Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

Chemical repellents for both mammal and bird damage management are reviewed, with emphasis on recent research progress at the Denver Wildlife Research Center. Improvements in the process of chemical screening are described. Of more than 8,500 chemical compounds tested at both the Denver and Patuxent Research Center, no suitable repellents for use in product packaging has been found. Studies on repellents to reduce animal damage to wire and cable, especially to buried cable by pocket gophers, are under way. While little progress has been made on identifying compounds that are successful area repellents against mammals, contact repellents to protect plants in both agriculture and forestry applications have shown some success against rabbits and deer. Some success in repelling birds from seed and sprouting seed has been achieved in field tests. Recent literature citations are given.