Humane Wildlife Control near you

A company that calls its work humane should be able to explain how each of these principles shapes the job it proposes. Our wildlife removal page describes the standard exclusion steps; these are the standards behind them.

Trapping an animal and driving it away feels decisive, but it leaves the reason it moved in untouched. The gap in the soffit or the hollow under the deck is still there for the next animal, and in spring a trapped female may have young left behind in the den. Ontario requires captured wildlife to be released within 1 kilometre of where it was caught and within 24 hours, so a live-trapped skunk or raccoon ends up close to the house anyway.

Exclusion keeps the animal in its own territory, where it knows how to find food and shelter, and fixes the house so it can't return. Lethal control is restricted too: in Ontario, removal businesses may capture and release but not kill, and in Quebec killing a nuisance raccoon, skunk, fox or coyote is a last resort. Species listed as endangered or threatened under Ontario's Endangered Species Act, 2007 are subject to special rules, and authorization is needed before acting.

Raccoons and squirrels have their own pages. These three animals usually cause trouble at ground level, under decks, porches, sheds and foundations, and each calls for a slightly different humane approach.

Bats need the most care of any animal in a house, because some of the species that roost in attics are endangered. The little brown myotis, northern myotis and tri-colored bat were listed as Endangered under the federal Species at Risk Act in 2014 because of white-nose syndrome. Ontario lists the little brown myotis as endangered under its Endangered Species Act, 2007, which prohibits killing, harming or harassing the species or damaging its habitat.

Ontario explains that white-nose syndrome, caused by a fungus believed to have been brought inadvertently from Europe, disrupts hibernation so that bats exhaust their energy reserves before spring. It also notes that the little brown bat is one of only two bat species in Ontario known to use human structures for summer maternity colonies. The federal prohibitions apply on federal lands, but Environment and Climate Change Canada still advises considering whether removal can wait until the end of the breeding season, when the bats have left, and installing bat boxes as alternative roosts.

Before excluding a colony, check with the province and hire a company experienced with bats. Any direct contact with a bat is a rabies concern; our wildlife removal page explains what to do.

Humane work follows the animals' calendar, which differs by species. Toronto warns that raccoon babies may be present between March and July, bat colonies are best left until the breeding season ends, and Ontario suggests late summer for groundhog evictions. A year of humane control looks roughly like this.