About 40 chapter members showed up at the January 21st monthly dinner meeting. The Kitchen Crew served up a delicious meal of pork barbeque, buns, baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, tea, and a variety of homemade desserts.
Nick Rhodes
After the Treasurer’s report, a new Chapter member was sworn in by President Chris Ferguson. Please welcome Nick Rhodes to the Chapter, shown here in the photo on the left.
Peter Acker, District Terrestrial Biologist of the VA DWR
The guest speaker was Peter Acker, District Terrestrial Biologist of the VA DWR (Department of Wildlife Resources), shown here on the right.
His presentation was about bears, nutria, coyotes, and feral pigs. Regarding black bears, considered very desirable wildlife, he discussed what they eat, how they hibernate, their population growth and territorial ranges.
As for nutria, considered highly undesirable wildlife, he revealed that they were first imported into California in 1899 for fur farming, and discussed their population growth and the damage they cause from burrowing which weakens banks, dams, roadbeds. They also damage crops such as strawberry fields in Virginia Beach.
He explained that populations of coyotes, with a question mark as to whether desirable/undesirable, became established in southwestern Virginia in the 1970’s and are now found in every county of the state, and even on one of the Barrier Islands. He said that coyotes are predators of deer fawns and hunt adult deer in packs, but overall, the effects of coyotes on deer populations in most areas of Virginia are believed to be minimal. They may benefit ground nesting game birds by reducing mid-sized mammal predators. Although relatively few coyotes prey upon livestock, the economic impact of these losses can be very significant to individual Virginia farmers. Further, during the 2011 fiscal year, coyotes were reported and verified to have killed 461 sheep, 5 goats, and 59 calves in Virginia. Losses would be considerably higher without preventative control by USDA Wildlife Services on targeted farms that have a history of previous coyote problems.
Regarding feral pigs, considered highly undesirable wildlife, he pointed out that all swine are descended from Eurasian wild boars and domestication occurred 9000 years ago. Their population can triple in a little over 1 year, and to stabilize it you must remove 70% each year which means once established they are almost impossible to control. They compete for food with small animals, eating salamanders, frogs, snakes, even white-tailed deer fawns, ground nesting birds, and sea turtle eggs in coastal areas; they cause sedimentation in streams interfering with many aquatic invertebrates’ life cycle, decrease spawning habitat for certain fish, and significantly impact mussel production in Chesapeake Bay watersheds. Crop Damage is estimated at $1.5 billion annually nationwide, and they spread numerous diseases and parasites.
