Wildlife Removal Questions, Answered for Florence

Property owners do not need a permit to trap furbearers or squirrels within 100 yards of their own home. Outside that distance, or out of season, a depredation permit applies.

It is the SCDNR permit that allows nuisance wildlife to be taken outside the normal rules. Wildlife Control Operators work under it, and SCDNR publishes a list of operators by county.

Most are harmless rat snakes and water snakes following rodents and frogs. Venomous species do live in the Pee Dee, including copperheads and cottonmouths near water, so do not handle a snake you cannot identify.

SCDNR states it plainly: control of wildlife and animal damage is the responsibility of the individual property owner. The department does not come and remove it. It publishes a list of Wildlife Control Operators who will, for a fee. The City of Florence animal control unit sits within the police department and deals with abuse and neglect, animals running at large and vicious animals, not with something living in your roof.

South Carolina works through depredation permits rather than a single operator licence: an SCDNR depredation permit is required to trap or take wildlife out of season. Licensed wildlife control operators can apply for and work under depredation permits that are not available to the general public, which is what lets them handle species (alligators among them) that a property owner cannot legally touch. Animals taken under a depredation permit may not be relocated, sold, traded, exchanged or bartered.

Whether they hold the state wildlife permit, not just a pest licence; whether the quote includes sealing entry points; what happens if young are found; and whether attic clean-up is included.

Recommended exclusion windows March – April, and August – October. Maternity season May – August. Exclusion inside the maternity season traps flightless young in the building.

Property owners do not need a permit to trap furbearers or squirrels within 100 yards of their own residence. Outside that radius, or out of season, a depredation permit applies.

Not while it is active. The federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects nearly all native birds; only the pigeon, European starling and house sparrow are exempt.

Close interior doors to confine it to one room, open an exterior door or window in that room if you safely can, and leave it alone. If it is a bat and anyone may have had contact with it while asleep, call your health department before releasing it.

Heat and humidity together are the worst combination for this and the Pee Dee has both for much of the year. In a crawlspace it is worse still, because the damp holds the odour in the timber and the insulation above it. Removing the animal is the quick part; the material it was lying on is the part that decides whether the smell actually goes.

No. Poisoned animals die in places you cannot reach, and secondary poisoning kills pets and birds of prey.