NWR Field Notes

As we’ve mentioned, the habitable space for raccoons and other wildlife is steadily shrinking, but the raccoon population is burgeoning. That is probably due to, well, an evolution of sorts. Raccoons are on the higher side of the animal intelligence scale, and have learned better than most species how to co-exist (actually blend in) with the ever spreading human population. They know where to get free food, find warm shelter, and to stay out of sight.

This blending in doesn’t always work, due to the fact that raccoons are highly susceptible to rabies and Baylisascaris roundworm, both of which can be deadly to humans, and canine distemper.

It is advisable to try and stay clear of raccoons whenever possible. Here are some tips that may help that effort:

o Raccoons are mostly active at night but can be seen throughout the day.
o Raccoons are climbers, easily scaling fences and trees.
o Raccoons den inside logs or hollow trees, storm drains and culverts, chimneys, attics, crawl spaces and deserted buildings.
o Do not attract raccoons by leaving pet food bowls, water bowls or pet food containers outside or anywhere else that can be easily accessed.
o Store garbage in metal or tough plastic containers. Spray ammonia near garbage cans. Commercial raccoon repellent is also available.
o Secure doggy doors at night.
o Cap chimneys. Raccoons can think they are hollow trees.
o Access to rooftops can be limited by removing overhanging branches.
o In areas of suspected raccoon activity play a battery-powered radio. It does not have to be loud.
o Install motion-activated lighting in areas of suspected raccoon activity.
o Contact nuisance wildlife removal companies if necessary. Do not attempt to remove a raccoon yourself.
o If bitten by a raccoon, contact your doctor or health officials.

Nuisance Wildlife Removal wants to remind everyone that as temperatures drop, wildlife seek shelter in and around people’s homes, posing serious risks to personal property and human health.
“The winter months are when animals like mice, squirrels, and raccoons seek out sources of heat and food in people’s homes, outlying buildings and backyards,” said Tom Reilly, president of NWMPA. “Smaller animals tend to follow warm air drafts into attics, crawl spaces and garages to maintain a consistent body temperature. Once inside they infest insulation and items in storage, which can cause serious damage and create unhealthy conditions, especially for people with asthma and allergies. “Raccoons may hole up for weeks at a time to conserve energy, and will make a latrine close by that can lead to serious health hazards,” Reilly says.

” People with bird feeders are a prime target for all types of nocturnal visitors, and this easy source of food gives them a reason to make themselves at home. Predators like coyotes regard the family dog or cat as an easy meal when outside, and raccoons will stake out unsecured trash containers even in cold weather since other food sources are in short supply.”

“Uncapped chimneys and old or rotted trim boards are a constant target for nesting critters and should be repaired and access to the roof removed,” Reilly says. What can people do to protect themselves from such unwanted visitors? Reilly said that people should have a qualified wildlife management professional come to their homes to conduct a full assessment of their property for signs of easy access or infestation. If evidence of wildlife activity or damage is found or suspected, WMPs will take steps to eliminate the problem, and educate homeowners about how they can protect themselves safely and humanely from wildlife damage now and in the future.
“Most people know who to call when they see ants, cockroaches and termites, but many of these pest control professionals are not trained in wildlife damage management,” said Reilly. “The same is true of animal control officers, fire, police and others engaged in public safety professions. Wildlife issues are often misdiagnosed. Mice are confused with squirrels, bats often confused with mice and so forth. Wildlife control is best left to trained and insured professionals. For their own safety, homeowners should not try to confront unwanted wildlife or attempt off-label use of household products, which is dangerous and illegal.”

A Heathrow man who thought he heard raccoons rummaging through his garbage got the scare of his life when a Florida black bear attacked him, he said today.

David Amsler, 34, took a golf club with him when he went outside on Sept. 26 to frighten away what he thought were raccoons near his garage.

It was dark, and Amsler couldn’t see much at first. But he soon realized that several bear cubs and their mother were helping themselves to a meal from his garbage can. Before he knew it, the 400-pound adult bear was after him.

