Who will take these groundhogs?
A reader writes in looking for help removing (not shooting) a family of groundhogs:
Do you know of a company in town that would trap a family of groundhogs who are now living under our toolshed in the fenced-in back yard? Supposedly pretty hefty adults (our dog size) and some babies – we’ll be home for 2 weeks in August and have to get them out before we get there since our dogs will go after them and it won’t be pretty!!
I’ve been talking with a cat rescue group about help for a little stray I’ve been feeding- want to have him fixed, etc. They have Have A Heart traps I can borrow, perhaps one such group might loan them to you too.
I also think if you privately hire a critter removal service they would follow your wishes and not destroy them, but that’s going to cost you.
from the yellow pages…I like BB&B Man for his name. Anyone use these folks?
Critter Control- 804-674-6621
Animal Solution 804-343-6316
BEE BAT and BIRD MAN 804-288-8711
Exterminating Unlimited 804-739-3022
A few years back we had a big time possum problem. A female had made a den in our crawl space and the young ones were getting into the house and eating the cat’s food. Every night. I called the county extension service to ask about our options. They suggested that most critter removal companies “dispatch” the animals (a nice way of saying they kill them). They also told us that if we trapped them, we were only legally permitted to either “dispatch” them ourselves, or release them somewhere on our property — which is silly when you are talking about a typical city lot. So we did what any sympathetic possum-loving-but-not-in-my-crawlspace household would do: we trapped them one by one and covertly relased them into James River Park where they could live out their happy possum lives. Worked for us.
hav-a-heart traps work great…it’s about 15 years old, still works great. bought mine at pleasants hrdwr (they don’t kill the critter.) i’ve caught feral cats, the occasional possum and cat-food-eating raccoon. plenty of wild places in nearby rural eastern henrico to release the ground hogs…not that they need any more out there, but better than havin to kill em.
#4 good points. I’ve known of a few raccoons, actually an entire family of them, that were relocated from Church Hill to the Varina area. They were all caught with hav-a-heart traps.
I wonder if any of the services that Bill Conkle listed would agree to use those traps and then take them east? Might be worth asking them.
UnionHill, would you be willing to loan your trap to the reader who wrote to John? And/or help them to trap the groundhogs? I would do so, but I don’t own a trap, the last time I used one I borrowed it from a neighbor.
yes, my hava-heart trap has been loaned out to my neighbors for many successful feral cat catches, however, my trap isn’t big enuf for the the “dog sized” mama & papa groundhogs. probably good for the young’uns tho.
if the homeowners above want borrow it, they can put a note here and we’ll get in touch.
We have a trap if you want to borrow it. We had raccoon problems and the trap works great. We just put some cat food in there and the next morning the racconns were trapped. Took them out on Hwy 5 and let them go in the woods. You will want to take them at least that far because they find their way back to their “territory” if you don’t release them far enough away.
A trapping service will charge you several hundred dollars.
Give me a call if you want to borrow the trap. 649-1913 or laura@mysterydinner.com
In most jurisdictions it’s illegal to trap wild animals and release them elsewhere. There are any number of reasons for this, but here are three to consider: 1) there’s always a chance that the animals might be carrying a disease, 2) relocated animals have to compete (often unsuccessfully)with other animals that have already established territory, and 3) they may continue to be nuisance animals and seek out other houses if they’ve become accustomed to looking for food near human habitations. Please check the Richmond City Code, which is available at http://www.municode.com/Resources/gateway.asp?pid=13859&sid=46, or call the Richmond Animal Control to find out what options are available.
@8 For the record, Richmond Animal Control offers no advice or solutions regarding wild animals that have become unwanted guests in our city homes or yards. Dealing with wildlife (anything other than cats or dogs) is not their job.
Eventho some of us might remember the incident a few years ago when a panic-y young lady called 911 when she discovered a possum in her kitchen. Local TV news crews made a big deal about it and a brave Rich. An. Con. officer marched into the Church Hill kitchen, pulled the possum off the fridge and then promptly deposited it outside next the front porch.
When I unintentionally trapped a big, angry possum (my first experience with catching a wild animal) I was pretty freaked out. I called Rich. An.Control, and they said very emphatically, that “we don’t do wild animals.”
You’re right about all the other things you pointed out above, but urban dwellers really don’t have any other options unless they pay a professional exterminator to solve the critter problem for them.
Ground hogs are worse than you think. Yes, they are cute and furry, but their tunnels are long and complex.
They can undermine your house if they burrow too much. A collapsed foundation is probably one of the more expensive things you could fix.
They are all over the southern edge ofLibby Hill park. They started on the side at the overlook and Sugar Bottom. They have worked themselves almost to Poe’s Pub. The kudzu and tall weeds are perfect hiding spots for them.
A decent tropical storm and we’ll probably see the dead kudzu and part of the hill slide toward Main Street.
http://www.hsus.org/humane_living/living_in_harmony_with_animals/groundhogs_gardens.html
http://doyourownpestcontrol.com/groundhog.htm
If you kill them in the hole, be prepared for a few months of stink if you don’t have all the vents plugged. A car exhaust with a hose will send them on a pleasant and painless nap.