The current two-year tally at Nancy Donovan’s home is, Donovans: 95, Squirrels: 0.
Nancy Donovan and her husband, Daniel, have been actively trapping and releasing the gray squirrels around their Presque Isle home since 2016 in an effort to keep the fluffy-tailed rodents from cleaning out their bird feeders.
“I got tired of feeding them more than the birds so we bought a trap to catch the little fellows,” Nancy Donovan said. “Then we started keeping count to see how many of the little buggers we were going to get.”
Turned out, an impressive amount. They caught 55 in 2016 and another 40 last year, all subsequently released a mile or two from their house.
The Donovans bear no ill will toward the rodents, but don’t want them getting into the bird feeders or chewing anything around the house. So they decided the trap and release was the best option for the squirrels.
“If the animal is causing damage to property or is a nuisance you are allowed legally to live trap it,” said Amanda Demuz, assistant regional biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. “The effectiveness of that can depend on the animal [because] if the animal is being a nuisance around your home, there is something that is making it want to be there and moving it can be more of a temporary fix.”
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “Live trapping is one way to deal with freeloading rodents,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Julia Bayly, please follow this link to the BDN online.