“I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, there’s a bear running at me,’ ” Amsler said. “I stumbled down, and the bear was on top of me.’ ”

Amsler kicked at the bear and poked it with his golf club, he said. All the while, the animal was growling and hissing. He said he thinks the bear was just trying to scare him so it could protect its cubs and continue eating.

“You don’t really expect to get attacked by one in your yard in a gated community in Florida,” said Amsler, who managed to run into the house.

He suffered scrapes to his feet and one leg. Later, Amsler learned that hungry bears have been a problem in his neighborhood, where they have torn porch screens to get at food, he said.

He called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and an agent came out. Amsler said he thinks a trap has been set so the bear can be relocated to a less-populated area. Fish and wildlife officials could not be reached tonight.

From now on, Amsler plans to keep his garbage cans in the garage until pickup time.

Threats, disease could trigger run-ins

Fuzzy, cute, but tough as nails, a raccoon that feels threatened can rage red in tooth and claw — as a 74-year Lakeland woman found out earlier this month.
    The woman tried to shoo a family of five raccoons away from her patio. But mama raccoon chose fight over flight, and her kits joined in mauling Gretchen Whitted on Oct. 3 as she fell, severely biting her neck, legs and torso.
    Such raccoon run-ins remain rare, but the mothering instinct increases the risk of a violent encounter as do illnesses such as distemper, which is reportedly in a surge in Florida and on the Space Coast.
    Experts say the disease could take a bite out of the raccoon population that has exploded during the past half century. “It’s reasonable to assume the raccoon population in Florida has easily doubled, maybe tripled in the last 50 or 60 years,” said William Kern, associate professor of urban entomology at University of Florida. “We have a lot more raccoons than we have alligators, 5 million maybe,” he said. “Now the only thing that’s really controlling them are diseases and automobiles.”
    Distemper outbreaks, generally a result of crowding, could cut local raccoon numbers by up to 40
percent, Kern said.
    In Brevard County, raccoons have been implicated in distemper that swept through animal shelters
recently, killing more than 50 dogs. Officials want to avoid carrying raccoons and other wildlife in the
same trucks that transport dogs and cats to shelters.
    A budget cut announced this month will limit Brevard Animal Services and Enforcement response to
“nuisance” wildlife calls and send more residents to trappers to solve animal issues. This also will
help with the transport issue for domestic animals.

Distemper spreads

     The raccoon is “more prevalent in suburbia than (it) ever was in the wild,” said Reggie Monce, a
trapper with Animal Management of Brevard. “He even knows when your trash goes out.”
They’re smart, adaptive but disease-prone.
     Raccoons contract canine distemper, a viral disease, when they have direct contact with body fluids
or droppings of an infected animal. Foxes, skunks, coyotes and unvaccinated dogs also get it. 

Relocation rules

The main problem that causes run-ins with humans, animal control officials say, is that people feed
them or leave out cat food for feral cats. Unsecured garbage also draws them into or close to homes.
It’s a misdemeanor to feed raccoons, punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
And last year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission decided to no longer allow
trappers to relocate raccoons under any circumstances. They can release them on the site, but not
far away. Otherwise, the raccoons face the grim reaper.
     “If you trap a raccoon in your backyard, you can’t take it two miles down the road and let it go,” said
Bob Brown, a spokesman with Brevard Animal Control. “You have to euthanize it.”
      That rule was one of the reasons the county decided to stop trapping most nuisance raccoons.
“We’re the dog catchers. We’re companion-animal control. We’re not really in the wildlife business,”
Brown said. “We’re killing wildlife, which is not what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Brown estimates 15 percent or more of calls to animal control are requests for nuisance wildlife
trapping.
     He pins the raccoon revival in Brevard on the westward expansion of Viera.
    “Every time they built a new subdivision and plowed down the woods, they just displaced all of the
wildlife that lived in those woods,” he said.
Controlled burns and wildfires also can drive raccoons and other wildlife into urban areas.

