, please visit our
website
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