Living with wildlife

As cities grow, wild animals and people share more space. Trappers and pest-control companies often use methods that kill slowly, leave litters of orphans behind, and cost hundreds of dollars for a problem that comes back. There are better answers, and most of them are cheap.

If the tips below don’t solve it, call our Hotline or one of these humane exclusion services:

• WildCare’s exclusion hotline: (415) 456-7283, ext. 23
• Humane Wildlife Control: (855) 548-6263

Keep nighttime visitors away

• Bring pet food in at night and lock pet doors after dark.
• Keep garbage cans covered and secured, or in a garage.
• Bring your dog in at night; barking matches at 2 a.m. help no one.
• Close garage, shed, and basement doors at dusk. Night animals explore anything open.
• Elevate woodpiles so nothing can nest underneath.
• Put rags soaked in ammonia in a bowl where you want animals to stay away; the smell moves them on.

Something is living under the house

Do not seal the holes until you are certain nothing is inside. A mother locked out will tear through siding to reach her babies, and babies that die in a crawlspace are expensive and unpleasant to remove.

1. Confirm the space is empty: stuff the entry loosely with newspaper and watch for two nights. If it stays in place, nothing is coming and going.
2. Attach wire mesh over every opening. Bury the bottom edge a few inches so nothing digs under.
3. A radio or a light left on in the crawlspace makes it a poor nest site while you work.

If something is already in residence, an exclusion service can install a one-way door so the animal leaves and can’t return.

Digging in the lawn or flower beds

• Lay chicken wire flat over the area and let grass or plants grow through it. Digging stops for years.
• Motion-activated sprinklers or lights startle animals before they settle in.
• When planting bulbs, dust them with cayenne pepper. It doesn’t hurt the bulb and animals leave it alone.

Skunks

Skunks can only see about a foot in front of their nose, so they get startled, and a startled skunk sprays. Make noise before you walk into a dark yard, and turn on the lights and make noise before you let the dog out at night. The skunk will turn around and leave.

Tomato juice does nothing. The recipe that works, tested on television and in our own laundry:

• 1 quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide
• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1 teaspoon dish soap

Mix it, use it right away (it doesn’t keep), work it through the fur, then rinse. Repeat if needed. For spray in the eyes, flush with water immediately.

Raccoons

Raccoons are drawn by pet food, ripe fruit, water, and open trash. Pick fruit as it ripens, feed pets indoors, and secure cans. They den in chimneys, attics, and under decks from February through October; if you hear a family, wait them out or call an exclusion service. Relocating raccoons is illegal in California and doesn’t work: the territory refills within weeks.

Make your yard good for wildlife instead

Watching wildlife is one of the reasons to live near it.

• Plant fruit and nut trees. Oaks and pines feed and shelter squirrels and birds.
• Leave some ground cover. A blackberry bramble is food and shelter for a dozen species.
• Squirrel-proof bird feeders and bird-proof squirrel feeders both exist. Walnuts, almonds, and occasional sunflower seeds are good squirrel food.
• Hang nest boxes for birds and squirrels.
• Trim trees in fall and winter only. Spring and summer trimming is a leading cause of orphaned babies; mothers defend nests and die when branches fall.
• Skip snail bait and rat poison, even the kinds labeled pet-safe. Opossums eat the poisoned snails and owls eat the poisoned rats, and they die too. Snap traps and live traps do the job without spreading poison up the food chain.

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If your problem isn't here, or these don't work, call or text us at (510) 421-9897. Wildlife conflict advice is part of what the Hotline is for.