Shelters frequently get calls from citizens freaking out about the mysterious scurryings in the attic, but many aren’t prepared to handle wildlife inquiries. Still, you desire a humane outcome for the mother raccoon who’s made a nest inside Grandmother’s old clothes, so you’ll want to refer your ’coon-hounded and squirrel-maddened callers to wildlife services that will handle the animals in the safest and kindest way possible.

Adding a humane wildlife control component to your own operations is the best way to ensure the wild animals in your community will be treated with compassion. (For information on humane wildlife control training, see the box on page 17.) But if your organization isn’t able to take that step yet and chooses to instead refer callers to a particular wildlife control operator (WCO) or wildlife services company, you should require the company to follow at least these minimum standards to ensure their practices are—and will remain—the sort you’d want to endorse.

The company should:

1) Demonstrate a commitment to humane capture and handling techniques, including the minimizing of stress.
If traps are used, they should be checked every 12 hours on a schedule that is biologically appropriate for the animal targeted. For example, traps set at dusk for nocturnal animals (such as raccoons) should be checked in the early morning hours; those set for animals active by day (such as squirrels) should be checked no later than dusk. Traps should not be placed at times or in ways that expose animals to extremes of heat or cold, and they should be reasonably covered or shielded to protect against bad weather (predicted heavy precipitation). Homeowners should be strongly encouraged to allow on-site release of any captured animals so that the animals remain in their own habitat and have a better chance of survival. The company should handle the animals in ways shown to minimize their stress levels.

2) Inform homeowners of environmentally responsible and permanent solutions to the problem, and encourage those methods.
An ethical wildlife control company will not contract for services to remove wild animals who, for example, are getting into a homeowner’s trash. This is because such problems are not animal problems, but trash management ones. Rather than simply removing the animal, ethical companies inform the client that removal of attractants (food sources and denning/ nesting cavities) is the only permanent answer to the problem.

3) Euthanize animals only if they are mortally injured, sick, or endangering public safety, or if the situation legally requires it.
The service should agree to use acceptable humane euthanasia methods (as approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association’s most recent guidelines), and should not use inhumane killing methods such as drowning, car exhaust, acetone injections, kill traps, glue traps, poisons, or smoke bombs.

With rabies-vector species such as raccoons, skunks, and foxes, the service may have two options under state regulations: on-site release or euthanasia. With the homeowner’s permission, the WCO should always try to release onsite and seal off the den rather than automatically and unnecessarily killing healthy animals.

4) Perform full site inspection to identify all wildlife attractants and problem sources.
Merely trapping the animal will not solve the problem. As long as the conditions that attracted the animal to the site remain, other animals will eventually replace those who’ve been removed.

5) Target only the animal causing the problem.
The company must identify, to the best of its ability, the species of animal causing a problem and stipulate to the homeowner that only the problem-causing animal will be targeted for control measures. Setting traps outside for the sake of efficiency is not acceptable; this method often captures non-target animals.

6) Strive to preserve family units and prevent orphaning.
Every effort should be made to preserve the family unit through capture, holding, and release procedures that ensure the mother and young are not separated or stressed to a point where abandonment may occur. In order to ensure this, the service provider should:

• Do a thorough inspection to see if young are present before removing any animal.
• During the birthing and rearing seasons (spring through fall), check all trapped female animals prior to release or euthanasia for signs of lactation that would indicate the presence of babies.
• If offspring are found, encourage the homeowner to provide a grace period to the animal family. Many animal mothers leave the nest on their own once the young are old enough; this should always be encouraged where animals are not damaging the property or creating human health or safety risks.
• If a grace period is impossible, use appropriate repellents and/or scare devices to encourage the animals to self-evict. If neither a grace period nor repellents are viable options, the service may use live-traps or one-way-door traps, as long as the mother and her young are reunited using the following responsible strategies:
  • Place the young animals in a box right outside the entry point for the mother to retrieve, and monitor the box to ensure retrieval. If a one-way door is used, either place the babies outside the door for the mother to retrieve or make sure the young are mobile enough to leave with the mother. (Many animals will not find their young if the babies aren’t left at the nest/den site or extremely close by).
  • Put young animals outside for retrieval when the parents are likely to be active; the service must know whether the targeted species is diurnal or nocturnal and manage placement of the young to optimize successful retrieval by the parents.
  • Ensure that young animals are sheltered, protected from predators, and not left in a spot that’s open to the elements during inclement weather. In addition, supply a heat source for extremely young animals (such as those with closed eyes or little to no fur) who are left for retrieval; this will help prevent death or rejection by the mother.

In the event that unintentional orphaning does occur, the WCO will make every effort to take the orphans to a wildlife rehabilitator.

7) Work with the homeowner to make alterations and repairs to the home that will ensure permanent exclusion of wildlife.
No humane removal service can justify its operation without asking that homeowners permanently repair structural deficiencies to prevent problems from recurring. The service should be prepared to do exclusion work—such as installing chimney caps, repairing holes that allow animals access, etc. The goal of any responsible service should be to eliminate the source of the problem (an open cavity or unsecured food source) rather than just the symptom (the animals).