300 FW BFO Wildlife Tooth Aging

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is seeking a vendor to provide wildlife tooth aging services for otter, badger, and bobcat. The selected vendor will be responsible for teeth extraction, cleaning, preparation, and cementum annuli aging. The goal of this project is to collect age data from harvested river otters to build and maintain an effective population model, and to gather age data from other species to add to the limited knowledge of cryptic species like badgers and bobcats. The contract will be for a period of 4 years. The vendor must have specialized equipment and knowledge to age the animals consistently and accurately. Some key responsibilities of the vendor include: • Teeth extraction, cleaning, preparation, and cementum annuli aging • Providing age data from harvested river otters to build and maintain an effective population model • Gathering age data from other species to add to the limited knowledge of cryptic species like badgers and bobcats • Pairing age data with disease and toxin data from badgers and bobcats.