05/21/2026
Trapping & relocating, not the solution you think it is. Long but informative read!
When Jack Murphy from Urban Wildlife Rescue Inc endorses an article on humane wildlife control, our ears prick up. And when we see the author is Katherine McGill from 411 Raccoon Solutions (FL) , we're all in. This is such an important read. It was written for humane wildlife control operators, but it's chock-full of good information for the rest of us.
Successful catch, or utter failure? You never know if the raccoon you caught is the "guilty party", or, just one drawn to the free meal in your trap. Pretty much any 10 year old can bait a trap and catch something. Frankly, it is downright lazy, and cruel - and ineffective.
You dump this animal miles away and believe you spared his/her life. Hopefully, was not a mother and that her babies were not left to perish, slowly. When they are found, it is too late. Their mother is long gone, going frantic for them, terrified in a foreign land... while we tell ourselves how lucky she is to have been relocated?
These heartbroken now-orphans will cost a volunteer rehabilitator several hundred dollars, months of time, risk of communicable shelter disease, and less-than-optimum survival skills without their mother.
Now, multiply this one single "good deed" times tens of thousands, year after year... Is that humane? For whom?
Fact: There is no such thing as "humane trapping and relocation". Fact: There is NO Nirvana place where existing animals welcome newcomers you just dumped in their territory - None. We have 15 years of GPS raccoon translocation studies to prove this isn't humane and has poor survival rates of 18%. We have hard science proving conflicts are best resolved in situ; eg, not removing animals. With rules & regs that allow people to do this to our wildlife while KNOWING that over 90% of conflicts today can be resolved without removing the animal, what more can we do as advocates and professionals to ensure proper actions are taken -- and that the science (and our intent to do our best by them) is upheld and better achieved?
1) Recommend people to the most qualified sources we have available to us today. Know your own limitations in this field. Most people will appreciate your suggestions and compassion, but make no mistake that they still want their resolution ASAP. If suggestions are all you can offer, get better at them and still never hang up without putting the number of an HWC operator in their hands. www.AnimalHelpNow.org is the most complete listing of HWCO's. Choose "Conflict" instead of "Emergency" to find them. (HWCO = A Trained Humane Wildlife Conflict Operator)
1a) Even if there is not an HWCO in their zipcode, there will still be one listed there! Most of these Specialists will help people to hire and properly guide a local NWCO provider. They, the paying customer, can dictate what methods are used by any NWCO they need to hire **IF** they know specifically what to demand is done. (NWCO = Nuisance wildlife control operator, aka "trapper")
2) Do not throw out a dozen "remedies" on social media or on the phone as if they alone are silver-bullet complete resolutions, especially without knowing the full story and circumstances. Wildlife conflict resolution involves many steps with a critical goal of an end result that prevents it from happening again.
2a) The more these "humane remedies" are thrown out as incomplete solutions the more they risk failing. Any failure results in less respect and traction for the HWCO industry to prevail and change the paradigm. (The conventional trapping industry loves it when a humane idea fails, and they love to talk about that time it failed as if it always fails. They need less ammunition, not more, please)
3) Do not rush to get babies to a rehabilitator until it is the absolute last resort. Job #1 is to REUNITE healthy babies back with their mothers. Please know your limitations on advising reuniting steps. What works for one age may be unsafe for another age, etc. Nothing feels more awesome and heroic for both you and a Finder than succeeding with a reunite! ❤
3a) Never accept statements of "no mother around". Push for more information which more often than not reveals there is a possibility she still is. You, like I, will never forget the first time you took the advice that babies don't start falling from nest unless mom has been gone for too long. Two hours later, there was the frantic, panicked mother. Lesson learned.
4) Change your state "nuisance" rules and regs, get engaged. As long as the rules allow our wildlife to be killed/removed MERELY FOR BEING SEEN, we are all failing. By all of us, I mean every human on this planet. Every advocate, every "science-abiding" state agency, every animal control law enforcement department charged with upholding state animal cruelty statutes, and every conventional operator selling the worst, most ineffective, money-wasting services there are to unsuspecting, uninformed (thus VULNERABLE) Consumers.... Want to change that industry? Be that change ❤
411 Raccoon Solutions (FL)
