The Probe, Issue 227 – March/April 2003

• High-Tech Wolf Trapping -- Dexter K. Oliver • The Wildlife Management Institute\u27s booklet, Feeding Wildlife... Just Say No!, is back in stock. • Owl Next Boxes & Rodent Control -- Robert H. Schmidt • The terms of office for all the current NADCA officers and directors expires this year and an election must be called. NADCA president, Mike Conover, is asking for nominations to fill these positions. • Call for Papers: 21st Vertebrate Pest Conference • Britain Considers Eradicating Ruddy Duck Population: The British government is considering wiping out one species of duck to save another. The government and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds say the ruddy duck—imported to Britain from the United States half a century ago—is threatening the white-headed duck by breeding with it in its Spanish habitat. Some conservationists fear the hybrid species will eventually replace the white-headed duck altogether. • Scientists believe an undiscovered, Lyme disease-like illness is being transmitted by wood ticks throughout Montana, particularly in the Yellowstone River area from Livingston to Forsyth. • How many humans, worldwide, die from rabies each year? Worldwide, there are more than 50,000 human rabies deaths reported annually, with about 30,000 deaths in India, and the rest occurring primarily in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Most cases are due to dog bites. • Copies of the Proceedings for the 20th Vertebrate Pest Conference are availabl