Book Review: Coexisting with Local Furbearers: Good Practices in Management and Intervention by Gaétan Fournier. Quebec, Canada: Fédération des Trappeurs Gestionnaires du Québec, 2014. 248 pp.
Canada has had a long fur trapping tradition and coexisting with furbearers. With about 1/10th the population of the U.S. and about twice the land area, it’s a veritable trapping paradise. But even Canadians encounter conflicts with wildlife which need to be resolved.
This text is designed to train fur trappers in how to prevent and manage the conflicts caused by fur bearers. The guiding principle behind the book is to reduce the killing of valuable furbearing species outside the trapping season through the use of non-lethal techniques and targeted removals.
The book has 8 chapters: Introduction, managing human/wildlife conflicts, mandatory steps for professional operations, managing nuisance furbearing animals, the dilemma of translocation, repellents and their limitations, disposing of animal remains, and conclusion. , the bulk of the book falls under Chapter 4, managing nuisance furbearing animals. There readers will find detailed information on the biology, non-lethal control methods, lethal control methods, diseases, and other concerns, for beaver, muskrat, river otter, mink, squirrels, weasels, raccoon, skunk, red fox, coyote, wolf, and black bear. Note the information tends to center on damage issues affecting rural, livestock, infrastructure, and non-building settings. If you are looking for instructions on running a business in Columbus, OH, this is not the book for you.
Fournier included several appendices to cover important topics, such as diseases, selective trapping, attractants (i.e. baits/lures), and specialist equipment. Appendices contain important information that may not be expected given their placement in the appendices.
I had the privilege and pleasure to be a technical editor for this publication, so forgive me if I gush a bit about this book. It is smartly illustrated with beautiful color images and superb line drawings. Trappers interested in research-based wildlife control should get a copy of this text. I am confident that readers will improve their understanding of wildlife biology and techniques used to manage their damage.
To obtain a copy, send an e-mail containing your complete address, quantity desired to: ftgq@ftgq.qc.ca. FTGQ will send a PayPal invoice that will inform you about the price of the book and the shipping fees (all in Canadian dollars).
Stephen M. Vantassel, CWCP®
https://wildlifecontrolconsultant.com