Cold weather heats up work for critter control
Everyone, it seems, wants to be in a nice warm house this time of year – and that has the critter removal business hopping.
Mequon —As the temperature plummeted, animals – especially mice and squirrels and at least one family of raccoons – began looking to move into residences across the state.
Some were successful.
“As soon as it got really, really cold, that’s when the phones really got going,” said PJ Winkelmann of Advanced Wildlife Control in Mequon.
He is a second-generation co-owner of the 20-year-old company founded by his parents, Paul and Jessica Winkelmann.
Critters, especially mice, can sense heat and will follow a heat trail right into your house, provided they can fit through the opening, wildlife removal professionals said.
“They like to get in and stay warm just like we do,” said Steve Butler, owner of AAA Pest Management in Milwaukee.
“It’s like clockwork,” he said of increased wildlife activity once fall and winter arrive.
Each winter, rodents invade an estimated 21 million homes in the United States, according to the National Pest Management Association.
“It’s a very interesting issue because everybody’s involved,” said Scott R. Craven, extension wildlife specialist and professor in the forest and wildlife ecology department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Nobody’s immune to it really, unless you live on the 20th floor of a condo development.”
About 5,000 wildlife control companies exist in the U.S., said Eric Arnold, president of the National Wildlife Control Operators Association.
Americans spent $6.7 billion on pest control in 2008, according to the National Pest Management Association. That includes ants and stinging insects. For just rodent control, we spent $725 million, according to the association.
Sounded like a party
If critters decide they want to come in, they usually figure out a way.
“Squirrels and mice are rodents, so they have the dental equipment and jaw strength to actually open a hole if there isn’t one there,” Craven said.
Nan Swain of Mequon can attest to that.
“They chewed right through the roof of our addition,” Swain said, talking about the squirrels that took up residence in her house. Once in, they made themselves at home. “It sounded like there was a party going on in there,” Swain said. “That’s how loud it was.”
Carole Hahm was at her mom’s house on Christmas Eve finishing up work on some holiday cards. From the ceiling, “we heard this thump, thump, thump, thump,” Hahm said. ”It was a family of raccoons that took up residence in the attic,” she said. “Everything up there is torn to shreds.”
Raccoons are not housebroken, she added.
PJ Winkelmann said there were five raccoons in the attic that got in by tearing a hole in the roof and entering through a spot where there once was a ventilation fan. The animals probably could feel heat coming out of the site and followed it inside, he said.
“Once they feel that difference in temperature, they want to get in,” he said.
He used live traps to remove and relocate the animals, which appeared to be a mom and four offspring.
All the wildlife control companies say they relocate nuisance wildlife a fair distance from where they are found unless the animal is sick or injured. Certain setups make things easier for critters to gain access.
”If you have tree branches that overhang a roof, that’s like a highway for those creatures,” said Dave Bree, owner of Fox Valley Wildlife Control in Appleton.
Once in, damage usually follows.
“Most of the time the noises customers will complain about hearing are the pitter-patter of feet running back and forth, or gnawing, and usually it’s gnawing on wood, whether it’s a truss or a two-by-four,” Bree said.
The varmints are simply making themselves at home. ”Many times they are creating a den to their liking,” Bree said.
“And they aren’t paying rent.”
Animals will use any opening they can to get inside, with chimneys being a preferred entry method.
“You name it, we’ve pulled it out of a fireplace,” PJ Winkelmann said.
Like the mallard hen that flew down the chimney and came in the customer’s house through the open fireplace doors and proceeded to fly about the house.
“A police officer and I actually got the duck out,” PJ Winkelmann said.
Recession-proof businessThe wildlife removal business has remained steady despite the economic downturn, the Winkelmanns and others said.
“It’s a big business,” Craven said.
If residents have a duck or bat or squirrel flying around their living room, they get it removed. Paying a professional to do that work isn’t exactly discretionary spending. ”For the most part, I was very surprised that the economy really did not have a real big negative effect on our business this past year,” Bree said. Despite some fairly unusual occupational hazards – Paul and PJ Winkelmann have been sprayed at point-blank range by skunks – the job is fairly rewarding, critter catchers said.
“There’s a degree of personal satisfaction at solving a problem and removing that animal and then being able to release it somewhere else,” Bree said.
The hours are long and unpredictable, but there is job security.
The primary animal offenders are cagey survivors, Craven said. “They are really flexible, adaptable species that do just fine in a human-dominated landscape,” he said. “They’re not going anywhere.” ”As long as we’re sharing the environment with them, homeowners will have to continue to deal with them.”
