Rob Gibbs, a wildlife ecologist for Montgomery County, noted that they also used a smaller entrance.

"I guess you could say Sterling walks the walk," said Mr. Shope, now 25, who plans to become a wildlife ecologist.

"I had never seen something like this," said Dr. Carrillo, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Costa Rica.

The bridegroom, also 33, is a wildlife ecologist for the National Audubon Society.

No one knows how many there are, but a recent estimate by wildlife ecologists put the number at over 31,000 in 12 Western states.

Even coyotes, normally shy and furtive, are just about everywhere in the region, wildlife ecologists and biologists said.

Critics like Dr. Charles Kay, a wildlife ecologist at Utah State University, charge that this policy has failed.

"You look at that place and wonder where are they going to start," said Dr. Crawford, the wildlife ecologist.

I could have just been lucky, but Dr. Margaret Brittingham, a wildlife ecologist, says she uses her dog Roxanne's fur and it works.

A study by wildlife ecologists at Ohio State University yielded some surprising findings in this regard.