Sometimes the best and easiest way to remove a raccoon or exclude it from your property is to hire a company to do it for you. Wildlife removal companies are not well monitored or licensed, so it is up to you to ask questions about a company’s practices before hiring them.
A good wildlife removal company should:
- Provide a customized plan of action and a firm price estimate before you are required to commit
- Focus on long-term solutions, such as fixing potential entry points (as opposed to simply removing raccoons)
- Guarantee their work (for at least one year)
- Know about raccoon behaviour, such as when babies are born and where raccoons are likely to gain entry to a building.
- Use only humane live traps (cage traps) or one-way doors to remove animals (rather than leg-hold traps or other harmful capture devices)
- Physically check the space for babies, no matter the time of year
- Release any live-trapped animals on-site. Never hire a company that moves raccoons to a new location as this is illegal and harmful to the animals. Instead, they should remove raccoons from the den space and seal the hole to prevent return.
Our recommended wildlife removal company
Toronto Wildlife Centre recommends AAA Gates Wildlife Control.