An epidemic of canine rabies transmitted by coyotes (Canis latrans) began in 1988 along the Texas-Mexico border. The disease spread rapidly throughout southern Texas and resulted in two human deaths and >2,000 rabies exposures in which prophylactic treatment was required. To combat this epidemic, the Texas Department of Health conducted an oral vaccination program that targeted free-ranging coyotes and offered free immunization of pets. However, the latter program met with resistance from the public. We hypothesized that the general public lacked knowledge as to the seriousness and spread of rabies, which resulted in their apathy for taking precautionary measures. To test our hypothesis, we surveyed adult residents of the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas to assess their knowledge of rabies and to determine their reasons for lack of compliance with the pet vaccination law. We approached 560 adults (i.e., >21 years old) and asked them to take an oral questionnaire concerning their knowledge of rabies; response rate was 40% (223 out of 560). Mean score of respondents was 59% of the maximum possible score. Adults lacked general knowledge of rabies transmission and mortality. Although the majority (89%) of respondents knew that it was unlawful to own unvaccinated dogs and cats against rabies, only 23% (n=52) claimed to vaccinate their pets. Of those who responded that they regularly vaccinate their pets, 50% did it to promote pet health and the remaining 50% of respondents admitted to being fearful of repercussions if they did not obey the law. Reasons for not vaccinating pets included laziness (n=46, 27%), liability of claiming pet ownership (n=31, 18%), cost (n=29, 17%), lack of law enforcement concerning unvaccinated pets (n=26, 15%), unaware of rabies epidemic in area (n= 19, 11%), "dime-a-dozen" attitude [i.e., can always get another pet] (n=l5, 9%), and governmental conspiracy to locate illegal aliens in the United States (n=5, 3%). Educational programs are needed in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas to increase the general public’s awareness and knowledge of rabies.

Raccoons (Procyon lotor) often are considered a nuisance species in suburban and urban areas, and thus, must be removed. However, raccoons are capable of removing bait from cage traps without being captured and appear to avoid baits that are infested with fire ants (Solenopsis invicta). We modified Tomahawk® cage traps with an extended metal floor that acted as a trip device, hardware cloth wrapped around the back half of traps to reduce the potential of raccoons obtaining bait without entering the traps, and developed a hook upon which to place baits to minimize the probability of fire ants locating the bait. We then compared the proportion of raccoon captures, baits missing, and baits with fire ants between cage traps with and without the modified floor and bait hook. Twenty-five raccoons were caught, 80 baits were stolen, and 108 baits were infested with fire ants during 432 trap-nights. A greater proportion of raccoons were caught in (G=11.7, 3 df, P<0.01) and fewer baits were stolen from (G=11.0, 3 df, P<0.02) cage traps modified with the extended metal floor than without the modification. Traps equipped with hooks were minimally affected by fire ants present on the baits (i.e., 8 of 216 baits; 3.7%), which was much less (G=59.0, 1 df, P<0.0001) than traps without bait hooks (46.3%). Our modifications to cage traps enhanced the capture success of raccoons and should be considered if live-trapping of raccoons is required, especially in areas where fire ants are problematic.

Research interests in feral hogs typically involve their negative impacts on ecosystems or their potential as a disease reservoir, especially with disease transmission to domestic swine. Authors within scientific literature state that feral hogs were captured as part of their research, but usually fail to mention specific conditions in which hogs were captured. Novice researchers of feral hogs must rely on ‘word-of-mouth’ to acquire this information or learn it by trial and error. Our objective was to place this knowledge into the scientific literature as an aid to future researchers of feral hogs. Feral hogs were captured in box traps or corral-style traps baited with sour corn in eastern and southern Texas during April 2004 - June 2005. Daily weather conditions (i.e., high and low temperatures, humidity, average wind speed, and precipitation) were obtained from the nearest weather station for each trapping location. A predictive model using logistic regression was developed from data collected in eastern Texas to predict the success of feral hog trapping on a given night based on significant weather variables and then tested on data collected from southern Texas. A successful night of trapping was defined as ≥1 hog being captured. A total of 212 feral hogs were captured during 166 nights of trapping (1,558 trap-nights). The threshold of 22°C for the daily minimum temperature was the only significant (Chi-square = 26.5, df = 1, P < 0.0001) weather variable found. The majority of hogs (97%) were captured when the daily minimum temperature was below 22°C. The model could correctly predict (95%) when trapping success of feral hogs was unlikely (daily minimum temperature ≥22°C), but it was less accurate (50%) in predicting the success of feral hog trapping when the daily minimum temperatures were <22°C. Because the majority of feral hogs live in areas with hot, humid climates during the summer (i.e., southeastern United States), trapping success, especially during July and August, would be unlikely. Research schedules and budgets should be planned to avoid such periods of extreme heat.

State wildlife conservation programs provide a strong foundation for biodiversity conservation in the United States, building on state wildlife action plans. However, states may miss the species that are at the most risk at rangewide scales, and threats such as novel diseases and climate change increasingly act at regional and national levels. Regional collaborations among states and their partners have had impressive successes, and several federal programs now incorporate state priorities. However, regional collaborations are uneven across the country, and no national counterpart exists to support efforts at that scale. A national conservation-support program could fill this gap and could work across the conservation community to identify large-scale conservation needs and support efforts to meet them. By providing important information-sharing and capacity-building services, such a program would advance collaborative conservation among the states and their partners, thus increasing both the effectiveness and the efficiency of conservation in the United States. © 2012 by American Institute of Biological Sciences. All rights reserved.