Had a lady call me for advice, her and her husband had just evicted a skunk out of their crawlspace, created their own one way door, did
some nice work by the sounds of it (surprising level for homeowners) and just wanted some added thoughts on whether or not it could be
a scenario where the skunk might have a litter under the house this time of year.

Had a nice talk, general info, complimented them on their steps they took and said if you have any further issues feel free to holler back.

A day later she calls, her neighbor calls a national chain that operates here and wanted traps set on her property as she didn't like the idea of a
skunk in the area, at all....

The lady who had called me said I'd like to ask you about "X" company and what they told my neighbor. I called her back after getting the voicemail
and said, what are your questions about what was stated to your neighbor?

"Well, "X" told her that they would set traps and that if they killed it the cost would be $75.00, while if they relocated it, the cost would be $150.00."

I mentioned to her in my response that the state policy which most don't follow is that we cannot relocate potential rabies vectors. However skunks are
not a regulated (protected) furbearer and thus while the health department and the game and fish department would discourage it, people do as they please.

Told her company "X" wasn't the only one doing this as most of the companies operating in this region of the state do not have in house euthanasia options
based on 1st hand conversations with their employees.

In the end she was going to talk to her neighbor about ways to deal with her issue without involving any company, but it got me thinking.

How many folks offer a similar deal where the client chooses despite any state policies and of course we all know that while you get folks who don't care, alive
dead, etc.. just get it out of here, many when confronted with the "guilt" of "killing" will pay more for the fuzzy version of the story.

I know in many states from this website alone there are options for how to handle the captured species.

In this case I know from company X calling me last year to ask if I would take a litter of skunks that when I told them I couldn't and they would have to euthanize and
asked the staff "you have in house euthanasia of course right?" she replied, "no we do not have anything like that."

So offering kill versus relocate in their case means they were going to dump it somewhere either way and just taking the opportunity to upsell for the relocation... (which
was going to happen either way....)

Seems like a sales tactic that makes the $150.00 seem more palatable...

Maybe you confused her with ( in house euthanasia )..... instead of euthanizing or putting down. Never read it referred to as that. We all know the great debate that comes with euthanizing. Most people are use to ( had to put my dog to sleep or put down my dog ) Just saying. Yea I know were suppose to be above those terms, but we in this industry can't agree about the process, so why judge.

Kurt Temple

Hey Kurt,

I agree terminology can confuse folks, didn't mean to leave out some details here, when I spoke with company "X" I explained a way to euthanize the skunk litter, to which she replied they didn't do that or have any way to do that.

Which was odd because they actually have a contract with a govt. entity in our state that requires euthanizing if you have to trap and remove an animal (known vector species) from property under the contract.

I specifically asked if they didn't have a CO2 chamber or any other method to put down animals.

Most of my issue here that I was writing about is that the homeowners are being offered two things. I can kill it for X dollars or I can relocate it to a happy place for X dollars.

I realize folks would prefer not to judge but I'm sure you and I can agree we all judge thousands of things in our daily lives and how people perform work or offer it in our industry is one of those things that folks will judge
regardless of right or wrong.

Not sure if I confused the issue on my post above, but maybe so... We all hear plenty about what others do, be it handyman types, part timers or full time industry folks. I'm sure many just let it go in one ear and out the other
but this particular case for me just made me wonder if others are doing this whole X for dead, X for alive and well in the countryside and letting the client decide regardless of any state policies or requirements.

Justin

I guess I should add that related to "in house euthanasia" was meant to say inside your operation as a business you have euthanasia equipment. Not inside your house... Kind of like "in house counsel" meaning you've got an attorney
who represents you in your company.

Where legal, it costs more to relocate than euthanize. I don't have a problem with a company passing that on if that's what they are really doing.

That makes more sense to me now. And I do not see a problem with an up cost for translocation either. I live in a state where I can't offer translocation of animals except squirrels on private land with permission. I ran into it being done here with copperhead snakes moved 20 miles from site, nothing in this state is too be moved but there is hope for snakes, new regs are supposedly coming in the future. Still would have a hard time moving copperheads since all gov. property is off limits, can't see a private landowner wanting them or a customer paying to move them.
Kurt Temple

I hope you guys don't mind if I disagree with you on relocation being more expensive than euthanizing. Opening the cage and waving goodbye seems so much cheaper than getting rid of a carcass, wiping up blood stains, CO2 chambers, etc. etc.

Paul,

It is going to be based on what the laws are governing release in the area you are working. For instance, here in Ohio we cannot legally release any animal on state owned or private property without first having written permission from the land owner. For those that don't have much property, that means having to actively search for release sites, locate the owner, explain what you'd like to do, receive permission from the landowner AND get it in writing. This may mean that you are given permission for a specific time and/or a specific species. Additionally, these properties have to be outside the limits of any incorporated city or village (so even if the operator had property inside of these areas by law they could not release them). We used to have a rule that specified a minimum distance of 10 miles from an incorporated city or village, but that was changed several years ago. And while we never had a minimum number of acres, some states require 100 or more acres for release.

Additionally, in order to use lethal control techniques for certain species (i.e., cotton-tailed rabbits, mink, etc.) we have to apply for and receive special permission which adds to the costs. It was only recently that we have been able to decide if we want to release or euthanize squirrels, chipmunks and woodchucks. Before this change, the law stated that only the 6 animals (beaver, coyote, fox, opossum, raccoon, & skunk) that are mandated to be euthanized could be, otherwise, any other animal captured live had to be released. This created problems as certain companies working in urban areas catching several thousand squirrels every year were relocating them to more suburban/rural areas causing other issues for the relocation areas.

Bottom line here is that each business has to make their own decisions and if they want to use different pricing structures for different techniques, as long as they are acting legally, it is their right. Personally, I'm more concerned about the neighbor's attitude (can't tell if they want traps set on their property or if the neighbor wants traps set on the caller's property). If the first option is correct, I've no issue as it is the neighbor's choice to have traps set on their own property for piece of mind. However, if the company is trying to use the neighbor as a sales tool and gain access to the caller's property (meaning the caller would have to pay for everything), then I do have a problem with the companies professionalism.

Eric, good post. I didn't get involved in all the laws different states may have because the discussion was between euthanization and relocation. I guess I should have realized that I wasn't comparing apples to apples. My relocation is comparatively easy but then having our own dumpster makes euthanization pretty easy now too. I also agree that whatever a company wants to charge is none of my business and perfectly alright with me.

Paul,
Do you release on your own land or can you use gov. land for this?
Kurt Temple

Has to be private land

It's been a while since I've read the laws governing relocation but back when I started we could release non-egg eaters on public lands. ( Things like squirrels, woodchucks, and chipmunks ) I'm not near much public land now so I don't worry about it. I do know that you can't release raccoons, skunks, opossums, and other egg eaters on public land. I let an opossum go because I was in a hurry. Instead of going to a field that I had permission on, he headed in the opposite direction into a park full of people. I got a call from the police and I remember my reply; "Sorry officer, this is one of those "No good deed goes unpunished" things; It won't happen again." I also remember his reply; "Thank you, that's exactly what I wanted to hear."

We just have to release in county and have written permission. I just learned the largest ADC company in our area puts everything down. I'm curious what would cause a company to change from release to kill all.