Currently, Wildlife Education in Canada is in its very early stages. From the standpoint of a wildlife control association, we do not have any offerings that strictly focus on wildlife control that could provide further instruction to you. However, throughout Canada, we do have trapping associations that represent participants in fur trapping. This is done by administering a certification test for the use of traps and handling of furbearer pelts. These are very important from the standpoint of a wildlife control operator, as you will need this certification to use the vast majority of traps. These associations are a great starting point for wildlife control and should be built upon by the resources outlined below.
The different trapping associations usually have councils throughout the area they represent. The councils will generally put on seminars that show live demonstrations for you and others to see and help improve your use of traps. I highly recommend going and participating in your local council to help improve your abilities, as many of the members are highly skilled in the humane use of traps.
Once becoming involved in the trapping associations, you will likely have to attend courses in the United States. There are a few main sources: National Wildlife Operators Training Program, National Wildlife Control Operators Association (NWCOA) and Wildlife Control Technologies.
Both the NWCOA and the National Wildlife Operators Training Program offer a basic operators course. These courses will cover everything from setting a cage trap to exclusion/deterrents to site inspection and wildlife damage types. These courses help to build your knowledge in wildlife control so you can start to implement a solution/program, rather than just to trap the animal. By implementing a solution or program, you will hopefully be solving the wildlife problem or conflict not only for the short term but for the long term. Solutions can be very simple or very complex and may require ongoing maintenance programs to keep the wildlife conflict from occurring in the future.
Beyond the basic courses, NWCOA offers specialized courses in a variety of topics from bats to zoonotic (diseases) to bird management and reptiles. These courses spend significantly more time on each topic. You will build even more skills and knowledge to help you implement a solution or program for your clients. The above basic and advanced courses are where most of the programs in Canada are going to fall short as many do not focus on anything outside of furbearers.
Wildlife Control Technologies is a magazine that supplies articles on wildlife control. However, they also put on seminars for wildlife control operators that cover various topics.
Other smaller sources include the Wildlife Damage Working group (part of the Wildlife Society), other smaller organizations in the province (more pest operators associations in Canada that deal with insects, etc) or state-level reference books and videos. There are select College and University courses that cover some aspects of wildlife control. For example, I attended Fleming College and Trent University for Fish and Wildlife Technology with a Bachelor of Science and with honours in Biology. These courses cover aspects such as animal handling, identification, sampling, study design and wildlife management. They do not necessarily cover ways to identify or mitigate wildlife damage on structures or people's property.
Lastly, I want to mention networking. When you attend these various educational opportunities you start to develop a network of people you know and trust. These may lead to new opportunities for work in your area. As your network grows, it builds upon your ability to obtain information as well. For example, if I am faced with a problem that I am having trouble fixing, I commonly ask a fellow operator what they think and may do in that circumstance.
I hope this article helps wildlife control operators in Canada start to think about obtaining more education. In the future, I hope that Canada will have a wildlife control association that can lead Canada in education for wildlife control techniques.