Best practices for nuisance wildlife control operators in New York State

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Ch 5: Step one: Asses the situation

Information that you would gain from interview and inspection

Interview | Inspection | Signs of wildlife

Your knowledge of the habitat preferences and behavior of wildlife will help you estimate how many animals might be present. For example, if your customer complains of noises in the attic in March, you're probably expecting to find squirrels, and not just one—probably 3 to 8, because that's when female squirrels are raising their young. (If you see a female mammal, you may be able to tell if she's nursing because her nipples would be larger. This is hard to see on some of the small, fast-moving animals like flying squirrels. So if it's the breeding season for that species, assume that young may be present. And be careful, because individual animals may give birth outside of the textbook breeding season.)

Other aspects of the animal's lifestyle that help you answer the question, "how many?" include its social habits (generally found alone, or in a group?), daily movements, and whether or not it hibernates or migrates. How fresh are the signs? Is this problem new or is it well-established? How large is the property, and how many individuals of that species would you expect it to support?

But you're more than a wildlife detective. You also have to nose around in your customer's home, and ask questions to find out if the inhabitants (or their neighbors) are causing the problem. People sometimes feed or house wildlife without realizing it. Squirrels, for example, may be attracted to spilled seed at a bird feeder. Maybe not a big problem. But once nearby, they may run across the roof and find a hole that gives them access to the attic. Perhaps they decide that's an ideal place to raise their young. To solve this conflict, you'll probably need to remove the food source and repair the building.

There are other things you need to know about your customers before you choose a strategy, such as whether or not there are any pets roaming freely in the area. So, Sherlock, how do you proceed? Most NWCOs interview their customers and inspect the premises to look for clues.

Here are the questions you'll hope to answer with clues gained from the interview and the inspection:

• Which wildlife species is causing the problem? Is there more than one species involved?
   
• How many individual animals might be present?
   
• Could there be young present?
   
• Is this the first time they've had a wildlife problem? If not, what happened before?
   
• How long has this problem existed?
   
• Are the culprits readily accessible, or hard to reach?
   
• How risky is this situation for you, your customers, and their neighbors?
   
• Can you target only the offending animals?
   
• Will it be easy to be discreet, or would your control activities be in public view?
   
• If you repel or exclude the animals, where might they go?
   
• Does this look like a short-term problem or one that's likely to happen again and again?
   
• Given the location of the site, are there any local laws that would affect your management options?
   
• In addition to this problem, do you see signs that could predict future problems?

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