Animal Case Studies

This customer found their freshly laid beautiful sod starting to unravel before their eyes. If you start seeing the edges of your sod lifted up around your property, the problem is likely caused by raccoons or other animals lifting the edges to expose the world of insects underneath. Even if you don’t have freshly laid sod, in the late summer and fall it is common for raccoons or animals such as skunks to dig small holes to expose the dirt under the grass to obtain a meal.

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While a raccoon's diet is quite diverse and they find plenty of edibles amongst garbage and compost bins around the city, one thing raccoons will always love is insects. White grubs and earthworms are a very common inclusion in the raccoon diet. These insects can be easily found by digging up your lawn and make up the perfect buffet for raccoons. 

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Hawkeye to the rescue! After a call to our office and we confirm a visit, one one of our technicians will come out to the property for an inspection. This inspection will be visual and will help determine the best places to install traps to catch the animals causing the issue. We will set 2 - 6 traps on your property depending on the severity of the issue and how many animals we determine are causing the problem. These traps are baited to attract the animals in question. Once the traps are baited and set it is the responsibility of the customer to check these traps daily and let us know once an animal is trapped. One of our technicians will be out within 24 hours of the call to remove the animal(s) and discuss with you whether or not you would like the traps reset. Some customers have cameras set up in their backyards, giving them a clear image of how many animals there are causing the issue. If this is not the case, it is best to reset the traps until we do not catch anything for up to a week. At this point, the traps can be removed and your problem will be solved.

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In according with Government of Ontario regulations, customers then have the option to either have the animal(s) relocated within one kilometer, or have the animal(s) destroyed. All of our technicians carry trappers licenses from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry which allow us to euthanize and permanently resolve your property destruction.

Aside from unsightly lawn damage, there are health concerns for pets as well as humans. Raccoons are carriers of rabies which is easily transmitted and almost always fatal once contracted. 

Inspection

 This case study is based on a residential customer near North York, who had originally called complaining of possible animals in their home. During our initial conversation the customer was hearing sounds of animals echoing through the home, so much so that they thought the animals were inside their air vents. An alternate pest control company came in initially and conducted a roof inspection yielding an inconclusive result. This company had decided to install traps coming out of air vents in the customer's home which did not catch any animals. The home owner then decided to hire a different company and landed on Hawkeye Bird and Animal Control; good thing, as we were able to solve the problem completely within 2 weeks leaving the customer totally animal-free.

Upon Hawkeye’s initial inspection, an opening in the roof was found where a raccoon had pushed the soffit up and entered the attic. Many residential homes have lower roof sections where the soffit from the upper roof meets the shingles on the lower roof. This is one of the main areas that we see raccoons and squirrels enter into customers homes and they are often difficult to see and reach as these sections of the roof can sometimes be very steep. In this case, brackets had to be installed into the roof so that the area could be accessed safely. All screw holes put into the shingles are sealed up using caulking to ensure no there won't be any leaks in the future.

This is the opening found in the customers roof. You can see in the photo some insulation falling down from the opening. Some of this insulation had fallen onto the ground which was a good indicator of where the opening was.

 Trap Installation

In this case, the customer’s home backed onto a forest causing them to have a large amount of raccoons frequenting their property. The customer’s only concern was to get rid of the raccoons that had actually entered their home. In order to ensure this, a positive set trap was installed. A positive set trap means that the trap was installed directly over the opening in the roof allowing no other exit except through the trap.In this case, the trap had two doors and could catch a raccoon either entering or exiting the opening in the roof.

Since the roof was very steep where the trap needed to be installed, brackets were screwed into the roof to make it easier for the technician to access the trap. This brackets remained on the roof until the job was completed to limit the number of screw holes put into the roof.

This is what the trap looked like after it was installed at the customer’s home. You can see the green cover on this trap which is used to ensure the animal is safe from the elements. At the top of the image you can see some exclusion wire used to ensure the trap is the only exit out of the attic. Also pictured are the orange brackets which were used to hold a ladder to allow closer access to install and maintenance the trap.

Removal and Exclusion

Once the trap was installed, the customer was instructed to check the trap every morning for a raccoon and let us know as soon as something had been caught. The customer was very happy to see a raccoon in the trap after just the first night. Our technician came back that same morning to permanently remove the animal.This raccoon was a juvenile, therefore it was very likely that there was more than one animal in the attic. The customer was notified of the findings, and the trap was reset to continue catching the animals in the attic.

Our technician continued to catch raccoons in this trap one after another for a total of 4 animals caught and permanently removed. Once the trap remained empty for a week, it was determined that no other animals were inside of the attic. No other openings were seen on the roof, therefore we were controlling the only access point in and out of the attic. This allowed the technician to know for sure that no other animals were inhabiting the attic. In addition, the customer was able to inform the technician that they were no longer hearing any sounds and were finally able to get a restful sleep.

At this point, the trap was removed and the opening was excluded. Exclusion includes the use of a one inch steel mesh to close off an opening caused by an animal in the roof. This material can not be ripped off by an animal and ensures no other animals can enter this area. In certain areas where the roof is safe from water access (under the soffit) this exclusion may be sufficient for up to 5 years. But since this exclusion method isn’t watertight, it is normally used to prevent entry into the home so the customer has time to get their roof professionally repaired. This customer was very satisfied with our services and was very happy to finally have their problem resolved permanently.

This is what the project looked like at completion. The animals had been trapped, trap had been removed, and exclusion wire had been installed to prevent entry into the home. The customer later had this opening repaired by a roofing company, but this preventing anything from entering into the roof in the meantime.