Squirrel Control

[tatsblisters]

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Would people think different to drowning if their were rats as the old boy on the alotment near me drowns them caught in a big 45 gallon drum.Its a lot more humane than pouring a flamable liquid on them and then setting light to them

 

[carole58]

I cannot believe that someone is allowed to get away with this, I am absolutely appalled! Has your daughter had any luck in getting hold of the authorities? If she is prepared to trap them then she should be prepared to destroy them legally, drowning is just cruel!

 

[~Annie~]

The RSPCA was notified and has visited the house and warned those residents involved. I believe they are now considering whether any further action will be taken against the landlady. I also believe that another neighbour contacted the local Wildlife Crime Officer and that she is also involved. This was a mass culling over a period of days of local grey squirrels by illegal means that caused unnecessary suffering and has been taken seriously by those notified.

 

[Karen-Coral]

just been reading about humane traps-'trapman'

seem to get good results-but it can be a lengthy process catching them all-by all accounts

then you have to dispose of the squirrels......I guess another lengthy process calling in the gunman each time.

i can see why the lady is considering drowning them....

why exactly is drowning so wrong opposed to being shot?

is there really such a 'big time' difference?

how precise is the gunman-he must miss now and again, which would terrify the creature???? before the next shot???

we are not talking about the SAS here are we?-just the council pest control dept. and many will have seen them in action/heard their stories.

 

[carole58]

just been reading about humane traps-'trapman'seem to get good results-but it can be a lengthy process catching them all-by all accounts

then you have to dispose of the squirrels......I guess another lengthy process calling in the gunman each time.

i can see why the lady is considering drowning them....

why exactly is drowning so wrong opposed to being shot?

is there really such a 'big time' difference?

how precise is the gunman-he must miss now and again, which would terrify the creature???? before the next shot???

we are not talking about the SAS here are we?-just the council pest control dept. and many will have seen them in action/heard their stories.

This is a very good point however it does appear to be a very grey area in terms of what is and isn't allowed. As I said earlier, I am quite shocked at the prospect of all those squirrels being drowned, but then I wonder whether her local council would have even been any help if she approached them as a friend of mine had a very similar situation a few years back with squirrels damaging her roof, she asked her local council (Cheshire) for help or advice and they said it wasn't any of their concern. I wonder if this varies across the country as to whether they are willing to help or not? What area is your daughter's houseshare in? It would be interesting to know whether some authorities are more willing to help than others as it seems to me that this may be the case!

 

[Karen-Coral]

just been reading about humane traps-'trapman'seem to get good results-but it can be a lengthy process catching them all-by all accounts

then you have to dispose of the squirrels......I guess another lengthy process calling in the gunman each time.

i can see why the lady is considering drowning them....

why exactly is drowning so wrong opposed to being shot?

is there really such a 'big time' difference?

how precise is the gunman-he must miss now and again, which would terrify the creature???? before the next shot???

we are not talking about the SAS here are we?-just the council pest control dept. and many will have seen them in action/heard their stories.

This is a very good point however it does appear to be a very grey area in terms of what is and isn't allowed. As I said earlier, I am quite shocked at the prospect of all those squirrels being drowned, but then I wonder whether her local council would have even been any help if she approached them as a friend of mine had a very similar situation a few years back with squirrels damaging her roof, she asked her local council (Cheshire) for help or advice and they said it wasn't any of their concern. I wonder if this varies across the country as to whether they are willing to help or not? What area is your daughter's houseshare in? It would be interesting to know whether some authorities are more willing to help than others as it seems to me that this may be the case!

LOL-'Grey area'..........

 

[carole58]

Just to set the record straight, the landlady in question (I am very aware of EXACTLY who she is by the way) was provided with the advice by a pest control company in the local area (number found in the yellow pages) who clearly gave her incorrect advice. RSPCA are perfectly aware of this and have very kindly provided her with some helpful information =)

The landlady has now purchased an RSPCA APPROVED trap which instantly kills the squirrel as soon as it enters the trap. I also suggest that before people begin judging and spurting out quite frankly unjust comments 'abhorrent woman' for example that they consider the circumstances for just one moment. Would the tenants prefer that the squirrels ran riot in the loft and caused potentially dangerous damage such as chewing electrical wires?

As was mentioned in the very first post, this landlady has attempted to deal with the problem in the past by calling out 'reputable' companies such as RENTOKIL and all in all has spent over £1500 in pest control measures all of which have failed to eradicate the situation. So it is fairly evident that this landlady has not ignored the problem but very much dealt with it as soon as it has arisen.

Rest assured that trapping and killing these vermin in the RSPCA trap which she is using are 100% legal and she has spoken to the RSPCA who are in agreement with this and have actually proved to be much more helpful than the pest control companies so she is rather grateful it has been brought to their attention

 

[~Annie~]

Carole58 Unlike you I am not going to assume we are definitely talking about the same group of students as we may not be ... the internet is full of posts on various forums made by people struggling to find ways to humanely dispatch squirrels. What I can tell you in response to your question in a previous post

Has your daughter had any luck in getting hold of the authorities?

is that my daughter, as I stated at the start of the thread, has had no involvement with 'the authorities' at all.
As to the landlady you know ... if she is trapping and killing squirrels humanely under the guidance of the RSPCA then all to the good ... a humane trap is a far better option than a wheely bin full of water. And rather the point of this whole thread. As you will see I personally passed judgement only on the deed and not the individuals concerned (others were less polite I know). But I know the tenant I know, my daughter, was less concerned about potential loft damage, even fire risk, than she was at seeing squirrels held for hours in traps, becoming ever more frantic, until the individuals involved turned up to drown them, a death that takes at least two minutes I am told and probably closer to five.

My posts have been honest and open from the outset ... perhaps it would have been similarly honest if you had declared your involvement in the same or a similar case from the beginning rather than fish to find out exactly who I was talking about ... as I said without naming names, which would be most inappropriate on an open forum, how can we know if we are talking about the same people.

 

[affieluver]

Well i am just appalled regardless of the animal i think people seem to be missing the point.

The person in question is using a down right cruel way of killing these creatures, like annie i am no fan of squirrels as they are vermin but i can think of nothing worse than being drowned It all seems so unecessary when there are people that can do the job properly i really do feel for your daughter annie and hope she can find somewhere to live soon although i know it's not easy in todays climate

 

[carole58]

To be honest there is no need for any kind of argument, the main point which is being missed is that the person in question is not cruel or callous or any of the previously mentioned names, she was merely misguided by a company who told her that her options were this or setting the animals free in nearby woodland (which upon research is quite clearly illegal) so perhaps the point that has been learnt is that relying on professional advice is not always reliable. She was merely trying to solve a situation which has been a problem for quite a while and when told her options, believed this was less cruel that capturing the squirrel in a sack and hitting it hard enough to kill it.

In regards to how long the squirrels were left in a trap, RSPCA advise traps are checked 3 times a day which means that squirrels can legally be left for up to 8 hours, a time period which was never exceeded.

It appears to be that advice on the humane despatch of these vermin is extremely sketchy and varies depending on who is asked, so perhaps this is something authorities need to address rather than law abiding citizens who have very simply been misadvised.