This week we heard some welcome news out of New York on the problem of white nose syndroms (WNS). For the past 12 months, wildlife and animal control professionals were fearing the worst. WNS was raging through the brown bat population all across the north; some professionals specializing in bat removal in Michigan were fearing that WNS could potentially wipe out the state's entire brown bat population. Fortunately, this has not been the case.

Figures released out of New York this week by the NY Department of Environmental Conservation showed notable increases in the number of little brown bats in three out of five upstate New York hibernation caves where scientists first noticed white nose decimating winter bat populations six years ago. The largest cave saw an increase from 1,496 little browns last year to 2,402 this winter. These numbers suggest that perhaps bats are learning to adapt to WNS and that the disease may not be the scourge that some were fearing.

However, it is too soon to tell. It will take several years of data collection to find out for certain; meanwhile, white nose syndrome is spreading south (it has been found in Alabama) and now seems to be moving west of the Mississippi, decimating populations of brown bats in the west. How many bats has white nose syndrome killed? Experts estimate at least 5.7 million bats since 2006. In some areas, 90% of the brown bat population have perished.

It is hoped that the numbers out of New York will be replicated elsewhere. A drastic reduction in our bat population would be devastating to agriculture, as farmers rely on bats to feed on the insects that destroy crops.

Click here to read more on bats from our Creature Control website, including the benefits of bats to the ecosystem, signs of a bat problem in the home, and how to get rid of bats.
Click here to read more on the New York report.

It sometimes happens that the alterations we make to our natural surroundings produce unintended consequences. A resident cuts down and old tree in his yard only to find that a colony of ants that had lived in the tree has now migrated into his kitchen. The tearing down of an old barn drives bats into a neighbor's house. Ecosystems are delicate, and when we intefere with them we do not know what we may get.

A great example of this comes out of California, where a very large community of ground squirrels have take up residence at a Chevron gas station in Bakersfield - I say taken up residence, but perhaps taken over would be more accurate.  According to the reports, over thirty ground squirrels have made the gas station their home. They can be seen scurrying around on the gas pumps, scampering across the parking lot and peeping down at patrons from the canopy. 

It is assumed that the squirrels relocated to the gas station after their natural habitat was destroyed due to a nearby residential construction project. In such cases, usually the squirrels relocate to the wild - to have them relocate to a gas station is pretty unusual.

The squirrels have become something a local attraction. People are coming to the gas station from neighboring towns just to see the squirrels, and (much to the chagrin of local wildlife officials), people have begun to feed them. "The problem with providing food for them is that it creates an aberrant behavior. The animals don't learn to function in looking for the foods they should be looking for. Instead, they start looking for foods humans provide," said Don Richardson, curator of the California Living Museum.

But residents enjoy it because they can observe wildlife without leaving their car!

We frequently get calls about squirrels in the attic or squirrels in the wall, but squirrels infesting a gas station is pretty unusual.  Aside from physically seeing the squirrel coming in or out of your home, the best indicator of a squirrel problem is loud noises in the attic: lots of movement, scurrying around, scratching, and even the sound of objects (nuts) rolling. Since raccoons, mice and bats will also take up residence in an attic, a good rule of thumb for identifying a squirrel is that any noise or movement during the day must be a squirrel (or a domestic animal ). Squirrels are the only common attic pests that are not nocturnal (with the exception of the flying squirrel). Squirrels are generally not aggressive; they may "chatter" or bite if cornered.

You can read the original story from KARO Channel 23 here, and don't forget to check out our squirrel page here!

A beaver is being blamed for starting a fire in Kingston, Ontario that has caused over $150,000 in damages. On October 11th, 2011, firefighters from the vicinity of South Frontenac, Ontario were called to a cottage that was engulfed in flames, along with another small building nearby. It was not apparent what had caused the fire until afterward, when investigators noticed that a tree had fallen on some nearby power lines. The tree bore the distinctive markings of beaver-gnawing. The downed tree acted as a conductor that transferred the power from the lines to the ground, where dry leaves and brush caught fire and wind spread it to the nearby cottages. Other trees in the area also showed evidence of being gnawed by beavers.

While Creature Control does not typically get many calls for beavers, this situation is not unlike that caused by another common rodent: the squirrel. Like beavers, squirrels are constantly gnawing; we affectionately refer to the red squirrel as the "chainsaw with paws." While beavers gnaw trees, red squirrels prefer the insulation and wiring in your attic!

Squirrels are solitary until breeding season. They tend to get into the home seeking shelter from the elements or a place to store food; usually they get in around doors and roof lines, or by the foundations. They frequently end up in the attic, but can also get into drop ceilings, walls and basements. Once inside the home squirrels can be very destructive. They can move insulation around, chew wires, gnaw wood, chew drywall, chew through drop ceiling tiles, and bring in debris (like leaves, seeds and nuts) from outside. It is no exaggeration to say that the presence of a squirrel around wires constitutes a very real electrical hazard. In fact, the Illinois Department of Public Health estimates that 25 percent of all fires attributed to “unknown causes” are probably started by rodents gnawing on gas lines, electrical wiring and matches.

Squirrels in the attic can be a serious hazard to the safety of you and your property. If you believe you have any rodents in the home, please contact Creature Control today for a consultation at 1-800-441-1519. Creature Control's technicians are experienced in the art of trapping squirrels.

See here for more on Michigan squirrels.

For almost a decade, Livingston County, Michigan has been trying to put a freeway interchange off of I-96 between the cities of Howell and Brighton. The area has an existing off ramp, but it only goes one way and was not built to handle the modern levels of traffic the area experiences. After years of planning and discussion, the county had finally gotten the project off the ground, started purchasing land and drawing up blueprints when a new and unexpected obstacle cropped up: the presence of the endangered Indiana bat in some dead ash trees on the property slated to be developed. 

Indiana bats are tiny brown bat that are on the federal endangered species list. They are migratory, spending the winter in the cast caves of Indiana but coming up to Michigan during the spring and summer to breed in our forests. The presence of a colony of these bats in the dead ash trees on the project site means that the schematics for the whole project will most likely have to be altered in such a way that the project does not disrupt the habitat of the bats during their breeding season.

The Indiana bat populations are especially delicate because they have already been ravaged by the deadly disease known as White nose syndrome (WNS). White-nose syndrome takes its name from the white fungus that appears on the noses or wings of infected bats. Once a bat contracts WNS, it is almost always fatal. All common species of hibernating bats in Michigan are susceptible to the fungus, but especially those that hibernate in damp, humid areas, such as the Indiana bat.

Livingston County officials still have some time before construction begins and are looking at ways to work around the bat problem, or perhaps relocate the bats.

Click here to read more about WNS.
Click here for more information on bats and Creature Control's bat exclusion process.

The litigious nature of Americans is legendary. We will sue each other over almost anything. A cup of coffee that is too hot. A neighbor's tree branch hanging over our property line. A sleeping student once sued his teacher for waking him up during class. The most recent case of bizarre lawsuits comes from the Charlotte, N.C., which reports that the airline Air Tran is being sued for over $100,000 because some passengers saw cock roaches on the plane.

According to the report, a North Carolina couple was sickened after they witnessed cock roaches crawling in and out of the air vents and storage areas. The couple notified the flight attendants, but the attendants apparently did not think the problem was very pressing and did nothing to relieve the couple's anxiety; eventually, the continued sight of the roaches made the woman nauseous. The couple are now suing Air Trans for $100,000, plus the cost of their tickets, claiming mental and emotional distress.

