Will the city or county animal service help me with a squirrel issue?
Squirrels are pesky rodents and create a nuisance when they intrude your home. It is important to deal with the issue and remove them at the earliest. City and county animal services only deal with domestic animals like dogs, cats and other pets. Their services include
• Licensing, registration and adoption of pets.
• Pet retention and finding homes for impounded cats and dogs (unclaimed).
• Spraying and neutering of pets.
• Investigating cases of animal cruelty, injury, bites and stray animals.
In the past animal service centers provided assistance in wild life issues and problems. Now it is not done. With urbanization the natural environment of wild animals is being destroyed. There are more and more cases of wildlife encroachment. Animal services are not capable to handle this increase. They lack in resources and training. They sometimes offer selective service in some areas. These include lending a cage or setting a trap. They cannot handle removal and more complicated matters.

Wildlife issues are now being handled by the private sector. There are licensed nuisance wildlife trappers. They handle problems of all kinds of wildlife like raccoons, squirrels, skunks, bats and any other wildlife. The advantages of going to a wildlife expert is
• They are available 24/7.
• They inspect your area offer advice and provide humane solutions to wildlife problems.
• They have specialized tools and equipment.
• They can get rid of wildlife without exposing you to any danger.
• They undertake complete removal of squirrels and sealing to prevent re-entry.
• They also clean the infested areas and make it germ and odor free.
Trying to handle a wildlife problem by yourself is possible if you are capable of handling it. Minor problems like a stray squirrel etc can be handled by scaring them away. Major problems like infestation need to be handled by an expert. Poisoning is not a good approach and must be avoided at all costs. It is not humane. There may also be the chance of a squirrel dying in hard to reach places and creating both a health and hygiene problem.

Confronting a squirrel may be dangerous. Squirrels have very sharp teeth and nails.
Trapping of squirrels is difficult. It is also illegal in some places. Sometimes the mother squirrel may get separated from her young ones. The young ones are dependent and will die without their mother. The mother squirrel is also very protective, and tries to tear her way inside to reach her babies. She may cause a lot of destruction.

Trapping if permitted has to be followed by proper relocation. Relocation has to be done 10-15 miles away or the squirrel will return.It is therefore better to have wildlife experts to handle problems. Locating someone near your home will be ideal. Comparison of costs will help you in choosing someone who is both affordable and qualified.