Competition

     Raccoons, scientific name Procyon lotor, keep some small animals, such as rats and mice, in check.
But UF’s Kern couldn’t readily come up with many more redeeming values.
     They’re more of a mammal competitor, he says, vying for the same tomatoes and other garden
goodies we like. At least with those, and other plants, their droppings help to spread the seeds.
“They live with us. In many cases they compete with us for food and resources,” Kern said. “I guess
it’s almost a moral question: Are you willing to tolerate competition?”
     Brown says keeping trees cut back from roofs, keeping garbage secure and refraining from feeding
any animals outdoors, wild or domestic, should help keep the competition away:

“Don’t get yourself on the menu. That way you won’t end up with an uninvited guest.”

People seem to be under the impression that the Everglades are now full of hundreds of snake hunters on airboats randomly catching pythons and other large snakes, then collecting a bounty from the state of Florida. That is not the case at all.

Those few who are permitted by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission (the FWC)to hunt the pythons in Florida already posessed a Reptile of Concern license and were screened by the FWC. According to Florida statute, the Burmese Python is a Reptile of Concern. Those who hold a Reptile of Concern license and the Python Permit may search for all reptiles listed as Reptile of Concern. These include the Burmese Python, African Rock Python, Amethystine Python, Reticulated Python, Green Anaconda, and Nile Monitor Lizard.

The “bounty” they will collect is the right to sell the hides and meat from the reptile they catch. They will not be paid cash by the state of Florida.

According to the Florida law, if you find a python in the wild, you do not have the right to kill it. You are required to call a nuisance wildlife trapper, and pay to have it removed.
Even we at Nuisance Wildlife Removal can only trap the reptile, not kill it.

PORT ORANGE, Fla. — Homeowners who have dangerous wild pythons slithering around their houses may be stuck with them. While the state is cracking down on wild pythons and, for the first time, allowing hunters to kill the snakes in the Everglades, a Port Orange family is having trouble getting someone to get the python near their house.

HOLIDAY - A large Boa Constrictor was found hiding in a home gutter Tuesday, giving the man who found it quite a scare.
“I ran!” said Joe Saint Aubin, a longtime lawn man who was cutting the grass at a customer’s home when he spotted the bulging five-foot snake peeking from a drain pipe.
“Nobody lives here. These are snowbirds. It has no reason to be here. None of the neighbors lost it. Where it came from, God knows,” he said.
A local trapper took the constrictor, which is believed to have been a pet that either escaped its home or was dumped by its owner. Boa constrictors are not native to Florida, and should not be roaming wild.
Saint Aubin’s find coincides with a congressional hearing looking into the proliferation of non-native species.
Florida Senator Bill Nelson wants to ban exotic snake imports, specifically pythons.
“It’s just a matter of time before one of these snakes gets to a visitor in the Florida Everglades,” said Nelson.
Wildlife officers estimate there are 150,000 to 180,000 pythons loose in Florida.
“Things that belong here are now in competition with these snakes,” said Gary Morse with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.
In addition to highlighting environmental concerns, Senator Nelson also mentioned the story of Shaiunna Hare, the two-year-old who was strangled and killed by a pet python July 1.
Nelson said pythons should be banned as pets.
“I’m glad this damn python is a long way from where I live,” said Michigan Senator Carl Levin.

OXFORD, FL - An 8 1/2 foot long Burmese Python escaped from an aquarium during the night, in a home with 3 small children sleeping in their beds. When the owner discovered the snake missing in the morning, two year old Shaiunna Hare had already had the life squeezed from her.

In the 911 call to police, Charles Jason Darnell, the boyfriend of Shaiunna’s mother, swears and whimpers, telling a dispatcher, “The baby’s dead. … Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby. … She got out of the cage last night and got into the baby’s crib and strangled her to death.”

The child was dead when deputies arrived about 10 a.m.

Officials say it’s the first documented python attack on a human in Florida.

The snake was found under furniture and was alive when officers removed it several hours later from the home on rural County Road 466. Officials said the reptile was a family pet, along with a 6-foot python.

“This is a very sad situation,” Sumter County Sheriff Bill Farmer said. “To keep a large, unsecured snake in the house is just asking for trouble.”

