Kenwood Wildlife Center Now Offering
Animal Exclusion Service in Sonoma County
Winter is in full swing and spring is soon to follow. You may have already installed a barn owl nesting box to help rid your property of voles, gophers, etc, but the interior of your comfortable Sonoma County home offers them sanctuary in the winter and a nursery in the spring. This invasion should not be a killing offense however.
Wild animals are as concerned with warmth, safety and food sources just like humans. Out of necessity and due to a number of past inquiries, the Kenwood Wildlife Center has implemented a new service now available to home and property owners. Our expert Wild Animal Exclusion staff uses humane methods to trap animals and safely remove them from your home. Due to the fact that the Center is a Wildlife Rehabilitation facility, holding both state and federal permits, only humane methods for permanent relocation are used. This is in complete contrast with poison or euthanasia which is required for all animals trapped by “exclusion, eradication and pest control” companies. If a family of raccoons, squirrels, skunks, etc. is procured by our staff, the family will be kept safe until they are to be released elsewhere. If there is no family involved, the intruding animals will be released unharmed. This is not the case with other exclusion services which can only kill the animals taken from your home.
Regardless of the type of intruder, the only way to address the problem is to use experts to assess the situation, capture the animals and correctly remove them from the location. Whether there are squirrels, raccoons, gophers, skunks, rats, or bats, simply blocking the entrance will not solve the problem especially if they have their babies still in your home! Timing is of the essence the mother will do everything she can to get back in, and if she is too late, you have dead animals left there to rot.
In the spring female raccoons find their way into attics, crawl spaces and basements as well as chimneys in search of a safe place to have their young. The usual time for litter births is late March into early April. Raccoons are very strong and can break louvers from gable vents, tear shingles off of a roof, and dismantle faulty chimney caps or tear off chimney screens. Once inside, raccoons will create a nesting area and designate a spot to be their toilet. This can cause a terrible odor and as it soaks into the insulation, sheetrock or ceiling tiles can cause damage or stains.
And did you know that both skunks and bats can carry rabies? Since animal rescue and rehabilitation is our business, our exclusion expert has received the three injection rabies vaccine.
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A word about bats... Bats are a very important asset to nature, both as mosquito eradicators and pollen distributors especially in dense forests. Although bats are basically harmless, gentle creatures, having bats live in your attic or between the walls may be more than just nightly nerve racking. Bats unfortunately carry diseases, and like all animals, produce waste. Buildings can be befouled with the very strong odor of bat droppings (guano) and urine. Worse than the odor, these droppings are a biohazard to the building and its inhabitants. Fungus often grows on the droppings which can cause lung diseases in humans. Never touch an injured or dead bat or guano with your bare hands!! Bats begin their nesting season in May and it continues through August. Care must still be taken later in the year in the event that there could be young bats still nursing and still unable to fly. |
It is easier and less expensive to keep bats, rats, raccoons, squirrels, and other wild animals out of your home in the first place than it is to clean up the mess and fix the damage once they've already gained access. For a home consultation charge of $75.00, we will tediously inspect your home searching for possible critter entry locations.
Just about every structural animal trapping requires some type of damage repair or exclusion to prevent animals from regaining entry into your home. If you choose to do the repair work yourself, or hire someone, suggestions will be made indicating the best methods to use and the timetable to be followed in order to not trap the animals inside your home to die. If the home owner decides that the “build them out” work is to be done by the experts at the Center, the labor charge is $75.00 per hour.
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The Kenwood Wildlife Center is a local rescue, rehabilitation and educational non-profit organization serving Sonoma County since 1987. It is in no way funded by governmental sources. To make an appointment for home or property consultation, please phone Star Dewar at 539-8974. All credit cards accepted.
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