I don't know what immediate steps the couple expected the flight attendant to do; cock roaches are not the type of insect you can just come in and spray some pesticide on and get rid of them permanently. Any roach treatment needs to be wholistic, taking into account where the roaches came from, the center of the infestation, and potential food and water sources. It's not as easy as just smashing a spider.

Roaches can come into a home (or a plane) in a variety of ways, but once they are spotted in the home, environmental factors become a key determinant in whether the roaches will thrive or not. In a majority of the roach cases we deal with, cock roaches in the house indicate a problem with moisture (this is usually the case when there are cock roaches under the sink or roaches in the laundry room).

If you have roaches, the first thing is to schedule a cock roach inspection with a professional pest control company that has experience dealing with roaches. Each approach to roaches needs to be customized for every situation, much like bed bugs. Once it is determined where the roaches are congregating and how serious the infestation is, a variety of cock roach extermination reatments may be proposed, some more involved than others.

Call Creature Control at 1-800-441-1519 to speak to one of our professionals about roaches.

Click here to read the original story about the roaches on the plane  from WCNC news out of Charlotte.

A home is brought up to 122 degrees with the use of portable (and costly) heating devices

With the continued spread of the bed bug epidemic, many exterminators and pest control comapnies are trying to hop on the bed big bandwagon and offer bed big control services to their customers. Unfortunately, bed bug control is a highly specialized field; proper, effective control of bed bugs requires patience, experience and customized treatments for each individual. Too many people are out there trying to offer quick fixes that, unfortunately, leave the customer disappointed.

Case in point: Residents at a Nahant, MA. apartment complex have repeatedly complained about an ongoing bed bug problem that some say has lasted the better part of a decade. Apparently shopping based on price alone, the apartments brought in a local exterminator who used what was touted as a "bed bug sniffing dog" to find bed bug infestations. Bed bugs were treated with "heat treatments," which essentially means they jack up the temperature in every affected unit to over 122 degrees. These methods proved ineffective, however. The apartment still has bed bugs and residents are extremely upset at the management's apparent inability to solve a longstanding problem (see here for original story).

Not that there have not been any successes with heat treatments; heat remediation has had its proponents, but the method remains controversial. One scholarly study done in 2009 found that bed bugs are often able to resist gradual heat stress, and can also resist "freezing" treatments as well.  The study also found that for heat treatments to reach an acceptable level of effectiveness in killing bed bugs, the heat needs to be hotter than is common in most commercial treatments (in the 135 range, whereas many companies are only going to 122).

Creature Control does not utilize this controversial method. We use a combination of specialized, point-specific chemical treatments and environmental modifications to eradicate bed bugs. We have a specially trained and certified bed bug specialist on staff with years of experience in residential and commercial bed bug treatment who handles all our bed bug calls.

Call Creature Control at 1-800-441-1519 for all your bed bug problems, and let us provide the solutions!

Beginning last month, Ohio is dropping 762,000 of these raccoon rabies vaccines over fourteen counties by air.
 

The Ohio Departments of Health and Natural Resources have become so concerned about the potential exposure of residents to rabid animals that they have begun a massive campaign to distribute rabies vaccines by air, according to an article by the Associated Press. Fourteen counties in northeast Ohio are the subject of the massive vaccination drop, which is aimed at reducing the state's rabid raccoon population. The state has had three confirmed rabid animals in 2011, following upon six confirmed cases in 2010.

The vaccines are contained in a fishmeal that attracts raccoons. Eacg piece of fishmeal is about the size of a packet of ketchup. Beginning last month, the state is in the process of distributing 762,000 pieces of the vaccine over the effected counties, almost all of it dropped from airplane over areas of high raccoon density. It is yet to be seen whether this unprecedented air drop will be successful or not.

Michigan has not yet had any confirmed cases of rabid raccoons in 2011, but that doesn't mean we are lacking in other rabid animals. As of September, Michigan's 2011 tally of confirmed rabid animals includes 45 bats, 2 skunks, 1 fox, 1 woodchuck,  and 1 dog.  Most of the rabid animals found are clustered in southeast Michigan, near our larger urban centers. Livingston County has the numerical highest number of confirmed rabid animals (4 bats and the state's only rabid fox), while Oakland County boats the greatest variety of rabid animals, including skunks, bats and a woodchuck.

While only a test can positively identify rabies, rabid animals usually stand out by their odd behavior. For example, a rabid skunk or raccoon will generally lose their fear of humans and may seem quite "tame", willing to come near human habitations or even draw close to people directly. They are usually slow and lethargic; some people describe them as looking "drunk" (although this may also be a sign of animal distemper). They may be out at irregular times (nocturnal animals showing up during the day - we got a call recently from a woman who had a raccoon simply sitting out her back deck in broad daylight, which was very unusual). During the latter stages of rabies, they will become unusually aggressive. Under no circumstances should you go near an animal you suspect of being rabid - rabies is transmitted by bites and has a very high percentage of fatality.

If you think you are dealing with a rabid animal, call Creature Control immediately. We have the experience and training needed to effectively trap rabid animals: raccon removal, bat removal and skunk removal are what we do best, and if it is a possible case of rabies, it is that much more important that you leave it to the professionals.

Click here for an article on rabies in Washtenaw and Livingston Counties.

Click here to see a map of all confirmed rabid animals caught in Michigan in 2011.

What's the biggest thing you have ever struck and killed with your vehicle? A deer? A very large dog? How about a black bear? Most of us have never had the experience of hitting a black bear with our car and hopefully never will. Yet this is exactly what happened on October 23rd to Craig Feenstra, who was driving a truck on I-96 in Michigan near Grand Rapids when he struck and killed a black bear that had been wandering around on the freeway. "I was coming this way, doing highway speed and all the sudden something black ran from my left to my right and I hit it with my front passenger side", Feenstra said.

The black bear was estimated to be 2 years old and weighed only 150 pounds; not too big for a black bear but large enough to cause concern. Even after it died it was still causing problems: gawkers caused two more accidents on the highway.

Why was this bear in Grand Rapids? In general, bears native to northern Michigan have been gradually making their way south over the past several years, though this is the first time to our knowledge that one has been sited this far down.

Creature Control has handled all sorts of animal control problems in the Grand Rapids area: raccoons in attics, bat infestations, skunk removal. If this trend continues, perhaps we will have to start getting certified in bear trapping and removal!

For more information on animal removal in Grand Rapids, visit our Grand Rapids page here.

Here at Creature Control we deal with a lot of bats. Recently we performed a bat exclusion for a house that was home to over 100 bats. In our business, this is considered a very serious infestation. There have been a few jobs we have done in barns where as many as 500 bats have been evicted. On this blog we recently featured a story about an abandoned home in Georgia that was home to a colony of 20,000 bats.

This makes one wonder how big a bat colony can actually get? I mean, in a worst case scenario, how many bats could take up residence in a home, barn or other urban structure?

There only real limit to how big a bat colony can get is the limitations imposed by the size of the structure they are inhabiting. Typically, residential attics cannot hold more than one or two hundred bats; with barns, this can sometimes get into the thousands. Basically, a bat colony will grow and grow until the size of the structure limits further growth. At that time the colony might break up and form another colony somewhere else.

This means that, given a large enough structure, there is no reason, theoretically, that a single colony couldn't have hundreds of thousands or even millions of bats. The largest bat colony in the world is Bracken Cave in Austin, Texas, which has a colony of around 40 million bats that has been breeding and feeding here for some 10,000 years. The colony is so massive that it consumes 500,000 pounds of insects every single night - that's 48,750 tons of insects eaten each year by this colony alone!

