Flying Bats

I recently received a question about how to prevent bats from flying around a house at night. It appeared that the bats frightened the residents and they wanted them to not be around anymore.

If this situation affects you, here are some strategies to employ to resolve the matter.

First, make sure that the bats are NOT living in your house.  Obviously, if bats are living in your house, it is very likely that you will see them flying around. For tips on how to inspect your home visit Inspection Tips for free training.

Second, turn of lights as these attract and congregate insects that bats consume. Since turning off lights is not always practical, consider changing the light bulb to less attractive color such as yellow or add a motion sensor to the light.

Third, use alternative doors. It may be that bats are more active on one side of the house than others. Find out if they are loafing behind shudders or under overhangs. (Bats often rest to recover and digest their food before venturing out again). Prevent their access to loafing locations by netting, filling the gaps behind the shudders, or screening off overhangs. Remember netting and screening should be no larger than 1/4-inch weave.

Finally consider developing some toleration. Phobias can be overcome with education and help. The more you read about bats the more likely you will appreciate their remarkable abilities and importance to the eco-system. Who knows, you may even grow to like them.

Stephen M. Vantassel, CWCP, ACP

Preventing Raccoons from Climbing Your House

First, you need to make sure the raccoon is not using your house as a home. Details on inspection are at http;//icwdm.org. Never prevent access if the raccoon is living in/on the building. In that situation, you must control the animal according to state law and then after install prevention materials.


As for preventing access (assuming the raccoon is not living there),

1. trim back tree branches at least 4 feet from roof line. This includes horizontally and vertically.

2. install porcupine wire at corners, downspouts and other spots where raccoons can climb. They can't climb flat surfaces (i.e. straight up the wall) but can easily climb corners, vines, and downspouts.

a. Use three strips of 1 foot long porcupine wire (one brand name is called Nixalite; no endorsement is implied) laid out horizontally at least 9 feet off the ground to reduce likelihood of human injury as the spikes are extremely sharp. The spies Space them 4 inches apart at the tips.

Should look like -----------------------
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You may need to use longer strips if you have to go over down spouts etc. The key is to have 6 inches of spikes on each side of the corner.

Caulk screws to prevent water from entering structure. Consult local hardware store for best options.

If the shiny spikes are a concern (they are typically made of stainless steel), then paint them before installation.


Again further details at http://icwdm.org including information on what to look for in hiring a qualified wildlife control operator.

Stephen M. Vantassel, CWCP, ACP

Feral Cats--A Continuing Dilemma

Feral cats are domesticated housecats that have reverted back to their wild state. Typically cats revert back to a wild condition due to abandonment or other irresponsible human behavior, such as failure to spade or neuter owned cats. As can be expected, feral cats pose serious threats to native fauna. It is true that habitat loss causes the greatest negative impact on wildlife, the presence of feral cats provides additional stresses.

Feral cats are a particular problem due to the lack of legal clarity regarding their status. For instance, are feral cats, wildlife? domestic animals, invasive species or something else? Since one cannot identify a feral cat simply by sight, anyone who tries to control feral cats is at legal risk because animal control officers may deem control of the cats as cruelty. Throw in the problem of free-range cats (which are cats that are owned but whose owners allow them to roam free) and things get more complicated because killing a cat runs the risk of damaging someone's property.

So what should one who is suffering from damage by cats do to resolve the problem? Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. Strike that. There are no easy legal answers.

Fortunately, a new publication is available that will help, and I emphasize help, with some of the complexities. If for nothing else, the publication "Managing Feral Cats" will provide some guidance about the problem and provide some solutions that might work for you.

We hope you will agree. As always, let us know what you think.

Stephen M. Vantassel, CWCP, ACP

Teacher Believed Killed by Wolf Attack While Jogging

CNN recently reported on the recent death (March 8, 2010) of 32 year old Candice Berner of Chignik Lake, Alaska. It is believed that she was attacked by wolves (Canis lupus) while jogging in the remote town. Authorities have ruled out foul play and have killed 2 wolves in the hopes that a necropsy would confirm them as the man-killers.

