How Do You Cope with Wildlife in Your Home?

Living in the suburbs definitely has its benefits, but it also carries the risk of close encounters with wild animals. And it’s possible that somehow we must have inadvertently hung a “free-rent “sign on our premises which only the local wildlife can read.  

Since I assume “location, location, location” is a popular mantra used also by rodents, when the family of raccoons took up residence in our attic, we were not at all surprised. Since neither my husband nor I can abide killing any animals, we enlisted the services of a professional wildlife removal service who, much to our relief, promptly and humanely evicted mamma raccoon and her babies.

But because all access to the attic had been thoroughly sealed, we were a bit confused last summer when again we started hearing little gnawing sounds emanating from the ceiling. While Mrs. Raccoon may have deemed our attic a five star getaway, and was spreading the word to her friends, as far as we were concerned our inn was closed and off limits. But when we summoned the wildlife removal service to return, we were shocked to learn that this time a gang of tree-rats had found a way under our roof.

Humane traps were set once again; this time not only in the attic, but also in the garage where the ravenous rodents were feasting on the large stash of bird feed and the plastic containers in which it was stored. I will spare you the gory details of what was required in order to clean up the nasty mess they left which resulted from their little sharp teeth and insatiable appetites.

Happily it’s been several months that the sound of hungry marauders no longer plagues us.  This said, I have an eerie feeling the peace and quiet we worked so diligently to ensure is not long for this world.  

It seems our across the street neighbor made a rather disturbing discovery the other day.

It appears we now have been invaded by a rafter of wild turkeys. And he was kind enough to send us an email warning us of this new development. Included was the photo I have shared.

The email read, “You really should put up a sign that says, ‘trespassers will be shot, and eaten. If you want, I’ll shoot . . .  if you clean.”

But this worrisome email got me wondering whether his motives for telling us about the turkey onslaught was just a magnanimous gesture, or if he was setting us up to obtain a future free Thanksgiving dinner. But whatever his reason, we are in trouble again and I ain’t just talking turkey.

What would you do in this situation?  Share your ideas with a comment.