But the Bracken colony is in a massive, ancient cave complex. What about urban bats, those that inhabit man-made structures? Ironically, the largest urban bat colony in the world is also found in Austin, Texas, at the Congress Avenue Bridge. Here, along the scenic bridge overlooking the Colorado River, tourists gather every evening to watch the 1.5 million bats emerge and feed. The bats came here in 1980, after a reconstruction of the bridge created gaps between the concrete component structures that provided ample roosting space for Mexican free tailed bats. Before long, the bats had taken up residence under the bridge. The bats initially caused panic and alarm among Austin residents, who petitioned to have the colony eradicated. But before long, the residents learned the benefits of the colony (20,000 pounds of insects eaten every night ). The Congress Avenue bridge bat colony now generates $10 million in revenue yearly from tourists who come to Austin just to see the bats.

"Help," a frantic woman told me one day recently on the phone, "my house is overrun by cockroaches!"

"Cockroaches?" I said. "That sound serious. Can you describe what you are seeing?"

"They are all over the walls of my house, especially around the windows!" she said. This gave me pause, because typically cockroaches do not hang out on walls, and certainly not around windows. They are nocturnal insects that prefer the darkness.

"What do they look like?" I asked.

"They are little black beetles with red lines on their backs!" As soon as she said that, I knew that the problem was certainly not roaches, but in fact box elder bugs. The woman was mildly relieved; she still wasn't happy about the swarms of bugs all over her home, but she was consoled to know that they were not cockroaches - and that the treatment for them was relatively simple.

Box elder bugs are a type of beetle that typically swarm in the fall. October is the peak month for box elder swarming. During swarming times, large numbers of box elders will cluster together on the sunny side of buildings. These clusters can be quite large - sometimes in the thousands. The swarms are actually large group mating sessions; after the swarming has ended, the box elders will typically look for a warm habitat to migrate to. Usually, this will be your house, since they can sense the heat coming from within your home in the fall.

The box elders come in through loose windows and under doors. They can come on suddenly and in great numbers, leaving the homeowner feeling overwhelmed. You ought not to worry; box elders are not dangerous, and once in the home, they do not reproduce. Their mating has already been completed outside and they only come inside after these mating sessions are over. Usually, they just sit around on your walls and windows, trying to soak up heat. Thus, box elders do not pose the same population control problems as other interior breeding insects, such as cock roaches and ants. In making a pesticide application, it is sufficient to wipe out the existing population.

Typically, box elders can be treated in a single visit with an interior spot-treatment and a perimeter treatment of the exterior. So, there is no need to be alarmed if the black beetles witht he red markings get in the home this fall! Give Creature Control a call at 1-800-441-1519 and we'd be happy to talk to you about box elder treatments (we also have some of the most competitive pricing in the state of Michigan!)

Visit our box elder page on our website for more information!

If you are going to the greater Chicago area anytime soon, there is a great likelihood that you might have a run in with a skunk. According to Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the state's skunk population is out of control. From 2009 to 2010, Illinois' skunk population has increased by 46% (this number is arrived at by making estimates based on the number of skunk roadkill). It's too soon to tell the rate of increase for 2010-2011, but it will most likely be even higher. One local animal control company says that they have trapped 687 skunks this year already, 200 more than the total for 2010. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources says that 8,700 skunks have been trapped by wildlife control companies in 2011.

Why are there so many skunks in Illinois?

Two reasons are put forward. First, the skunk has no natural predators, other than the state's motorists. Therefore, left to themselves, there is no natural competitor that feeds on skunks and keeps their populations in check.

Combine this with reason number two: Midwest skunks are especially prone to rabies, which traditionally has kept their population at manageable levels. But Illinois has not had a major rabies outbreak. in about 25 years, which has given ample time for the state's skunk population to reach critical levels.

In rural areas, it is common to shoot nuisance skunks. In the city, live trapping of skunks is the way to go. Please, don't try to live trap a skunk yourself unless you are prepared to release it. We get a lot of calls from folks who successfully trap skunks, but then are too fearful of handling the cage in order to release them that we have to come do it for them!

Check out our skunk page for more information on skunk trapping, skunk removal and everything to do with the skunk!

You can get more info on the greater Chicago area's skunk problem at this link.

Carpenter ants, commonly known as "big black ants," are a common pest in many Michigan homes. They forage into homes from the outside and chew out wood that might be rotten or wet. The wood is removed to create a complex series of tunnels that will become their colony. Once inside the home, they forage for crumbs and other food sources and drink from leaky or sweating pipes. Sometimes colonies can remain in place for three years before they fully mature (i.e., before you realize there is a big problem). How many carpenter ants can live in a mature colony? Sometimes up to 10,000. At that point, the ants will start to thrust out the excess population in order to start a new colony - that's when you start seeing them all over the home.

Unfortunately, by the time you start seeing them all over, it can often mean that the colony is already quite large. That is why it is very important to call a pest control professional at the first sign of carpenter ants. The ants always forage in from the outside before they set up a colony inside, so whether or not you see a colony, the presence of a carpenter ant in the home means at the very least that the home is being scouted.

Here is a story I saw today on a home repair forum from an individual who knew his mother had a carpenter ant problem but didn't take any action on it until it got out of hand. This person posts:

"My parents have a two-story house in Michigan. They have had a carpenter ant problem in-between the first and second floor. A couple weeks ago a plumber was in the second floor bath to replace a leaking toilet seal. When the toilet was removed, a very large mass of ants fell out from under the toilet. Evidently, they had crawled up through the rotted area around the toilet drainpipe. A lethal dose of RAID was administered. The problem – carpenter ants continue to appear on the first floor. Any suggestions on how to extract all the ants without a full house fumigation or removing the first floor ceiling drywall? A small section of drywall on the first floor below the leaking toilet was removed (water damaged), but there are no signs of ants here."

Had a pest control company, like Creature Control, been called as soon as the first sign of ants was detected, this unfortunate scenario could have been avoided. RAID might have worked for killing the immediate mass of ants that fell out of the toilet, but to destroy the rest of the colony, typically a pest control company that specializes in carpenter ant extermination needs to come in, do a thorough inspection and develop a customized treatment. This may not necessitate removing drywall, but it may involve drilling small holes strategically in the drywall to administer targeted pesticide applications to knock out the ant colony.

Please note, you cannot "fumigate" the house for carpeneter ants; carpenter ant treatments need to be very targeted and focused on treating the specific colony.

If you see "big black ants" in the home, you ought to call a pest control professional right away and at least get an inspection. A treatment for a carpenter ant invasion in the initial stages is not expensive or involved, but treating and removing a full-blown colony in the advanced stages of maturity is a bit more so. When it comes to carpenter ants, it pays to be proactive!

Call Creature Control's carpenter ant experts at 1-800-441-1519 for a free phone consultation, or click here to read more about carpenter ants.

Residents of Tifton, GA. stand outisde an historic house to watch local wildlife control officials perform a bat exclusion of 20,000 Mexican free-tailed bats that had taken up residence in the abandoned home.

"Last night, I was woken up by a bat flying around my bedroom!" A lot of bat calls at Creature Control begin this way. As terrifying as this experience may be, usually the homeowner can take consolation that at least there was only one bat flying around. While residential bat colonies usually number in the dozens, or a hundred nin severe cases, one home in Tifton, Georgia was recently found to be hosting 20,000 bats.

The home had been in foreclosure for some time and, since it was uninhabited, the bat colony in the attic was able to proliferate unchecked. The massive colony had spread out of the attic and was also inhabiting the second floor of the house; the first story was littered with dead bats. Neighbors stated that the odor of the house in the summer is horrible, as the intense Georgia heat roasts the hundreds of pounds of bat droppings (guano) that have accumulated in the home.

