COURSE SYLLABUS

Course Description

Wildlife damage inspection is a complex area. The information that follows is designed to focus ONLY on the fundamentals. This is not a course about running your business. It is a technical guide to educate students about the process and interpretation of sign left by vertebrate animals in human-impacted environments. More information could have been added but would have cluttered the text with minutia only useful in extremely marginal situations.

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

•  Become confident in the identification of various vertebrate species based on habitat, routes of entry,
    scat and track information.

•  Understand and evaluate the physical, biological and legal risks involved in the inspection process.

•  Outline the different types equipment and PPE used in the inspection industry.

Chapter 1 - Getting Started

Know the Wildlife in the Area
Equipment
PPE

Chapter 2- Risk Involved and Phone Inspections

Evaluating Risk: Physical, Biological and LEgal
Phone Inspections: Information from Clients
Structural vs. Non-Structural Damage

Chapter 3 - On-Site Inspections

Habitat
Owners
Systematic Inspection: Indoors and Out
Noises
Odors

Chapter 4 - Difficult Jobs and Damage Done

Tactics
Traps, Glueboards, Track Traps, Cameras
Damage According to Time of Year
Landscape and Garden Damage

Chapter 5 - Scat Identification and Eyeshine

Warnings
Procedures
Features
Inclusions
Eyeshine

Chapter 6 - Vertebrate Species

Lesson 1

Bats
Eastern Chipmunks
Gray and Fox Squirrels

Lesson 2

House Mice
House Sparrow
Norway Rats

Lesson 3

Opossums
Piegon
Raccoons

Lesson 4

Red Squirrels
Shrews
Starlings
Striped Skunks

Final Assessment