On 1/18/2017 8:39 PM, Nil wrote:
On 18 Jan 2017, Frank "frank wrote in rec.gardens:

Trap and release, shoot if you can. Red pepper flakes would not
keep squirrels out of my bird feed.

I don't know about raccoons, but in my experience you can trap and
shoot all the squirrels all day long and it will make little difference
if you have something they want, like fruit. If you remove one animal,
there are plenty more just waiting to fill the void. To really get rid
of them you would have to eliminate them all for miles surrounding your
home, and that would probably only be temporary. Otherwise, you would
have to get rid of whatever is attracting them.

Laws vary. Around here you can trap and kill but not release but
I release anyway. I'm careful with what I trap as rabies is
endemic here too.

Same here (eastern Massachusetts). And it makes sense to me - if you
release a trapped squirrel elsewhere in the area, you will be
overpopulating an area that's already full and that animal may die. Or
it may find its way back from whence it came. Also, it can bring a
disease into a previously uninfected population.

There's no good way out.


You can never eliminate all these critters but I think you can cut down
the local population that sticks around your house and it takes a while
for others to move in and fill the vacuum.