In our opinion, a home in this state that has been damaged by so much guano should probably be condemned and destroyed. The real estate company that lists the house has other plans, however. “The goal is for everyone to work together so that a family can live here safely,” realtor Julie Smith said. “We hope it can again become a house in the historic district that is a viable property on the tax digest.” In Creature Control's experience, the length of time it would take to exclude 20,000 bats and the cost of removing hundreds of pounds of bat guano, disinfecting the home and restoring damaged insulation, carpeting, drywall and wood would probably be cost prohibitive, in this economy at least.

The lesson of this story is that a bat problem will not go away on its own. If you have bats in the house, it is absolutely essential to have a bat control professional handle the problem through tried and true methods of bat eviction and exclusion. It cost some money, but not as much as if you allow the colony to grow over many years.

For more information on bat eviction, contact Creature Control at 1-800-441-1519.

Read the full story of the Tifton bat house here.

Click here to watch a video of Creature Control doing a bat eviction.

It is early autumn, the time when weather starts to turn cold at night and rodents seek for warmer habitats - usually the basement or attic of some unsuspecting homeowner!

While an increase in rodent activity in the Fall is common, a rodent infestation on an airplane is not. Yet this is exactly what was reported by the Asian Nepal Airlines this week. Airline officials say flight attendants spotted a mouse in the pantry of a Boeing 757, prompting Nepal Airlines to cancel a Bangkok-bound flight, evacuate passengers and tow the jet to a hanger to hunt for the rodent.

Airline spokesman Raju K.C. says the mouse is believed to have boarded the plane at the Katmandu airport Monday through a food catering truck (if the mouse came from a catering truck, it would be helpful for locals to know which catering company had mice in their food trucks).

He says the animal darted out of the pantry toward the back of the plane, where it remained unnoticed by the few passengers who had boarded. The cabin crew unsuccessfully hunted the mouse and then decided to cancel the flight and perform a more thorough search. The airline spokesman says the plane will not be used again until the mouse is found.

While grounding an entire flight due to the presence of a mouse might seem to be an overreaction to some, rodents can and do cause a significant amout of electrical damage every year by gnawing on wires. Besides being the cause of housefires, rodent gnawing is also an issue when vehicles are allowed to sit out in yards or fields without being used for long periods of time. Many people find, upon trying to restart cars that have been allowed to sit, that mice have gnawed through wiring. Thus, the presence of a mouse on a plane, with the possibility that it could get into wiring, does pose a very serious threat to safety.

Not to mention that mice have the tendency to provoke hysteric reactions from men and women who are sometimes desperately afraid of the little rodents.

While we generally don't handle mice in airplanes, Creature Control does take care of mice in the attic and even mice in cars, RVs and trailers. Call Creature Control for any questions on effective mouse and rat control!

Raccoons can be one of the most tenacious of all nuisance wildlife species? If you don't believe us, just ask the White House. Despite being one of the most closely guarded and monitored structures in the world, White House security has been unable to keep out of family of raccoons that have been roaming the White House grounds.

The last time a raccoon lived on the White House grounds was during the 1920's, when First Lady Grace Coolidge kept one as a pet. But the raccoon infestation at the Obama White House is of a different sort - these coons are wild, and since 2009 Secret Service and the National Park Service have tried in vain to capture the raccoon family. This is despite the heavily armed patrols, motion detectors, secret tunnels and video surveillance of every square inch.

Washington D.C., as most urban centers, has a high population density of raccoons. It is estimated that our nation's capital contains about 90 raccoons per square mile. This high population density is due to the abundance of trash cans throughout the city and the easy availability of food.

This demonstrates something that we are always telling customers at Creature Control: If there are conditions conducive to raccoon infestation, you will attract raccoons. It might not be your fault; one of our technicians, Tim, had a family that was dealing with a severe raccoon problem:

"This family lived in a pretty normal house with a normal city lot, but unfortunately it backed up against the alley behind a large mall, so there were always raccoons scavenging back there that eventually made their way into the yard. I think I removed seven raccoons from their property over a period of two weeks."

Calls for raccoon removal are common if there are a lot of dumpsters, garbage cans, or densely populated urban areas nearby. As the President has found out, they are not easy to keep out. That's why the best raccoon prevention is to keep your trash safely secured and keep clutter in and around the garage or barn areas to a minimum. But, if you do find yourself burdened with a raccoon problem, don't hesitate to call Creature Control for professional and effective raccoon trapping and removal.
 

Click here to read a more expansive article on the White House raccoons from National Geographic.
 

An Ann Arbor family was recently treated for rabies after a bat found in the home tested positive for the disease. There is no evidence at this point that anyone in the family was actually bitten; the family noticed the bat flying in the house on August 3rd and upon returning a few days later, found the bat dead. The family turned the bat over to the Health Department, who said that the bat did indeed test positive for rabies. If a bat is found dead in the home, the Health Department will usually recommend rabies treatment, since it is sometimes difficult to tell whether or not a person has been bitten.

This is the third rabid bat that has been found in Ann Arbor this year. Rabies in bats is usually very rare; it is estimated that only 5% of all bats carry the disease. Humans getting rabies from bats is even more rare - since 1960, only 40 human deaths have been linked to rabies contracted from bats.

Some think rabies among bats may be on the rise. In 2010, two bats tested positive for rabies in Washtenaw County. In 2009, no bats were found with rabies, and in 2008, two bats tested positive. Without having access to larger bat populations for testing, it is hard to say. Rabies has been on the rise in Washtenaw County among other mammals, however.

There is no easy way to tell if a bat is rabid just by observing it; rabies can be confirmed only by having the animal tested in a laboratory.

If you think you may have been bitten by a bat, seek treatment for rabies. Because bats have small teeth and claws, it is possible to be bitten by a bat and not know it. Therefore, if you find you've been sleeping in the same room with a bat you should see a doctor as soon as possible. If you have found a bat in your home, call Creature Control's bat removal experts.

The early symptoms of rabies in people are similar to that of many other illnesses, including fever, headache, and general weakness or discomfort. As the disease progresses, more specific symptoms appear and may include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation (increase in saliva), difficulty swallowing, and hydrophobia (fear of water). Death usually occurs within days of the onset of these symptoms. Though it is extremely rare to contract rabies from an encounter with a bat, the severity of the disease makes it a prudent idea to seek treatment for rabies if you have come in close contact with a bat.

Call Creature Control at 1-800-441-1519 for professional bat removal and bat control!

It seems the world's largest rodent, the South American capybara, has been sighted in southern California. A  technician who works at a water treatment plant in Paso Robles, California., was near a solid-waste pond when he spotted something emerging from the murky water...

The creature was a capybara, a South American rodent that can grow up to 4 feet long and weigh up to 120 pounds. Capybaras are the world's largest rodents. They are semi-aquatic creatures who feed on grass and freshwater plants and typically live in the marshlands and swamps of South America. Capybaras have been sighted in California before; some wildlife control specialists believe that the Paso Robles capybara is the same creature from the other prevuous sightings. A capybara sighting at a golf course in 2008 was dismissed as a beaver until the recent sighting of the creature on Paso Robles confirmed its identity.

Since capybara's are not native to Mexico or Central America, it is highly unlikely that the creature would have came into California via natural migration. It is more likely that it was being kept as an exotic pet and escaped.

The capybara is not dangerous, although sighting of the 120 pound rodent understandably unnerve some. The capybara is a distant relative of the guinea pig.

Click here to read more from NBC LA.

One Sand Lake, MI. family experienced this first hand. After dealing with bats in the attic for some time, they called in a professional wildlife control company. That company estimated that it would be $15,000 to remove the bats and restore the attic, which had been ruined by the bat guano. The family's insurance company refused to pay for any of the clean up.

