Sometimes tolerance or using humane harassment techniques are not an option. Depending on the situation, the only way to remove a wild animal or exclude it from your property may be hiring a company to do it for you. Wildlife removal companies are not well monitored or licensed; some have little to no knowledge of the natural behaviours of wildlife. 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 animals).
- Guarantee their work (for at least one year).
- Know about wild animal behaviour, such as when babies are born and where they 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); one-way doors should only be used when there is zero risk of babies being inside the space (e.g. attic).
- 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 animals to a new location as this is illegal and harmful to the animals. Instead, they should remove animals from the den space and seal the hole to prevent return.
- Provide a heat box for any babies that have been removed and leave them as close to the den site to give the mother the opportunity to retrieve them and move them to a new den site; this will take time as mothers can only move one baby at a time.
Our recommended wildlife removal company
Toronto Wildlife Centre recommends AAA Gates Wildlife Control.