Darnell told deputies he placed the larger snake in a bag, which he put in an aquarium Tuesday night. Darnell said he discovered the snake had escaped when he awoke this morning, officials said.

Darnell, 32, told investigators he found the python on top of Shaiunna. He stabbed it several times to get it to release the child, but it was too late. She also had bite marks on her head.

Two older children who were in the home at the time were unharmed.

Darnell and Shaiunna’s mother, Jaren Ashley Hare, 23, were questioned by deputies. No charges had been filed as of Wednesday night.

The snakes have been confiscated and will be evaluated by a veterinarian to determine whether they should be euthanized, sheriff’s Lt. Bobby Caruthers said.

Darnell does not have a permit to own a Burmese python, classified as a “reptile of concern,” said Joy Hill, spokeswoman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

It’s a second-degree misdemeanor to possess a python without a permit.

Pythons are not a native species but are popular among snake owners. They can grow to more than 25 feet and are constrictors, killing their prey by wrapping themselves around it and squeezing.

Officials say about 450 licensees are permitted to possess reptiles of concern and/or venomous reptiles in Florida

Every once in a while, we get a call to remove a snake, and when I we get there we find a huge python or boa constrictor. These are considered “domestics”, and it is always assumed that they were set loose by some irresponsible owner who could no longer feed and take care of the lengthy beast.

But what if it wasn’t a domestic? What if it were a wild or “feral” snake, which could grow up to 25 feet? What a scary thought.

It has been estimated that there are 10,000 to 20,000 wild constrictors living in the Everglades, competing for and winning a place in the eco-system.  Again, irresponsible owners have been blamed, but what are the odds that there has been a sudden surge in the population of stupid snake owners in south Florida? A more likely scenario, since the time frame seems to fit, is that Hurricane Andrew (1992) released all the animals in pet shops across south Florida, and now 17 years later, the snakes have adapted, probably eating most of the other storm survivors along the way.

Killed or captured pythons have revealed virtually every warm blooded species available, in their stomachs. There is no shortage of food available to them. They are so adapted and well fed, that they can only now spread North, through Florida and beyond, much like the killer bees did through Mexico from South America.

It has been said by many that the snakes can’t go anywhere, because they cannot survive further North. We’re further North, and we’re finding them. Life adapts to new environments gradually, and moves on. There were snakes and other reptiles long before the last ice age, and they are still here. They lived through it.

Now there is an experiment going on at the Savannah River Ecology Lab, funded by the University of Georgia, to see if captured everglades Burmese Pythons can survive the bitter cold winters of South Carolina. They have this Jurassic Park mentality that 10 huge snakes surrounded by 400 feet of 8 foot high fence cannot escape, and would soon die in the wild if they did. As John Hammond, the ficticious creator of Jurassic Park said, “That’s why we’re taking extraordinary precautions. “  And anyone who was entertained by that movie could see, nature has its own agenda.

Don’t worry, they’ll make it there soon enough. Don’t rush it.

If you’re planning to close up the Florida condo for a few months, here are a few things to consider before you leave for home.

Two weeks before you leave:

• Check to see if any prescriptions need to be filled.
• Cover garage windows.
• Call Nuisance Wildlife Removal for a FREE inspection. You dont want any surprise visitors moving in while you’re gone.
• Set timers to control lights - this lets you check that they work.
• Remove keys from “secret” places, both house & car.
• Ask a neighbor to park in your driveway occasionally, and check inside the condo twice a month.
• Arrange to have newspaper & mail delivery stopped

The day you leave:

• Lock all windows and doors.
• Throw away perishables from refrigerator.
• Check expiration dates in the pantry. Will the foods still be good when you return?
• Set air conditioning to 80 degrees to control indoor humidity.
• Turn off water behind toilets.
• Take out the trash.

When you return:

If you didn’t call Nuisance Wildlife Removal before you left, and now smell something dead in the condo, call us now. We will find and retrieve anything dead, and treat the area with special odor neutralizing enzymes.
Call us at 941-729-2103 , or 407-252-4133 in the Orlando area.