Education and compassion are the keys to coexisting with any form of wildlife. As wild animals find their natural environment shrinking daily, their interaction with humans increases often with disastrous results for the animals. When they take up residence in someone’s home, destroy the garden, rummage through garbage cans or raid the songbird feeder, they are just looking for food or a place to live – they don’t deserve to be killed for such actions.

Chances are if you call an exterminator (which is very expensive) or animal control, the animal will be killed after it is caught. You may contact the Department of Environmental Conservation for referral to a wildlife rehabilitator who will humanely trap the animal. In most cases the trapped animal will be relocated. Ask first to be sure.

Before taking those steps, however, first read more about your wild neighbor to alleviate some of your fears and concerns and then try the suggestions for humanely encouraging him to move elsewhere. Be patient and compassionate. He doesn’t want to be any closer to you than you want to be to him – he is just trying to survive.

If "your" animal is not listed below, please e-mail us (click here) and we will add it to our list and get back to you as soon as possible with helpful information.

Opossum	Raccoon
Squirrel	Skunk
Pigeon	Mouse
Rat (coming soon)	Bat
Starlings	Rabbit