Humane pest control

Are you suffering from the nuisance of urban foxes, rats, mice or other pests? John Bryant explains why it is better to use a humane form of 'pest' deterrence and management, rather than the crueller methods of trapping and killing or poisoning the animals.

Controlling urban foxes

Depending on the time of year the nuisance caused by foxes might be fouling, digging in lawns, screaming at night, creating dens under sheds or compost heaps, biting through garden lighting cables and irrigation pipes, jumping on cars or stealing shoes and children's toys, or even attacking small pets such as rabbits and guinea-pigs.

A high level of ignorance about fox biology and behaviour has lead people to suffer the nuisance from urban foxes. Pest controllers usually resort to cage-trapping them and either shooting them in the trap, or (in many ways a worse option) taking them several miles away and dumping them.

Foxes are highly territorial and removing the nuisance ones merely creates a vacancy to be rapidly filled by foxes from a neighbouring territory, often within days. Good business for pest controllers but clearly an expensively unintelligent solution for the suffering customer.

Studies have demonstrated that it is more effective to find ways of preventing nuisance by deterring the foxes from the site of the problem. This might be through a variety of methods including:

• using chemical repellents,
• making changes to the environment (such as raising the height of fences and blocking gaps under fences),
• creating fox-proof accommodation for vulnerable pets,
• removing or defending attractions such as ponds, compost heaps, fallen fruit, rubbish bags and bird feeders,
• tidying overgrown gardens.

These all prove to be more effective than killing because they remove the foxes from the area of the problem and disturbance, but allow them to retain their territory and keep other foxes away.

Rats, mice, squirrels and other 'pests'

These other so-called 'pest' species can include magpies, crows, rats, mice, pigeons, Canada geese, and grey squirrels.

Traditional pest controllers will use methods such as poisons in attempt to remove the problem. However, the government's Pesticides & Safety Directorate describes this use of anti-coagulant poisons to kill rats and mice as 'markedly inhumane'. Also, apart from the miserable deaths that it causes on the pest wildlife, it can lead to secondary poisoning of pets and other wildlife. Similarly, the use of methods such as glue boards to deal with mice are cruel without resolving the cause of the problem.

None the less, rats under your floor boards can carry disease, or squirrels in your loft can gnaw through timber structures and electric cables as well as damage stored goods. So if they do get trapped in your house or establish a nest there the problem does need to be addressed.

However, it is falsely believed that by slowly poisoning the trapped animals to death will result in them leaving your property in search of water as they get thirsty. But they are more likely to die in your attic or under your floorboards and generate thousands of maggots and flies, a horrendous smell and stains where they decomposed. Nor does it prevent further animals gaining access to the area in the future.

The real problem is that there will be an access point, or hole, through which the squirrel or rats etc can enter your home. The obvious solution is to locate this access point and either drive the 'pest' animals out, or wait for them to be out on their daily foraging missions, then to securely seal off the access area.

Thus with a little bit of compassion, sympathy, common sense and understanding of the wildlife from which you are experiencing the problems, you can get rid of your pest problem and prevent it returning, without the use of ineffective and cruel methods!