Best practices for nuisance wildlife control operators in New York State

Home | Wildlife control | NYS DEC | CCE | NYS IPM

Ch 5: Step two: Choose management options

Option: Scare the nuisance animal away.

See the mothballs to the left of the rocks? Not exactly repelling the skunks, are they? Repellents often work better when several are used together, in an unpredictable fashion. They're generally better at preventing a new behavior than stopping a well-established habit.

Techniques: Use of visual repellents (strobe lights; lasers; mylar tape; balloons); use of noisemakers; (distress and alarm calls; pyrotechnics; sirens) ; hazing (with predators or radio-controlled craft); Use of guard animals. NWCOs with a commercial pesticide applicator license can also use a variety of chemical repellents.

Do nothing | Make the environment less attractive | Remove the culprit | Reduce the breeding population | Exclusion

"Run 'em out of town." That's the idea of this method. But it's easier said than done. To make this work, think like the animal. What scares it? If you rely on something the animal doesn't experience in nature, the technique may not work because it's not meaningful to the animal. (An envelope from the IRS may send some people into hiding but it wouldn't faze starlings. Now that's obvious, but many frightening devices fail for just this reason. They don't make any sense to the species they're supposed to scare.)

Repellents are objects, substances, or techniques that repel, or drive an animal away. There are several kinds: scare devices; chemical repellents (which can only be used by NWCOs with a commercial pesticide applicator license); and guard animals.

Repellents either frighten the animal away or make the desired object, such as a crop or nesting site, intolerable by making it smell or taste nasty, or feel bad to the touch. Animals may be "hazed," or driven away from a site, when chased by predators (dogs, falcons) or vehicles (radio-controlled planes, boats).

Many repellents are meant to frighten the wildlife away. These include scary-looking objects, such as mylar tape, strobe lights, models of predators, and "scare-eye" balloons; noisemakers, such as propane cannons, bangers, clappers, crackers, and distress calls; devices that combine lights and noise to scare animals; and the use of guard animals, such as dogs, that chase wildlife.

Sometimes, frightening techniques fail for a very basic reason: the animal can't hear or see the thing that's supposed to scare it. Oops. This is why ultrasonic devices don't work on birds. They can't hear them.

Again, to avoid this mistake, think like the animal. Which senses does it rely on most: smell, sight, hearing, taste, or touch? How do individuals warn each other of danger? Beavers noisily slap their tails while deer flash theirs, a quiet but highly visible warning. Birds often rely on sight and sound to detect danger, while mammals rely more heavily on odor cues.

Another biological factor that influences the effectiveness of some repellents is the nervous system. Birds and mammals are wired a little differently so they perceive the world differently. Capsaicin, the active ingredient in hot peppers, burns the mouth, eyes, and nose of mammals. Hot hot hot! Not so for birds. They are insensitive to capsaicin, so they ignore it. On the other hand, birds find methyl anthranilate, a sweet grape flavoring, highly irritating.

Distress and alarm calls, hazing with live predators, and objects that mimic the animal's real predators, are often more effective than many other frightening devices because they make more sense to wildlife. Animals naturally fear predators, for good reason. Given time, many animals learn that other scary objects actually pose no danger to them, so they ignore them. That's why these devices are often useful for only a short time.

Chemicals are used to repel wildlife, too. But unless you also have a commercial pesticide applicator license, you can't use them in your NWCO business. Chemical repellents are classified as pesticides. If you do have this license, remember to check each product to make sure it's registered in the state, and for use on that species, and in the way you'd like to apply it. Read the label carefully, because the label is the law.

A variety of commercial chemical repellents are available especially to reduce mammal browsing in orchards and vineyards, and on nursery stock and ornamental plants. Most products are registered for deer and rabbit control on non-food crops and ornamentals. (For more information, contact your regional DEC office and speak to Bureau of Pesticides staff). Quite a few home remedies, such as soap and baking soda, have repellent properties. Likewise, concoctions made from plant extracts such as mint, citrus peel, or marigolds may act as repellents as well as pesticides. But home remedies are out-of-bounds for NWCOs; they are not legally registered products.

Repellents can be a valuable addition to your strategy. This nonlethal technique saves you the trouble of capturing or handling wildlife—when it works. Your best chances are to try them when these three things are true: there's only light to moderate damage; the site is small; and a few applications should provide adequate control.

Next Section (Option: Remove the culprit)