5 research outputs found
Controlling Muskrats
Today damage attributed to muskrat activities occurs both to irrigation systems and waterways serving agricultural interests as well as to power company installations, waterfowl refuges and hunting clubs. Direct damage or destruction of agricultural crops is relatively minor although the muskrat is known to feed on a variety of produce including ear corn, alfalfa, clover and carrots and frequently will cut a rather wide swath of rice near water control boxes separating rice paddies. The brief activities of fur trappers appear to have little significance as applied to alleviating these losses, so we are forced to recognize that we will have to live with the muskrat but control its activities when necessary. When speaking of control of muskrats we usually think in terms of damage prevention as well as taking or killing the animal so the methods described will be mentioned in that order
Controlling Muskrats
Today damage attributed to muskrat activities occurs both to irrigation systems and waterways serving agricultural interests as well as to power company installations, waterfowl refuges and hunting clubs. Direct damage or destruction of agricultural crops is relatively minor although the muskrat is known to feed on a variety of produce including ear corn, alfalfa, clover and carrots and frequently will cut a rather wide swath of rice near water control boxes separating rice paddies. The brief activities of fur trappers appear to have little significance as applied to alleviating these losses, so we are forced to recognize that we will have to live with the muskrat but control its activities when necessary. When speaking of control of muskrats we usually think in terms of damage prevention as well as taking or killing the animal so the methods described will be mentioned in that order
Recommended from our members
Controlling muskrats
Muskrats, originally native to only two small areas of California, are now widespread in their distribution, where they can cause damage to some crops, but are of particular concern because of their burrowing in structures of irrigation canals and ditchbanks, waterways, and levees. Methods of canal and waterway construction can reduce or prevent damage, as can use of materials that exclude muskrat burrowing. Some materials have been shown to be repellent to muskrat burrowing when used to treat the soil near waterways. Reduction or elimination of weedy plant growth can be a deterrent in situations where no other food sources are nearby. Muskrat populations can be reduced or controlled by use of traps, burrow fumigants, shooting, or use of toxic bait; details of recommendations for use of these methods are included
Recommended from our members
Control of nutria
Nutria, which have increasingly been brought into California to be ranched for fur within the past decade, have know to have escaped, with the first known wild population seen in 1948. Initial attempts at control by use of carrot or sweet potato baits using zinc phosphide or strychnine were unsatisfactory. A trapping program begun in 1951 by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (USFWS) is now considered the most effective control method. Use of No. 3 steel traps is described, as are the merits of shooting either during nighttime on feeding grounds, or in daytime
Recommended from our members
Control of nutria
Nutria, which have increasingly been brought into California to be ranched for fur within the past decade, have know to have escaped, with the first known wild population seen in 1948. Initial attempts at control by use of carrot or sweet potato baits using zinc phosphide or strychnine were unsatisfactory. A trapping program begun in 1951 by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (USFWS) is now considered the most effective control method. Use of No. 3 steel traps is described, as are the merits of shooting either during nighttime on feeding grounds, or in daytime