Attitudes of Students in a Wildlife Damage Management Class Towards Nuisance Wildlife Control

Presenter Information

Michael T. Mengak, University of Georgia
Craig A. Miller, University of Georgia
Douglas I. Hall, USDA APHIS Wildlife Services

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Location

Saratoga Springs, NY

Start Date

4-5-2009 12:00 AM

Description

Students majoring in wildlife management at the University of Georgia have the option of enrolling in our Wildlife Damage Management course. Students participate in a variety of field activities associated with the laboratory portion of the class while also attending twice-weekly lectures on wildlife damage topics. Each spring at the beginning of the semester, students participate in a short survey to assess their opinions on various topics related to wildlife damage management. The same students participate in the same survey at the end of the semester. We have been collecting pre-and post-course data since 1994. Significantly more students agreed with a variety of coyote (Canis latrans) control activities in the post-class survey except when asked about paying farmers and ranchers for livestock losses. They disagreed with this practice and did not change their view. Students generally agreed with the practice of using poison to control selected species except eagles but there were fewer significant attitude shifts pre-and post-class. As expected, students scored high on knowledge questions related to coyotes. The statement that producers had the right to protect property saw a significant change in attitude (> percentage agreed post-class).

Recommended Citation

Mengak, M. T., Miller, C. A., & Hall, D. I. (2009). Attitudes of students in a wildlife damage management class towards nuisance wildlife control. In Boulanger, J. (Ed.), The Thirteenth Wildlife Damage Management Conference (75-82). Saratoga Springs, NY: Thirteenth WDM Conference.