If wolves are shown to be the likely cause of her death, then officials will have to decide whether present wolf management practices are sufficient to protect human safety. While animal protectionists and wildlife officials will corretly state, wolf attacks are exceedingly rare (on the scale of 1 in the last century), one could also suggest that such statistics are relatively meaningless.

Let me explain. First, wolves were intensely hunted, trapped, and poisoned. In fact, human control efforts were so successful that the wolf almost became extinct in North America. Certainly, wolves were eradicated in the lower 48 states. So just from the notion of small numbers, it would be extremely unlikely for a human to suffer a wolf attack. There just weren't enough of them around.  Second, wolves who are aggressively hunted etc. learn that humans are a threat not a resource. So they will likely stay away.

Third, I would like to refer readers to an interesting webpage on wolf attacks.  The author is no wild-eyed wolf hater, but does note that wolves may not be human-friendly entity that some animal protectionists groups may want to suggest. A recent article  in the Wildlife Professional by Geist noted how wolf attacks in Europe were a significant problem. There was a reason why childrens fairy tales mention the big bad wolf so often.

We should remember that predators are predators. This fact is even more crucial when we consider that a Nova Scotia woman was killed by a coyote. If a smaller coyote could kill, then how much more can a wolf kill? The point here is not to demonize wolves and call for their eradication. That is the last thing I want to see. I would oppose eradication of wolves even if it is shown that they do hunt humans. But I would suggest that humans recognize that if we don't remind predators who is the real top predator, then we should expect more of these types of incidents. The key is balance, protection of wolves as a species and protection of humans as individuals.

For information on wolf damage management visit Wolf Damage Management

Stephen M. Vantassel, CWCP, ACP

Cost of Invasive Species

A recent article by Mark Riddix of Investopedia (published in the March 25,2010 San Francisco Chronicle) highlights the costs of invasive species to our environmental and economic well-being. Invasive species are organisms that are not native to a particular habitat that when present in a non-native habitat have deleterious effects on that new environment.

The reason for their negative effects stems from their advantages over native species in two distinct areas.First, when an invasive species arrives to a new environment, it is like someone who arrives with a machine gun in a place where man only had bows and arrows. The new species can totally out compete the native species and their advantage often results in environmental devastation because there are no natural (i.e. non-human) checks on the invasive species growth or activity. Second, successful invasive species tend to be generalists so they can adapt to a wide variety of food sources and habitats. Fortunately, only about 10% of invasive species introduced tend to survive and thrive. But the impacts of the species that do can be enormous.

Here are a few invasive species and their impact on the United States that Mr. Riddix mentioned in his article.
1. Nutria--a large aquatic rodent from South America that was introduced in Louisiana. This rodent has a large appetite for vegetation and can significantly reduce the plant life in swamps leading to the swamp's death and therefore allow greater erosion and threat from hurricanes because there is less vegetation to hold the soil and slow water movement. This species is now found in Maryland, Oregon and Washington State. According to the National Wildlife Federation, nutria damage 500-1000 acres of wetlands a year at Maryland's Blackwater National Wildlfie Refuge alone.

2. Feral Pigs--These are pigs that are now wild. They are now present in 37 states. Aside from their damage to habitat due to their feeding practices, feral pigs threaten livestock production through the transmission of diseases such as brucellosis, encephalitis, pseudo-rabies, and leptospirosis.


There is much more. But why not read it yourself at San Francisco Chronicle. 

Remember, wildlife damage management isn't always about controlling animals that "bother" or inconvenience humans. Sometimes and in some cases increasingly so, wildlife damage management is necessary to protect the integrity and continuity of our environment. 

Stephen M. Vantassel is project coordinator for the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management http://icwdm.org/ which is dedicated to providing research-based information on wildlife damage control to the public.