This left the family in a tight spot: they could not afford to foot the bill for the bat eviction and restoration, but neither could they remain in the home with all the bats, whose accumulated droppings had turned the upper level of the home into a health hazard.

Fortunately, Creature Control got wind of the story and offered to help. WZZM news out of Grand Rapids explains what happened next (if you cannot view the video, click here):

Bat exclusion is something we know very well. As you can see from the video, bat removal is a complex process involving several steps. In the first place, entry points must be identified; these are the locations where the bats are entering and exiting the home. After the points are identified, we use check valves, one way devices, to evict the bats from the home. This is called bat eviction, the physical act of removing the bats from the home. After eviction comes bat exclusion, the act of repairing the entry points so that bats cannot gain access to the home in the future.

We at Creature Control are particularly happy that the video mentioned another important part of bat eviction - getting the insurance company to pay for damages. From the first inspection through the bat exclusion process down to the nitty-gritty of getting insurance companies to pay for restoration, Creature Control can help.

The big news this week out of Livingston County, Michigan is the capture of a 35 pound African serval cat. The animal was spotted wandering along the side of the road late one evening and was subsequently picked up by Livingston County Animal Control officials working in conjunction with the Livingston County Sherriff's Department. The animal control official used a catch pole to snare and restrain the animal, which was described as putting up "quite a fuss" about being captured.

Servals are small, exotic cats native to Africa. They are related to the cheetah and more distanctly to the lion, ranging all throughout central Africa. Servals can grow up to three feet long and walk two feet off the ground, weighing up to 36 lbs. Their coats are tawny with black spots, similar to that of a cheetah. Relative to their body size, servals have the longest legs of any cat. Servals also have extremely large ears and a highly developed sense of hearing. They hunt mainly at night and feed on rodents, though they will also kill and eat birds, reptiles, fish and frogs.

Servals are increasingly being domesticated and brought to the United States. Though they are exotic, serval cats are not considered dangerous to humans. They do not need to be registered or microchipped.

A second serval cat was recently spotted on Fausset Road north of Howell. It is unknown how many serval cats may be in the area, but animal control officials, local authorities and residents are obviously worried about too many of them roaming the woods and fields of northern Livingston County, which are not too dissimilar from the serval's native savannah.

As for the serval captured this week, it will likely end up at Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek if its owner doesn't come forward within four days as required under law.

Click here for photos of the two servals; click here for the original story from Clickon Detroit.com.

Here at Creature Control, one of our most common calls is for raccoons that have gotten into the house. When a raccoon gets into your attic or wall, it can do a tremendous amount of damage. We're talking thousands of dollars in torn, destroyed insulation, holes clawed in drywall, damaged electrical wiring and contanimation from feces.

Even if a raccoon does not get into your home, it is good to remember that they are, in fact, dangerous animals. This is not so much because they attack humans, but because of the many diseases they carry. We are reminded of this by a sad story out of New York, where two young people contracted the ringworm nematode commonly carried in the feces of raccoons and suffered irreparable damage.

In the first case, a Brooklyn teenager has gone blind in one eye from contracting the disease. In the second, an infant, who may have accidentally touched raccoon feces and put their fingers in their mouth, contracted the nematode and is sufferng from brain damage.

These cases are tragic, but they remind us that raccoons, whether or not they are "cute", carry a lot of diseases that can have devastating effects on humans. You should never touch a raccoon, nor let your children play in areas raccoons are known to frequent. If you suspect a raccoon is living in your home or yard, call Creature Control's animal removal professionals right away!

As we mentioned recently, there has been a general rise the prevalence of rabies among animal populations in southeastern Michigan. Though usually rabies is associated with bats, raccoons and dogs, it can infect other animals as well. Case in point - foxes.
 

A Livingston County resident was recently bitten by a rabid fox, prompting health authorities to issue a public warning. County authorities said the unidentified Howell resident was bitten on the leg by the wild fox in late May, but released few other details about the attack. The fox was captured in a field near Mason and Dieterle Roads in Marion Township, west of Howell, and was later tested to be positive for rabies by the Michigan Department of Community Health. Livingston County Public Health officials strongly advise anyone who may have been exposed to the fox to immediately seek medical attention. If a human contracts rabies and goes untreated, it is fatal almost 100% of the time.

Another second rabid fox was captured in Whitmore Lake off of US-23 on July 7th. The fox was wandering on the side of the road near Greek Oak township acting strangely. This fox was captured and also tested positive for rabies.

There are two types of rabies: "furious" rabies and "dumb" rabies. Signs of furious rabies are foaming at the mouth, erratic behavior, attacking stationary objects, gnawing and biting their own limbs and extreme excitement and aggression. "Dumb" rabies is usually what animal removal specialists refer to as distemperment and is usually not rabies in the specific sense (see here for more on distemperment). In either case, if you see an animal acting strangely, you should not approach it. Call animal control professionals or county workers and keep a good distance from the animal.

Click here for more information on foxes.

On June 29th, Kevin was attacked at around 2:00 AM wile sleeping in his tent. He was dragged from his tent and was later found dead laying 25 feet away. Though the incident took place far away on the northeastern border of Yellowstone National Park, it is still ironic and upsetting news for the local wildlife control staff hear in Grand Rapids. Wildlife is our life here at Creature Control, and for the most part are interactions with wildlife are quite pleasant. Working as a wildlife management professional, you can't help but have a better understanding of wildlife and their habits along with their quirks. What happened to Mr. Kammer can best be described as a quirk, since It is very unusual for bears to be so predatory.

Bears are large territorial preditors that deserve alot of respect. It is important to properly prepare and arm yourself when in bear country. Unfortunately this has been a great point of contention at Yellowstone. While carrying firearms in the park is legal, the discharge of a firearm is prohibited because of  some (in our opinion, poorly written) anti-poaching laws.

Creature Control prides itself as being one of the most humane and conscientious wildlife control firms in the industry. We strive to maintain the highest level of treatment for our wild friends, from nitch relocation,to animal rehabilitation and habitat displacement solutions, Creature Control is working hard for its clients.

The University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens recently received a large donation of the fascinating family of flora known as "ant plants." Ant plants have a symbiotic relationships with ants, which live in the plants' enlarged stem base (called a caudex). The caudex forms early in the seedling's life cycle and eventually grows large enough to house chambers and tunnels. Some of the tunnels connect to the outside of the caudex and become the holes through which the ants enter the plant. As the caudex matures, new tunnels and chambers form — some connect to existing chambers and others make new entry holes. Thus, the ants do not chew the chambers; the plant forms the chambers and the ants come and live in them. It is an astonishingly complex symbiotic relationship.

The mutual cooperation between the biological systems of the ants and the caudex of the ant plants is truly amazing. As it develops, the caudex forms two distinct types of chambers: one with smooth walls and one with "warts" that help the plant absorb nutrients. The ants raise larvae and pupa in the smooth chambers and deposit waste in the warted chambers. As the waste decays, it releases nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which help the plant to grow. The ants get a safe, dry place to breed and feed on the other insects that attack the plant, thus serving as a defense mechanism.

Most ant plants are in the genus Myrmecodia or Hydnophytum. There are also ant ferns in the genus Lecanopteris.

If you are in the Ann Arbor, MI area and are interested in ants, go over to Matthaei Bontanical Gardens and check out the ant plant displays! Check out our ant page here for more information on carpenter ants, pavement ants, and options for ant treatment for the home.

