Information for the Guidance of Field Men and Cooperators of the Bureau of Biological Survey Engaged in the Control of Injurious Rodents and Predatory Animals

INFORMATION FOR THE GUIDANCE OF FIELD MEN AND COOPERATORS OF THE BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY ENGAGED IN THE CONTROL OF INJURIOUS RODENTS AND PREDATORY ANIMALS
Prepared under the direction of Paul G. Redington, Chief, Bureau of Biological Survey , in the Division of Predatory-Animal and Rodent-Control, Stanley P. Young, Principal Biologist, in Charge
CONTENTS
NECESSITY FOR CONTROL OF WILD-ANIMAL PESTS
The demands made upon the Federal Government some years ago for aid in suppressing those wild animals of the public domain that continually spread out into areas that had been placed under cultivation or used for grazing purposes produced the first Federal cooperative efforts toward the control of predatory animals and injurious rodents. The settler who saw the profits of his early work wiped out by the incursions of wolves, coyotes, mountain lions, and bobcats from the public domain into his stock ranges, and of prairie dogs, ground squirrels, pocket gophers, jack rabbits, and other rodents into his cultivated fields, had no recourse other than to ask the aid of the Government whose lands served as breeding reservoirs from which these predators and rodents came. Otherwise they would reinfest his stocked and cultivated acres in spite of all that he could do to prevent them, either single handed or with the aid of his neighbors.

CONTROL FUNCTIONS OF THE BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY
The administration of wild life by the Bureau of Biological Survey involves not only research into the habits, distribution, and requirements of the varieties, and the conservation of fur, game, insectivorous, and other valuable animals, but also the regulation of activities of a limited number of certain species that seriously interfere with the economic interests of man, and, in the case of some of the larger predators, prey upon valuable game species.
The leadership of the Biological Survey in control operations during the years since 1915 has been requested and encouraged by State and other cooperating agencies. The funds made available from these sources for expenditure under the direction of the district leaders of the bureau have been far in excess of those provided for the purpose from the National Treasury. The investigations of the food and other habits, the geographic distribution, and the relationships of the wild birds and mammals of the country (including rodents and predators) have been carried on for almost half a century and provide the basis for the control work recommended and prosecuted. Research along these lines is being continued by scientifically trained men and will be expanded as funds permit.