Just saw an opportunity for you Cal. guys?
UC will be trapping and sterilizing campus squirrels to be trapped again in a year for analysis.Wonder how many will live to be caught the second time?

bob evans

The what? LOL! Do you have a link to a news story or anything?

Oh no, not Davis!!!

Maybe ten percent?

It was on CNN new yesterday morning. they were going to livetrap the squirrels and neuter them w/chemicals and at a later date retrap the same ones for testing.First off who is going to do the work?studants? They will need seasoned help.
Next to trap an animal that has been once trapped & released is a chore! If any of you has been in that position you understand the problems ? Again experienced personnel will be needed.
Bob Evans

The trapper who's going to be doing this may have many headaches ahead for himself. If you don't know much about UC Davis, it's located in the town of Davis, obviously. You see, Davis, CA is well known for the "open minded and free" types. I'm thinking something along the lines of stolen and tampered with traps as well as several "liberated" squirrels. They better have a sharp eye on those traps as the students and locals in Davis have a REALLY soft spot for animals if ya catch my drift.

When I saw the news cast it was very apparent that it would be a tuff job.Not only the lenient attitudes but of the problems in personnel.Collage animal studies are done by students and catching the target animal can be tuff even for us.Now compound that by getting a trap shy animal a second time is a real challenge.
Added to this is the high mortality rate of captured squirrels.
bob

UC Davis has some pretty extensive programs in Agriculture and Natural Resources, and there's plenty of field work done through Davis on vertebrate pest control. There's no doubt that they have their fair share of wishy-washy college students, but they also have the people and experience to carry out a trapping program like this.