The first symposium on "Test Methods for Vertebrate Pest Management" was held in March, 1976. Much of the thrust was toward explaining and defining the "state of the art." Concerns included rodents and rabbits, predators, scavengers, and large game animals, and a variety of bird species. Environments were as restricted as a laboratory cage or pen or as open as rangeland or a forest tract. Areas of consideration ranged from concepts (such as aversive conditioning) basic to the development and evaluation of behavioral tools to lab, pen, and field procedures for efficacy evaluation of toxicants and repellents and to criteria for public health decisions. (Author/BB)