As 2022 draws to a close, we want to take a moment to reflect on an incredibly productive year and to thank all of you who collaborated with the Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control (BIWFC) in pursuing its mission to advance the use of effective, sustainable fertility control methods to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts and promote coexistence worldwide.
Our flagship event was the 9th International Conference on Wildlife Fertility Control, held in Colorado Springs, which was attended by an international audience of wildlife professionals and managers, university faculty and students, tech company founders, research scholars and leaders, biologists, veterinarians, non-profit staff and board members, and government officials.
Additionally, BIWFC organized symposia, presented papers, attended, exhibited and/or sponsored at the following gatherings:
- Pathways 2022: Human Dimensions of Wildlife Conference – Bremerton WA
- The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare’s annual conference – Edinburgh, Scotland
- Taking Action for Animals (TAFA) – Washington, D.C.
- 7th International Conference on Rodent Biology and Management – Arusha, Tanzania
- 13th International Symposium on Wild Boar and Other Suids – Barcelona, Spain
- Pathways Europe: Human Dimensions of Wildlife Conference – Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) 12th Annual Meeting – Fort Worth, Texas
- 4th Free Roaming Equid & Ecosystem Sustainability Summit 2022 – St. George, Utah
- The 1st International Wildlife Coexistence Conference – Pray, Montana
- Animal Grantmakers annual conference – Berkeley, California
- The Wildlife Society’s 29th annual conference – Spokane, Washington
BIWFC staff also were invited to speak as subject matter experts at meetings held in Europe, Africa and Asia to address specific human-wildlife conflicts including:
- Non-native grey squirrels – the UK
- Feral cattle – Hong Kong
- Wild boar – Singapore
We wrapped up an incredibly busy year with two recent webinars:
- “Black-tailed deer in the city: A scientific approach to population control using immunocontraception” by Dr. Adam Hering, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine; and Dr. Jason Fisher, Adjunct Professor, ACME Lab, University of Victoria, School of Environmental Studies.
- “Developing an oral contraceptive to manage the UK’s invasive grey squirrel populations” by Kay Haw, Director, the UK Squirrel Accord.
We eagerly look forward to continuing our work in the coming year. We are especially excited about the anticipated publication of a special issue of “Wildlife Research” we are editing with other colleagues which will be devoted exclusively to wildlife fertility control. We also authored a paper that has been accepted for publication in Human Wildlife Interactions (HWI) titled: “Stakeholder acceptance of wild equid fertility control mirrors global shifts in attitudes to wildlife management.”
If you have not yet engaged with BIWFC, we invite you to do so by reaching out to us. You can learn more about our previous and upcoming work by visiting our website.
We wish you a joyous holiday season and a wonderful 2023!
To learn more, visit the BIWFC website.