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Why is pest management important?
Niamh QuinnArea Vertebrate Pest Advisor
Information for Board Members
Community ManagersLandscape Committee Members
Why do we control pest?• Damage (home and landscapes)
• Health and safety• Image and fear
Rodents
Did you know that……
• In some cities, the sewer rat population outnumbers the people population.
• In Australia, one farmer recorded 28,000 dead mice on his porch after one night's effort to poison them and 70,000 in a wheat field in one afternoon.
• Each year, rodents cause more than one billion dollars in damage in the United States alone.
• Mice can also scale rough vertical surfaces and walk along thin ropes and wires.
• Rats can fit through openings that are as small as ½ inch in diameter, and mice fit through openings as small as ¼ inch
• Roof rat is slightly less prolific than the Norway rat
• Sexually mature at 12 weeks
• 5‐8 young• Adults live for 5‐18 months
Reproduction‐Why are rodents so successful?
Reproduction
1
32
5
4
76
10
9
8
• One rat– Breeds 4 times in a year having about 8 pups per litter
• 4 x 8= 32– 50% are female and breed only once a year
» 8 pups by four females/litter• 8 x 4 x 4
• Plus the original 32 rats
160 rats!
Why do we control
vertebrate pests?
Wildlife damage to households
• 1000 household randomly selected from the 100 largest metro centers in the US– 57% reported that their household had problems with wildlife
• Potentially more human‐wildlife interactions occurring outside these large urban centers– Almost 100 million households
• It is estimated that rodents cause 128000 house fires a year!
DiseasePhotograph courtesy of Rex Baker
• A wide variety of non viral vector‐borne zoonoses exist in the US– Tick– Flea– Louse
Disease Disease causing agent
Animal vector Prevention and control
Plague Yersinia pestis Rodents Rodent proofinghomes
Tularemia Francisellatularensis
Microtus Avoid working in tick infested areas
Lyme disease Borrelia burgdorferi Small mammals,birds, lizards
Cover arms and legs in tick infested areas
Flea‐borne typhus Rickettsia typhi Opossums, feral cats, other flea carrying animals
Don’t maintain feral cat colonies, keep pet food inside, control opossum populations, control fleas
So why manage wildlife?
Questions?