DALLAS – A conference on managing urban wildlife will take place 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 4 in Dallas.
The program is co-sponsored by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas Master Naturalists and Texas Parks and Wildlife. It will be held in the Pavilion at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Dallas, 17360 Coit Road. Admission is $30.
Attendees should register online before Feb. 24 to guarantee lunch at http://ntmn.org/urbanwildlife . Others can register the day of the event.
“The program is open to anyone who works with or is simply interested in managing wildlife populations,” said Fred Burrell, a program co-coordinator and an AgriLife Extension agent for natural resources in Dallas.
Speakers will discuss possible danger associated with human-wildlife encounters, and they will offer advice on minimizing the potential for contact, said Janet Hurley, a program co-coordinator and AgriLife Extension program specialist for integrated pest management.
The event’s featured speaker will be Dr. Stan Gerht, an expert on urban coyotes and an assistant professor of environmental and natural resources at Ohio State University.
Gerht will present his findings of a six-year study on urban coyote ecology and management in Chicago.
Once known across America as “ghosts of the plains,” coyotes have quietly become “ghosts of the cities,” according to an excerpt of Gerht’s study.
Though rarely seen, coyotes thrive in urban and suburban areas where people don’t expect them to be, he wrote.
“A relatively recent phenomenon, coyotes have become the top carnivores in an increasing number of metropolitan areas across North America,” Gerht’s study says.
As coyote numbers increase, communities will need to rely on solid research as they develop strategies to manage populations, his paper says.
“Lessons learned in Chicago can be applied in any urban environment, including cities like Dallas and Fort Worth,” said Brett Johnson, a Dallas area wildlife biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife.
Conference speakers, who will discuss a variety of urban wildlife issues, include:
– Hurley, on handling bats.
– Richard Heilbrun, an urban wildlife biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife, bobcats.
– Roger Sanderson, a wildlife biologist with the Heard Natural Science Museum in McKinney, snakes.
– Pete Markham, owner of A-Mark Pest & Bird Management in Houston, relocating birds.
-30-
