few creatures are his equal as a target for predators. He's very 

 vulnerable. I know coyotes are of major interest in this part of the 

 couQjry and I'll come back to them a little later. But if I'm going to 

 address the topic that's assigned to me, which is all of animal damage 

 control, I have to at least describe some of the overall missions of the 

 Service in this activity. 



Throughout history wild animals have been an important source of 

 food and fiber and they still are. But these wild animals, at times, 

 have damaged man's interests--his livestock, his row crops, his health, 

 even his books, his collectables, his electrical wiring and occasionally, 

 even his children. I am referring to occasional rat attacks on humans. 

 Okay. The goals of the Animal Damage Control Program include: (1) 

 protection of human health and safety, (2) protection of forests and 

 range, (3) protection of urban areas, and (4) protection of crops and 

 livestock. 



Under the first of those goals work is done through animal control 

 to reduce the transmission of wildlife-born diseases and control of birds 

 and other animals that threaten human safety. An example of this is 

 where concentrations of birds or deer occur near an airport, where 

 collisions are likely to take place. 



Under the goal of protection of forests and range, control is 

 necessary to obtain management objectives such as reforestation, range 

 restoration and watershed management. 



In the category of protection of urban areas, work is done where 

 hazards, damage and economic loss can be attributable to wildlife. 

 These are usually mice, rats, squirrels, bats and nuisance birds. 



And under the last goal, the protection of crops and wildlife, this 



includes protecting both growing and stored crops, in the case of 



wildlife, not only from depredation, but also from wildlife born 

 diseases. 



In our ten-state region alone, which includes the Rocky Mountain 

 states and the Missouri Basin, we have to address all aspects of this 

 program. Coyote-sheep conflicts are, of course, the most common in 

 this region, and golden eagle-sheep conflicts are more localized. I'm 

 glad that eagle-sheep conflicts are not as wide-spread a problem as 

 they're sometime told to be. I'm certainly sympathetic with some of the 

 ranchers, and particularly Mr. Helle, who seems to take the brunt of 

 the impact of that particular predation problem in Region Six. There 

 are other examples of that taking place in Texas. 



Also, sandhill cranes and Canada geese feed on small grains in 

 Wyoming which causes a problem. Ducks use grains in North Dakota. 

 North Dakota also has a problem with blackbirds feeding on sunflowers, 

 which has become a major cash crop to North Dakota farmers. Starlings 

 and blackbirds roost in concentration areas in Missouri, usually urban 

 areas, and such concentrations can cause disease problems. Starlings, 

 of course, are not even native to this country. Some well-meaning 



