Nuisance Animals – Controlling

Controlling nuisance animals can be a frustrating business. They often seem smarter than any educated human hopes to be – eluding traps, disregarding repellents and generally acting as if our efforts are useless.

Wildlife specialists use a four-step sequence to control nuisance animals. It is abbreviated H E R L:

H – remove and modify habitat

E – exclude the pest with fence or sheet metal

R – use repellents to discourage the animal from your property

L – consider using legal lethal means if all other efforts fail

Each animal has a different requirement for habitat, food and shelter.

Many times they can be managed simply by removing their food or shelter…like hanging a squirrel-proof bird feeder or eliminating rock piles where snakes like to hang out.

This extensive reference from Kansas State gives excellent information on MANY different nuisance animals.

Nuisance Wildlife Control Manual

See also:

UGA Nuisance Animal Control

Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage

You can also scroll through my articles on Insect and Animal Pests to see if I have written about the creature that bothers you.

armadillo (image courtesy of David Funderburk)