The DNR has recently concluded a study of 24 known hibernation sites for bats throughout the state and has declared that the dreaded fungal disease known as White Nose Syndrome (WNS) has not made any inroads among the Michigan bat population, for the time being. It was feared that the disease, which came from Europe via Canada, would decimate michigan's bat population, as it has already decimated the endangered Indiana bat (which hibernates in the Grand Rapids-Manistee area). All of Michigan's nine bat species are at risk, including the little brown bat, the big brown bat, the tri-colored bat, and the northern long-eared bats, but especially the cave-dwelling bats who hibernate together, where the disease is easily spread. 

Farmers, animal removal specialists and conservationists are all gladdened by the news. Creature Control technician Jason Sutton, who handles bat removal in Grand Rapids and the surrounding areas, was quite pleased with the DNR report. "Bats are very important to the local ecosystem. They eat a ton of insects that would otherwise damage crops, so they actually save a lot of money," Sutton said. It is estimated that bats save farmers around $508 million per year by eating insects that could be potentially harmful to agriculture.

Despite the good news, all of our bats are still at risk, as there is no reason the disease could not spread into our bat populations. Wildlife control personnel and the DNR will be monitoring the development and spread of this disease very closely.
 

To learn more about WNS and Michigan's bats, click here or here.

This photo was snapped of the bear cub in Dexter earlier this week

State and local wildlife control officials are warning residents of Webster Township in Washtenaw County to lock down potential food sources after a black bear was sighted in rural Dexter earlier this week.

The bear was reported after a man and his wife sighted it running across a yard near Mast and Huron River Drive in Dexter. Although residents were alarmed at the presence of a bear so far south (usually bears are only found north of Gratiot County), fortunately the bear was only a cub, probably driven south by an older male competing for territory. DNR officials warned residents not to attempt to feed or hunt the bear. This is not the only bear sighting in southern Michigan in recent years; two years ago a bear was sighted in Jackson and there have also been bears sighted in the Grand Rapids area, as reported by Grand Rapids animal control officials.

Michigan is home to about 19,000 black bears; 90% of them live in the Upper Peninsula. Black bear are shy by nature. If you were hiking through the woods, a bear would most likely hear you or pick up your scent and run off before you even knew it was there. Bear have a natural fear of humans and it is best if that fear remains intact. If we leave foods accessible to bear, they may overcome their fear of humans in order to take advantage of it. Bear that learn to associate food with humans can be dangerous. People must act responsibly when living or vacationing in bear country, and know what activities are likely to attract bear. Prevention is the key to avoiding people-bear conflicts.

United States Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-Michigan 10th District) introduced legislation to delist gray wolves in three areas within the lower 48 states, including the Western Great Lakes Distinct Population Segment which contains Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
 

The proposed bill HB 1819(IH), titled the State Wildlife Management Act of 2011, would amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) to return management authority to the states to address gray wolf populations. The bill would allow the state wildlife agencies to manage wolf populations without federal administration and would delist gray wolves as endangered or threatened species, dependent upon a minimum population level. For Michigan, this amendment would remain in place so long as wolf populations in the state remained above 150. If the wolf population dropped below the stated level, gray wolves would again be considered endangered or threatened and the wolf population would need to remain above 150 for 2 consecutive years as demonstrated by the Secretary of the Interior.

As you can see from this timeline, the orginal goal in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency (USFWS) recovery plan for Michigan and Wisconsin's combined population was 100, which was met in 1994. Michigan's updated 2008 Wolf Management Plan strives to maintain a minimum of 200 animals in order to "ensure the viability of the Michigan wolf population regardless of the biological status of wolves in other neighboring States and Provinces". Thus, Michigan is striving to keep them off the endangered species list so they can be properly managed to reduce human/domestic animal conflicts, which is a common sense, science-based approach. This should not be a problem at all, since Michigan's current winter wolf population is estimated at 687 animals, which—when combined with Wisconsin's wolf population—is now 15 times the original recovery goal set by the USFWS.
 

Animal rights/anti-hunting groups have consistently opposed USFWS attempts to delist wolves and other species that could potentially be game species. The USFWS has already begun the process to delist over 5,000 gray wolves in the Northern Rockies area as well as the Great Lakes area, however it remains to be seen if this delisting will finally be upheld in the courts. Even the filing of a lawsuit and a temporary injunction, whether it succeeds or now, could draw the delisting process out for a year or more. There is currently a 60-day comment period now open to give your thoughts on delisting wolves in the Western Great Lakes Region. Here's the link to review the materials and give online comments. You may comment in 2 ways:

• Electronically: Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: direct link to proposed rule here or via http://www.regulations.gov. In the Enter Keyword or ID box, enter FWS-R3-ES-2011-0029, which is the docket number for this rulemaking. Then, in the search panel at the top of the screen, under the Document Type heading, click on the Proposed Rules link to locate this document. You may submit a comment by clicking on ``Submit a Comment.''

• By hard copy: Submit by U.S. mail or hand-delivery to:
  Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS-R3-ES-2011-0029;
  Division of Policy and Directives Management;
  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
  4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS 2042-PDM;
  Arlington, VA 22203

Despite the fact that the Michigan state animal is the wolverine (and that this is the name of our most well-known collegiate sports team), it has been a matter of debate for decades whether or not the wolverine was ever native to Michigan. Wolverines were last spotted in Michigan in the early 1800's, though it is uncertain if they had roamed in from Canada or were truly native to the area.

The wolverine is a stocky, muscular carnivore that resembles a small bear, although it is more closely related to the weasel (it is in fact the largest creature in the weasel family). Wolverines currently only live in extreme northern climates, such as Alaska, Canada and Siberia, though they are believed to have once ranged over much of North America. The very large range of the wolverine makes it difficult to know if it was ever native to Michigan, as radio tracking devices have revealed wolverines to range several hundred miles.

In 2004, a wolverine was sighted in Huron County in Ubly, about 90 miles north of Detroit. The DNR called the sighting "unprecedented", akin to a "caribou or polar bear" turning up in Michigan. The wolverine, an adult female, was sighted several times over the next six years and became somewhat of a regular in Huron County and Sanilac County; it was photographed extensively by Jeff Fords, a science teacher, until it died, apparently of natural causes, in March of 2010. The animal was the only wolverine ever verified in the State of Michigan.

Relatives of the wolverine include weasel and the mink, the latter common to Michigan.

Spring is the season for moles in Michigan! The thawing of the ground softens the soil and makes it easier for moles to tunnel. The melting snow and abundance of rain bring worms and grubs to the surface, providing moles with an ample feast after the long winter. In many cases, no sooner has the snow vanished than the yard erupts in molehills.

Because of their tremendous capacity for destruction, people will often resort to very bizarre procedures in hopes of getting rid of their moles. Some people have tried to litter mole tunnels with broken glass in hopes that the moles would eat the glass shards and die; others have dumped gasoline down the tunnels and lit them on fire, while others simply walk around and step on the mole mounds, hoping that this will have some sort of effect.

One of the most prevalent "home remedies" for mole control is the practice of attaching a hose to a tractor or truck's exhaust pipe, placing the end of the hose in the mole hole and flushing the tunnels with exhaust. It is believed that this will either flush the moles out or kill them outright. But does this remedy really work?

Though this method has been hallowed by decades of repetition, its usefulness is very doubtful. The main reason pumping exhaust into mole tunnels fails is that people tend to underestimate how extensive a complex of mole tunnels can be. Moles can dig up to 100 yards per day and can create miles of tunnels over several acres; in addition to this, while moles generally dig within a foot of the surface, they are capable of digging down at least 10 feet, so the tunnels may be very extensive vertically as well as horizontally. When exhaust is pumped into a tunnel, a mole will simply remove itself to a more distant part of the tunnel complex to avoid the fumes.

