INCORPORATING WILDLIFE DAMAGE CONTROL INTO A UNIVERSITY WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT CURRICULUM

Most university wildlife programs that do not include wildlife damage control course offerings probably lack those courses for 2 main reasons: (1) most professors in those wildlife programs likely did not have formal training in wildlife damage control in their own degree programs and therefore may not have developed the skills nor the interest to teach this subject; and (2) universities may lack funding to hire new personnel to teach wildlife damage control. Wildlife damage control was integrated into an existing Wildlife Management Techniques course at The University of Tennessee, beginning in 1983. Teaching material and training were obtained primarily at Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences 1 through 4. Wildlife damage control instruction was offered in 5 ways: (1) slide lectures and video cassettes on major wildlife damage control subject areas, developed primarily as a result of contributions of presenters at Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences; (2) presentations on wildlife damage control regulations and problems by wildlife damage control professionals (public and private); (3) reading assignments in Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage (by R. Timm, required text) and other readings; (4) review of case histories of wildlife damage complaint calls and solutions received at the university during a 5-year period (n = 285); and (5) assignments to students of wildlife damage complaint calls made by the public to the university during the semester. Students responded to complaints by phone, with guidance, throughout the semester, and presented weekly oral reports on problems and solutions to the class