Some time ago, on other boards, the topic of hunting and trapping to "manage" wildlife populations came up, and I was suggesting sterilization as one way to do it. Currently, there are few areas where this is being done. Considering that even domestic animal populations (such as dogs and cats)- which in theory are under our control- are too high, I can see that it's unlikely to be done on a large scale in the near future. But some hunting/trapping defenders on the other boards were trying to argue that nobody knows what long-term effects on the animals would be.

Well, sometimes you have to learn as you go along. This website I link to below doesn't particularly have a problem with hunting and trapping, so far as I know. But they recognize that ecosystems are complex, and that even the best models of how something will affect them may not be completely accurate:

http://www.adaptivemanagement.net/whatis.php

i didnt have the patience to read through all the website and see their solutions to prevent over population but the opinion ive arrived at is to place out feed or water supplies containing natural antifertility substances derived from plants in order to control critter levels .

My post wasn't as clear as it should have been... sorry!

I was arguing with some folks that wild animals (at least in certain areas, not necessarily everywhere) could be sterilized temporarily with a drug instead of being killed (or "harvested"). These people were arguing with me, saying that I didn't know what the long-term effects of this would be, and that ecosystems are very complex.

The website above doesn't really deal specifically with wildlife population control. It does deal with Adaptive Management. When you set out to modify or interfere with a natural system, you don't always have all the facts to begin with. You have to proceed carefully, observing and learning as you go. This is what I told the hunting and trapping advocates on those other websites; I just didn't know there was a word for it.

Hm..I'd like to go back and read that some more too. Thanks for the link!

i didnt have the patience to read through all the website and see their solutions to prevent over population but the opinion ive arrived at is to place out feed or water supplies containing natural antifertility substances derived from plants in order to control critter levels .


How does one ensure that other critters who aren't overpopulated don't ingest the substances?

ludi , your thinking beyond where i thought but off the top of my head i can imagine using differing types of watering troffs that only the type creature you want to affect can drink from . say little tiny openings for squirrels so you dont affect the deer . or some type grass that only deer eat so you dont affect the squirrel . thats all the time i have now , goodday

How does one ensure that other critters who aren't overpopulated don't ingest the substances?

That’s a big potential problem with using edible baits to dose animals with a birth-control drug. You might not want to dose all species in an area if, say, only the deer or only the squirrels are getting out-of-bounds, population-wise. It also might be hard to make sure that each individual gets a correct dose- not too much (if an overdose has bad side-effects) and not too little so that too many animals remain fertile. Also, usually the females get treated, not the males.

I think they usually either use a dart, which also marks each treated animal with a spot of dye so that they know that individual has been treated; or they surgically sterilize them (Cornell University did this at one location in New York State).

Perhaps Michigan Roman's ideas would work in some situations, however.