But won't the fumes eventually fill the whole tunnel up and kill the mole? No, for the simple reason that a mole tunnel is not a perfectly closed system. Such a technique might work if the moles were running around in an artificially constructed tunnel network made out of PVC pipes, for example. In real life, the majority of the exhaust pumped into a mole tunnel will be absorbed by the soil. The end result will be that the moles are not dealt with and the yard stinks.

If you don't believe us, here's a testimonial from someone who unfortunately tried the old exhaust method:

"We tried everything we heard to get rid of moles. We even ran a hose from our car exhaust to a mole run, hoping the gas would either kill one or two of them or bring them out of the ground. The only thing it did was make our whole yard smell like exhaust fumes."

Some people insist that they have had success with exhaust; if this is so, the success are far outweighed by the failures. Live trapping is the easiest, safest and most effective way to handle moles. If you have more questions about moles or are ready to have your moles professionally removed, check out our mole page here.

A new deadly disease called white-nose syndrome is ravaging Michigan's bat population. White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease of hibernating bats that is spreading west into Michigan from the northeastern United States. White-nosed syndrome is caused by a fungus, which though not contagious to humans or domestic animals, is frequently lethal to infected bats. Bat deaths from WNS have been so severe in the past four years that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, in February 28th, 2011, sent out a memo suggesting that North American bats may face regional, or even complete, extinction.

Though this may perhaps be an exaggeration on the part of the DNR, it is certainly the case that any substantial decline in the population of native bats would have profound economic, ecological and regulatory consequences.

White-nose syndrome takes its name from the white fungus that appears on the noses or wings of infected bats. This is the most easily identifiable sign of white-nosed syndrome, but other symptoms include bats flying around during the daytime (bats are typically noctural and daytime flight is highly unusual), bats flying in the winter (bats should be hibernating during the winter), bats having difficulty flying, large numbers of dead and dying bats, especially at the opening of a cave or mine in the winter, and bats with scarred or misshapen wings at any time of year.

All common species of hibernating bats in Michigan are susceptible to the fungus: little brown bats, big brown bats, northern long-eared bats, eastern pipestrelles/tricolored bats and Indiana bats; it is uncertain whether forest dwelling bats will be equally affected by WNS. Bats are more susceptible to WNS if they hibernate in damp, humid areas. Bats that  invade houses to roost in attics and wall voids are generally not considered to be at as high a risk, since walls and attics of homes are relatively dry.

If WNS continues to spread and decimates the bat populaton considerably, there will be drastic consequences:

Ecological: Entire species of bats experiencing drastic decline in numbers will effect local ecosystems in ways we cannot predict.

Economic: Bats consumer millions of insect pests each year. As bat populations decline, these insects will be free to increase and damage crops unhindered. Wildlife control companies who depend on bat calls for a large part of their revenue (especially in the northern part of the state) will also be affected.

Regulatory: As once common species of bats are declared threatened or endangered, the government oversight of any human interaction with bats will increase dramatically.

If you think you have come in contact with a bat infected with WNS, please contact the DNR Wildlife Disease Lab at 517-336-5030; in this way you can assist the DNR in their WNS surveillance efforts by helping them collect samples of suspect bats for testing.

What does rabies look like in an animal? With rabies on the rise on Ingham, Washtenaw and Oakland counties, wildlife control professionals, homeowners and all animal owners are getting more opportunities to see the disease at work. One vet records his first encounter with a rabid horse:

"This horse just went mad. He attacked a tractor, a manure spreader, the fence. He knocked all his front teeth out. Then he attacked a Hereford cow, took her down and just ripped on her. I never heard such a noise as came out of this horse. It was agonizing." They were able to rope the horse and euthanize it before he injured anyone. "We thought it was probably bit by a skunk but we never knew for sure. We'd vaccinated the rest of the horses but it's a big herd and this one young horse had somehow missed the vaccine. We had to quarantine eight other horses for six months but luckily I was able to convince the MDA it wasn't necessary to quarantine the whole farm. It could've put them out of business."

An Oakland County vet recalled his first time treating a rabid horse in a Washtenaw County stable n 2006:

"The client called in the morning and said the horse was very aggressive. It was sweating and biting other horses, running through fences and into trees, pretty much oblivious to everything. It was very much what you'd call classic rabies behavior. When I got there the horse was down on the ground. Even though it was a cold winter day, it was in a complete sweat. As I walked up, the horse literally took its last breath and expired on its own." The autopsy confirmed the presence of rabies.

The same vet describes anothe encounter with a rabid horse in Oakland County:

"We'd noticed he was off his feed but we just thought at first it was a sore throat or something. He was just not eating, then he got a little stumbly, not sure on his feet."

In each of these cases, wildlife control professionals believe the infected horses may have contracted the rabies from skunks or bats. There are two types of rabies: "furious" rabies and "dumb" rabies. Signs of furious rabies are foaming at the mouth, erratic behavior, attacking stationary objects, gnawing and biting their own limbs and extreme excitement and aggression. "Dumb" rabies is usually what animal removal specialists refer to as distemperment and is usually not rabies in the specific sense (see here for more on distemperment).

The European starling is one of the most common nuisance birds in the United States. Introduced to the U.S. in 1891, the 50 original pairs have ballooned into a national population estimated at 200 million.

Starlings have a black, speckled coloration and a very short tail. They prefer urban or suburban habitats where man-made structures give them ample nesting and roosting sites. They are mainly insectivorous, but will also feed on small fruits, such as cherries and grapes, as well as apples, which they peck holes in and hollow out. They are among the worst nuisance species in North America, disrupting native birds, destroying fruit, interfering with air travel and roosting on city blocks

Starlings carry a host of diseases, many transferrable to livestock, but several that can infect humans. Five bacterial diseases, two fungal diseases, four protozoan diseases, and six viral diseases may potentially be transmitted to humans and other animals by starlings (see this article from Utah State University). This post will examine some of the potential health risks associated with starlings.

Starling droppings, like those of many other, may contain histoplasmosis fungus. Histoplasmosis is a disease affecting the lungs that can be fatal if left untreated. It is usually contracted when humans inhale the spores of the fungus, which become airborne if the droppings are disturbed (check out the CDC's webpage on histoplasmosis for more information).

Starlings are also capable of transmitting cryptococcosis to humans. Cryptococcosis is caused by yeast found in the intestinal tract of pigeons and starlings that passes into their droppings and is contracted similarly to histoplasmosis. The illness often begins as a pulmonary disease and may later affect the central nervous system. Since attics, cupolas, ledges, schools, offices, warehouses, mills, barns, park buildings, signs, etc. are typical roosting and nesting sites, the fungus is apt to found in these areas.

In addition to this, starlings are capable of passing E. coli and Salmonella to humans indirectly through contamination of livestock. Rural starlings frequent livestock feedlots, where they tend to roost on fences or ledges above feeding areas. Their droppings, which carry the two bacteria, get into the cattle feed and water and consequently infect the livestock. Starlings recently tested in Kansas were found to carry E. coli; other tests have found both Salmonella and paratuberculosis (Johne's Disease) in starlings as well, so they are a real threat to livestocky, and indirectly, to human beings.

Another disease carried by starlings is transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGE), which infects swine by means of starling droppings. TGE can be treated, but it is very dangerous in piglets - an almost 100% mortality within 2 to 3 days in piglets under 7 days old (see here for more on pigs and TGE).

