If you’re an animal lover, you live your life in harmony with nature and animals. Sometimes, though, conflicts will arise between yourself and wildlife—specifically in your home. You certainly don’t want to live with a mouse infestation or with a family of raccoons in your fireplace, no matter how cute the babies might be. But you don’t want them to be killed by your animal removal company, either.
When you’re facing this conundrum, the best thing you can do is to choose an animal removal company that uses humane and ethical business practices to remove and relocate the wildlife found in your home.
When you’ve never dealt with this type of situation before, how can you tell if the company is truly humane?
Use these tips.
Ask Questions about the Company’s Methods
The best way to tell if your animal removal company is humane is to ask the right questions. A representative will come to your property to assess the situation and the price of the job. This is the perfect opportunity to ask about how the problem will be resolved and how the wildlife will be treated. Specifically, you’ll want to ask exactly how animals will be trapped—will the company use live traps? Will the animals be killed? Will offspring be abandoned or orphaned or will the babies be reunited with their mother? Will the animals be relocated, where, and why?
Listen Carefully to the Answers
To get your business, the animal removal company could end up giving you vague answers that you want to hear or offer you a lot of “maybes, ” without promises. Don’t allow this. Ask the representative to get into specifics. A truly humane animal removal company will be able to tell you exactly what types of traps or removal methods are used. For example, they’ll explain that they use live traps, one-way doors, or hands-on removal to ensure the safety of the animals. The company will be able to guarantee that the animal will not be killed and will be able to explain how the workers will ensure this. The company will also be able to give you detailed answers as to where the animals will be relocated, if at all, to offer them the best chance of survival.
Prevent a Recurrence
A humane and efficient animal removal company will try to ensure that no other animals become at risk of getting harmed in the future by getting stuck in your walls, fireplace, or attic through a full range of animal proofing services. The best companies will offer a five to ten year guarantee against re-entry. They’ll identify all access points and ensure that they’ve been refitted with exclusion material to stand up to wildlife.
Check Reviews
Virtually all businesses today get reviewed by previous customers online. Check out the company’s online reputation and read past reviews to see if customers have satisfied with the ethical removal practices that the representative states the company uses.
Get Referrals from Trusted Sources
A humane society, animal control agency, or wildlife rehabilitator may be able to offer you a referral for a humane animal removal company in your area. These agencies will likely know of, or have worked with, a few companies that use ethical removal practices.
Ask for References
You may also want to ask the wildlife removal company that you’re thinking about hiring for references from previous customers. This will allow you to hear directly from past clients what methods the company used and how the animals have been treated by its workers in the past.
Be Present
If you want to ensure that the wildlife removal practices are as ethical as the company says they are, try to be present while the work is being done. This way you’ll be able to see first-hand how the animals are treated.