Perry W. Sumner

In 1995, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) established policy and rules for handling of nuisance wildlife by Wildlife Damage Control Agents (WDCA). The policy required a 1 -day long training session, culminating in an open book, certification examination. The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service (NCCES) conducted the training and administered the examination. The certification-training program covered principles of wildlife damage management, wildlife laws and regulations, humane handling of animals and euthanasia, human health risks from exposure to wildlife,...

Food habits of coyotes (Canis latrans) from the upper coastal plain province of Alabama and Mississippi were determined from scats (N =211) and stomachs (N = 100) collected from December 1980 through April 1984. Frequency of occurrence of major food items found in scats and stomachs for all seasons were rodents (43.1 %), fruit (38.6%), rabbits (34.7%), insects (29.9%), white-tailed deer (28.0%), and birds (22.5%). Seasonally, rabbits and rodents occurred most frequently in spring; rodents, insects, and birds in summer; fruit, primarily persimmons, in fall; and deer and rodents in winter....

Daily activity, home-range size, and seasonal and dispersal movements of 13 coyotes (Canis latrans) were studied in eastern Mississippi and western Alabama using telemetry techniques. Coyotes were most active and traveled the greatest distances between 1800 hours and 0600 hours. The highest movement rates occurred near sunset and sunrise. Mean distances traveled during 12-hour full-night periods were greatest for adult females (9.5 km) followed by adult males (8.6 km) and juveniles (5.6 km). Average distance traveled by all coyotes during full-night periods was shortest during fall (5.3 km...

A cursory evaluation of scent-station techniques was made in 6 physiographic regions of Alabama between January and April 1979 and between October 1979 and April 1980. In addition, predator calling was conducted at 30 stations in each of these 6 regions between November 1979 and March 1980. Synthetic fatty acid scent (FAS) was used as an attractant the first year, whereas FAS, red fox urine, bobcat urine, and a 1: 1 mixture of red fox and bobcat urine was used in systematic rotation the second year. Animal visitation was converted to indices of relative abundance for each species, and...