What can you do about squirrels and raccoons in your yard?

Squirrels and raccoons in your yard

Squirrels and raccoons, like any of us, want a place to call home, to come back to after a long day and to raise their family in.  Unfortunately these furry tenants can cause problems for you, your home and your family. Squirrels and raccoons can become extremely protective especially if they have kids to protect, making it likely that they attack you or anyone that, unintentionally, comes close to them and do serious damage to your property. There are a few techniques to get them out from under your deck or shed or your yard, but we need to be sure that we use humane techniques to give the squirrels or raccoons a chance to live in the wild. If you’re strapped for time or don’t want to deal with them yourself, it’s always best to have animal removal problems dealt with by an animal removal specialist who can humanely take care of your problem.

How can you humanely keep wildlife from homes under your deck and your yard

Animals like squirrels and raccoons just want a place to call home ,just live most of us, having animals under your deck  or your yard can become quite a nuisance, especially if they start to bred! So what can you do to make sure squirrels and racoons don’t take up residence under you deck on in your yard? Think about buying a home. You wouldn’t live somewhere they you found to be inhospitable. It’s the same basic idea here. Create an environment that no animal would like.

Here are some ways to make the space under your deck inhospitable:

  1. Noise: Place a battery powered, water-proof radio tuned to a talk radio show under your deck to have the constant chatter keep squirrels and raccoons away. If you live somewhere where there is a fair breeze at all times, a wind chime can work too! This may take some experimentation.
  2. Light: You can also have a flashlight, trouble light or sensor light under the deck or in your yard to keep squirrels and raccoons away. Something reflective can help during the day too, such as cds, tin foil, pie plates or glass.
  3. Odors: Sprinkle some ammonia ,which you can pick up at a grocery store, on some rags. Tie up the rags into tennis ball size balls or place them into a container with holes in the lid. Place the balls or container close to where the squirrels and raccoons are taking residence. Do not use moth balls as they are not humane and can do serious damage.
    To insure that the animals have already left you place a newspaper or board at the entry point, and when you see that it has been moved you can get to work. To seal the entry point completely you use rocks, a board or you can call us and we can seal up that entry point for you, as well as alert you of any other possible entry points.

Why live trapping is not humane

Squirrels ,raccoons and skunks live to take up residence in places like chimneys, underneath sheds and decks because they want a safe, quiet and dark space to look after their children. As urban life takes over more and more green space, it’s understandable why they choose these areas.  As mentioned above they can also be a potentially dangerous nuisance when the mothers are protecting their young. Live trapping, followed by release somewhere far away, is the usual animal removal solution most people jump to, but there are some deadly consequences to this solution for the invading squirrel / raccoon /skunk and its offspring.

When you trap a mother and release her into the wild somewhere far away, you may accidentally be orphaning her children who have no one to look after them and eventually die of starvation.  This can be a whole other issue for a home owner as its never pleasant having to get rid of the bodies of dead animals.

Being relocated isn’t beneficial for the mother either, as most of them do not settle into their new surroundings well. A 2004 study of grey squirrels that were live-trapped and released into suburban areas showed that 97 percent of the squirrels soon died or disappeared. To put this in perspective let’s look at this from the animal’s point of view when released into a new area:

  • The mother is in a new strange place with no knowledge on where to get food, water or shelter.
  • She may be in another animals’ territory and becomes prone to attack or being chased out into yet another unfamiliar area.
  • She is unaware of where to go to be safe from predators
  • And are most likely desperately searching for her babies that she was separated from

Meanwhile her children starve and, if they are lucky they are discovered, taken to a rehabilitator to be reared. It’s not an optimal solution for either party and can be easily avoided.

Why calling for a professional wildlife removal service is a good idea

We’ve covered the dangers of live trapping and the dangers of letting squirrels ,raccoons or skunks take up residence under your shed, deck or inside your chimney, so now what can you do to keep your home safe and ensure that the animals have the best chances for survival in the wild? Professional animal removal service technicians are well versed in animal removal and know all that dangers animals face when being relocated. We know that you want to keep your home in good shape without hurting animals or endangering your immediate environment.

We go through a thorough inspection process when assessing any removal job taking into consideration your needs, the needs of your property and then needs of any wildlife as well.

After an inspection is conducted, SOS Wildlife Control Inc. technicians will be able to provide you with a thorough description of what the problem is. Based on the inspection, our technicians will explain to you what the main entry points are, other entry points and potential entry points. Multiple options will be given to you tailor-made to your specific situation and structure of the property. The main method for animal removal is a one-way door. Once a one-way door is installed, when the animal leaves as part of their regular routine, they will not be able to re-enter. If babies are involved, a one-way door is not used and the technician will physically remove them from the property and place them in an insulated box. They will remain here until their mother picks them and relocates one-by-one. If a situation requires trapping the animal(s), they must then be relocated a maximum of 1 kilometer away in accordance with Ontario Law.

To ensure that the animals will not enter through any other weak-points or potential entry-points, a prevention method can be conducted. This ensures that the weak-points, entry-points, potential entry-points and main entry-points are protected by galvanized steel mesh, a material strong enough to prevent animals from chewing through. If you have any questions about squirrel removal, baby squirrel removal or squirrel prevention, or raccoon and baby raccoon removal you can call SOS Wildlife Control at 647-559-3720

Call SOS Wildlife control at 647-559-3720 removal for squirrel and racoon removal!