Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

The United States Department of Agriculture / Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) / Wildlife Services (WS) program fulfills a Federal responsibility for helping solve problems which occur when human activity and wildlife are in conflict with one another. This is accomplished through the recommendation and/or implementation of integrated pest management strategies (IPM). WS IPM strategies often involve both technical assistance and direct damage management. One management technique used by WS is the application of Federally and State registered vertebrate pesticides. APHIS has several vertebrate pesticides registered for use by WS. On June 16, 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) passed a final rule amending the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, Section 6(a)(2) on the reporting requirements for adverse incidents that involve pesticides. Adverse incidents, as defined by the EPA, can affect non-target wildlife, domestic animals, humans, property, and plants. WS employees reviewed the program’s pesticide records for potential adverse incidents dating back to January 1, 1994. In this paper, we discuss the minuscule impacts WS has had on the environment while using registered pesticides.