Abstract
In 1992, the United States Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services (WS) program received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use alpha-chloralose (AC) to capture nuisance waterfowl (Anatidae), American coots (Fulica americana), and pigeons (Columba livia). We summarized use of AC by the WS program to capture nuisance birds during 1994-1995. WS biologists used AC to capture 3,767 birds during 124 operations in 19 states. Captured birds included wild mallards (Anas platyrynchos, 20%), domestic mallards (24%), muscovies (Cairina moschata, 5%), Canada geese (Branta canadensis, 10%), domestic geese (8%), coots (27%), pigeons (5%), and other (<1%). The proportion of birds present at a site that were captured was less for pigeons (6%) than for waterfowl and coots (greater than or equal to 68%). Overall mortality of target birds was 5%, ranging from 0.1% (n=1,014) for coots to 67% (n=3) for mute swans (Cygnus olor). In addition, 102 nontarget birds were captured, of which there was 12% mortality. States with the greatest number of AC operations were Tennessee (14%), Georgia (12%), and California, Nevada, and Oregon (10% each). Most nuisance situations were at parks (39%), followed by golf courses and resorts (19%), and residential areas (17%). Capture operations were most frequent during March-April (29%) and least frequent during: October-January (19%). AC is an effective tool to remove nuisance ducks, geese, and coots from situations where other techniques are impractical. We recommend additional research to improve existing techniques and to expand use of AC to capture other nuisance species.