As our urban areas grow, animals lose their homes. Looking for a place to raise their families, industrious raccoons, squirrels, and other small creatures gnaw and claw their way into roofs, attics, vent pipes, and under homes.
These wild urban residents are resourceful. They have managed to adapt to a changing world and find the next best thing to natural habitat: manmade structures that provide all the insulation and protection they need to raise growing families. In many cases, urban areas are much easier places to live for these creatures. There is plenty of sustenance available in our trash and in our pets’ food bowls.
While many people are content to live alongside our little wild friends, there are solutions available when they become a nuisance instead of a neighbor.
- Solution 1. Eliminate the attraction – Don’t leave pet food outside, as it attracts wildlife. Never put out your trash the night before trash pickup day. Seal the holes and small entryways into your home. Some animals can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter.
- Solution 2. Increase the unattractiveness – Wild animals like to den under foundations, sheds, and decks. Tennis balls soaked in ammonia should irritate their sense of smell, making the area undesirable to them. Moth balls scattered under decks and shrubbery also help deter cats and opossums.
- Solution 3. Remove/relocate the nuisance animal – As a last resort, nuisance wild animals may be captured in a humane live trap and removed or relocated. Learn more about traps »
