conservation departments in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and 

 Arkansas are sununarized below. 



a. Effects on Mammals . No exact quantitative figures are available 

 on the effects of the program on mammals, but all studies indicate some mor- 

 tality of game mamnals. Published [2] and unpublished Bureau studies at the 

 Experiment Station of Alabama Polytechnic Institute in Wilcox County, Alabama, 

 are typical. Rabbits and raccoons showed a marked decrease soon after treat- 

 ment, continued at a depressed level through the first summer, and returned to 

 normal population levels by the end of the first post-treatment year. Com- 

 parable findings were reported for Autauga County, Alabama, where 6 rabbits, 

 3 opossums, 1 raccoon, 2 cotton rats, and 1 white-footed mouse were found dead 

 on 10 acres (Allen, letter; and Kelley, unpubl.); for Decatur County, Georgia, 

 where 7 rabbits, 3 rodents, and 1 cat were found dead on 2 acres [33]; for 

 Jefferson County, Florida (Strode, unpubl.); for Acadia, West Baton Rouge, St. 

 Landry, and Vermillion Parishes, Louisiana [29] and Glasgow (letter); for 

 Concordia Parish, Louisiana [46j; and for Union County, Arkansas (Gooden, 

 unpubl.). The Hardin Coynty, Texas [38], [39] and Lay (unpubl.) studies indi- 

 cate that opossums, armadillos, and an abundant raccoon population virtually 

 disappeared on the study area and were still depressed in numbers during the 

 second autumn after treatment. Bureau analyses showed that raccoons which 

 repopulated the area were contaminated even a year later as follows: 



Specimens Time after Treatment 



1 2 weeks (Spring) 

 4 6 months (Fall) 



2 9 months (Winter) 

 1 1 year (Spring) 



Cotton rat populations in Decatur County, Georgia, were reported to be 

 little affected by treatment as judged by 1763 individual observations (Wilson 

 and Jenkins, unpubl.). A few cotton rats were found dead in treated areas in 

 Alabama (Allen, letter), Georgia [33], and Louisiana (Glasgow, letter); but 

 some field reports indicate cotton rats may be more numerous than usual a year 

 or so after treatment. Predators of cotton rats are known to have been killed 

 by the treatment. On the Wilcox County, Alabama, area young foxes in a den 

 were found dead. 



b. Effects on Birds; General . All studies except one by Wilson and 

 Jenkins (unpubl.) show severe mortality of birds following treatment. Chemical 

 analyses of several hundred dead specimens from the study areas confirm that 

 the birds had absorbed or ingested the insecticides used in the eradication 

 program. More careful scrutiny of data of all studies reveal a virtual elimi- 

 nation or serious reduction of ground-feeders and other low-strata species on 

 treated areas with little effect on the higher-strata or tree-top species. 

 Also, birds of limited home range or territory may survive on small untreated 

 tracts in large blocks. These findings are illustrated by the Bureau's studies 