Starlings are very unhealthy birds who carry a tremendous amount of diseases. Their droppings are very dangerous and should not be moved or handled without the proper personal protective equipment. If starlings are roosting near your home or business, it is prudent to remove them and have their feces professionally cleaned as soon as possible.

For more information on nuisance birds, or if you are dealing with an unwanted bird in your home or property, please visit Creature Control's bird page here for more information.

The nematode Baylisascaris procyonis a roundworm found in the raccoon, its definitive host; it also goes by the common name of helminth.

The nematode was first discovered back in the 1930's in raccoons at a New York City zoo, however until recently is was rare for the worm to transfer from small mammals to humans. Only within the last 25 years has this changed; not only are humans now included in the group of intermediate hosts, but reported cases of human baylisascariasis started to be reported.

The nematode is very common in raccoons; the Center for Disease Control estimates 70% infection rates in adults and 90% in juvenile raccoons (see here).

The helminth is a parasitic worm that lives in the intestinal track of the raccoon. Raccoons ingest the worm eggs in the wild, afterwhich they hatch grow to adulthood inside the raccoon's small intestine within 2 to 4 weeks. Female helminths can reach up to 24 cm with males typically reaching 12 cm. The worms will lay their eggs inside the intestine of the raccoon, while will then discharge them in its fecal matter, making raccoon feces a source of potential danger for humans.

The nematode is much more dangerous if it gets into a human host. The most common way the eggs are picked up by humans is by young children playing in the dirt. Once the eggs get into a human host, the condition known as baylisascariasis ensues as the eggs hatch into larvae and migrate through a wide variety of tissues (liver, heart, lungs, brain, eyes) results in Visceral Larva Migrans (VLM) and Ocular Larva Migrans (OLM) syndromes, similar to toxocariasis. Tissue damage and the signs and symptoms of baylisascariasis are often severe because of the size of Baylisascaris larvae, their tendency to wander widely, and the fact that they do not easily die. Though very rare, human Baylisascaris has been fatal.

The presence of the helminth nematode in raccoons and their droppings is one reason why raccoons should not be approached or handled in the wild. If you have a raccoon problem in your home or yard, please contact the professionals at Creature Control for assistance, or check out our raccoon page here for more information on raccoons and how to remove them.

But perhaps we are getting ahead of ourselves: What is animal distemperment, anyway?

Distemperment (sometimes simply called "distemper") is a disease that affects raccoons, skunks and other small mammals; it can be spread to cats and dogs as well. Distemperment is a virus that affects the respiratory, gastrointestinal and central nervous systems of affected animals and is always fatal. Though humans cannot contract distemperment, it is of particular concern due to the fact that it can (and frequently does) spread from raccoons and skunks into domesticated dogs and cats, at which point it is usually termed canine or feline distemperment. The virus is spread through the air by means of nasal discharge, coughing and sneezing.

Symptoms of Distemper

Initially, distempered animals may discharge fluid from their eyes and nose and may sneeze or drool excessively. As the disease progresses, an animal infected by distemper will begin to exhibit strange behavior. They will act sick and confused and will often appear dazed; they may stagger when they walk. Besides staggering and clumsiness, they will begin to fall down  as the disease enters its last stage, the neurological phase. At this point the animal will begin to have seizures that will eventually lead to death. Once distemperment is evident in an animal the disease progresses rapidly, killing the host in up to two weeks. Most people who have had encounters with distempered animals say that the animal is "acting drunk" (see video below).

Animal distemper is almost always mistaken for rabies. Though the diseases do share many things in common, they are distinct. For one thing, distempered animals do not foam at the mouth, which is a common sign of rabies. Rabies can spread to humans, and indeed can effect a broad variety of animals, whereas distemperment is limited to canines, felines and  members  of the weasel families, as well as raccoons. Rabies is contracted only by bites from infected animals whereas distemperment can be spread through the air. Compared to distemper, rabies is quite rare; distemperment is much more common. In fact, until the past generation, distemperment was the most common fatal disease of dogs.

Treating Distemperment

There is no cure for distemper. If your dog or cat has contracted the disease, the veterenarian may be able to treat the symptoms, but there is no cure for distemperment itself. Part of the problem is that distemperment is very difficult to diagnose until it has already reached the neurological stage, when the odd behavior begins. By this time it is too late. Treatment of distemper in pets is up to the individual conscience of the pet owner, of course, although most vets and animal control professionals recommend putting distempered animals to sleep.

Though there is no cure for distemperment, It is possible to vaccinate pets against the disease to prevent them from contracting it to begin with. The basic vaccine for dogs is "the distemper shot", which protects against distemper, parvovirus, and other diseases. The vaccinations need to be repeated in order to keep your pet immune, however. Vets generally recommend a vaccination every 2 to 4 weeks from 12 to 16 weeks of age and an ongoing schedule of booster shots every 1 to 3 years afterward.

Here is a video of a raccoon with distemperment. One common symptom, evident in this video, is that distemper causes normally nocturnal animals, such as raccoons, to wander about in broad daylight.

If your dog or cat suffers from distemperment, see a veterenarian immediately. If you should run across a distempered wild animal, like a raccoon or skunk stumbling around your yard, call an animal control professional, such as Creature Control. Distempered animals can be dangerous, not because distemperment necessarily makes animals more aggressive, but because distempered animals usually have impaired vision and are more frightened (and it is usually when an animal is frightened that it will bite). This is a concern because distempered animals may appear tame do to their slow, clumsy behavior. Do not approach or touch a distempered animal - call an animal control professional to remove it safely.

 Click here for more information on canine and feline distemper from the Department of Natural Resources.

Here is an interesting article from mlive.com on Michigan's growing feral swine problem. Feral swine is another name for wild pigs, although many of the pigs are not truly wild. A good number of them are farm pigs who have been released or escaped, while others are true wild boars that were brought into the state to be hunted on preserves and subsequently escaped. The DNR estimates that there may be as many as 3,000 to 5,000 wild pigs roaming the Michigan countryside.

With sightings or kills in 43 counties, the DNR is seriously proposing labelling pigs and invasive species, making it illegal to raise or possess them privately.

The ban is supported by the $300 million Michigan pork industry, which claims its support is based on concern for the spread of disease, such as pseudorabies. However, another obvious reason the pork industry would support such a move is that it would criminalize the private raising and slaughter of pigs for pork, giving the industrial pork interests a monopoly on where Michiganders can get their pork in the state.

The ban is opposed by many hunting groups and preserve owners, who point out that a ban on pigs would put 95% of the state's hunting preserves out of business. Scott Turner, owner of Deer Tracks Ranch in Kalkaska County, said he fears game preserves and farms might bear the full cost of any new regulations, estimated at $11,000 to $18,000 annually per operation.

The State has already declared open season on feral pigs, authorizing any licensed hunter or property owner to shoot them on site.

Reports of bed bug activity are increasing; in some cities, it has already reached epidemic levels. To put it in perspective, Angela Parsons, environmental educator for the health department's Environmental Health Division, said that Washtenaw County received about 15 reports of bed bugs for all of 2009, compared to none in 2007. 2010's complaints proved to be even higher than 2009.

Amy Khan, vice president for CMB Property Management, Inc., said  that four units at Corner House Lofts were treated for bed bugs — two units with live, adult bed bugs, and two units with "suspected activity." The bugs were found in beds and couches in the apartments, which come furnished. 

A pest control company treated all four units — as well as the hallways and laundry rooms at the property as a precaution — when the bugs were discovered.

As long as people continue to move in and out of the area for school or to look for better employment opportunities, the bed bug epidemic will probably continue. For more information on bed bugs, including their feeding habits and how to identify and treat them, please consult Creature Control's bed bug page on our website, linked up here.