Should I take care of it myself?

In the US, metropolitan households (consisting of 160 million residents) suffered $4.4 billion a year in wildlife damage, despite spending $2.3 billion and 268 million hours trying to prevent these problems

Spring is upon us, love is in the air and the animals are looking for mates.  You can be rest assured, once they have done their business, they will be looking for a nice, cozy, warm, secluded place to give birth and raise a family.   You guessed it; your homes are all quite attractive locations.  Under the porch, in the attics and into your foundation are just a few places (of many) that are all attractive to the wildlife that surrounds our service area.

Thus, begging the question, should I just take care of it myself??I mean come on, I love nature and wildlife, I have had several pets in my life time, I used to catch frogs or snakes in my backyard..Why not??

You know, I just finished reading an interesting white paper on human/wildlife conflicts.  It was published back in 2007 by the Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator Association, but I would have to imagine the numbers have only increased since that time.

Did you know that……

  • In the US, metropolitan households (consisting of 160 million residents) suffered $4.4 billion a year in wildlife damage, despite spending $2.3 billion and 268 million hours trying to prevent these problems
  • Let’s conservatively value people’s (your) time at the minimum wage of $7.25, the total labor cost would be $1.9 billion.  Hence the total cost of wildlife damage (actual damage plus money and time spent to prevent the problem) to metropolitan residents equals approximately $8.6 billion
  • An additional 34 million households (consisting of 92 million residents) live in smaller cities, towns and rural areas.  Because wildlife populations tend to be higher in rural areas, I will assume that these households suffer at least as much from wildlife problems as do people living in large metropolitan areas.  This could mean that the total annual cost of wildlife damage to rural households (damage plus time spent to prevent the problem) would conservatively amount to $4.5 billion.

Ok, so basically, most people spend more money and many precious hours wasted on ATTEMPTING to get rid of the problem.  Don’t waste your time and money, Call GOT WILDLIFE?  LLC 1-877-Fur-Find

(1-877-387-3463). We professionally and humanely resolve wildlife and human conflicts.

If the economics aren’t enough to make you think twice of resolving the situation on your own, then perhaps you should consider the health and liability issues associated with resolving wildlife and human conflicts.  Some people may think, “What could that poor little squirrel do to me?”  Well, I assure you, they can do a lot. A two pound squirrel is nothing but solid muscle, large chiseled teeth and long sharp claws. We have seen those long sharp chiseled teeth chew through metal flashing and metal screening. Imagine what they can do to a finger or a hand if you try to grab them.  And if they do bite you beware, they carry Typhus and Rabies.

Or, how about a raccoon, they can get up to 30 plus pounds. Even though they look like a fat friendly teddy bear, they can be ferocious animals.  My husband tells me stories of how he has actually seen them pull up shingles and rip away plywood to create entrance ways into your attic.  He has seen them rip away siding and shred insulation to thousands of pieces.  Raccoons are extremely strong combined with razor sharp claws.  They have up to a six hundred pound square inch bite.  Raccoons are very unpredictable and extremely protective of their young.  Raccoons are the highest carrier of Rabies in New York State.  They also are large carriers of roundworm.  Why would you want to attempt to catch them???

Raccoons are Aggressive

And in closing, I just have to share this story.  My husband came home from work the other day and shared it with me…

I recently had a woman call to tell me she needed my assistance with some squirrels that moved into their attic. When I asked her if she was sure they were squirrels, she replied “yes I am sure they are squirrels. My husband did not want to hire anybody to take care of this problem and said he could handle it himself. Why should I pay somebody when I can do it myself? He put an extension ladder up against the house to get to the roof. He was about 25 feet off the ground where he was promptly greeted by a squirrel that shot out of the hole. It startled my husband and he fell to the ground. He suffered two cracked vertebras and was just released from the hospital.  I said ok, that’s proof enough for me and went out to their home to set up the job.

Don’t let that be you…

If you have a wildlife problem, please give Got Wildlife? LLC a call 1-877-Fur-Find (1-877-387-3463).  We are professionals at humanely resolving wildlife and human conflict.