New Jersey, notwithstanding that it is one of the smaller states with under 8,000 square miles, has a remarkable diversity of birdlife. And because of our geographical location as a mid-Atlantic coastal state, we attract an abundance of ducks, skuas, skimmers, geese, shorebirds, gulls, terns, boobies, gannets, and other water-associated species.Unfortunately, New Jersey also has our fair share of “pest” species such as pigeons that have thrived in human habitats with a virtually unlimited food supply and no natural predators.  Their overpopulation has caused a range of problems.  Unfortunately, for many, pigeons have become the avian equivalent of city rodents that been called every name in the book -- from rats with wings and sky rats to gutter birds and flying ashtrays.  We see a number of distressed homeowners and commercial property owners with an ever increasing amount of damage caused by our resident and winter migratory birds. 

Pest birds can destroy property and be a serious health hazard. Droppings can discolor paint, stain wood, and is acidic enough to erode metal and dissolve paint and car finishes.  It can even cause concrete and expensive stonework to crumble. Birds can cause extensive damage to buildings, ventilation systems, and machinery. Birds building nests in rain gutters can cause water backup that can lead to dangerous and costly structural damage as well as attract other pests. 

Droppings can carry bacteria and diseases that can cause serious health risks and exposure to diseases, some of which are incurable. It is most dangerous when it is airborne and inhaled.  Disturbing dried guano releases infection-carrying spores into the air. A sampling of bird-transmitted diseases includes histoplasmosis, tuberculosis, toxoplasmosis, blastomycosis, salmonellosis, Paratyphoid Fever, viral meningitis, and encephalitis. There are no cures for several of these infections, only symptom-reducing treatment that must be taken indefinitely.

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We have a twenty year history in the pest and wildlife management industry and both my brother, Bill, and I love what we do.  Each day provides a new adventure, particularly on the wildlife side of the business where I have been fortunate enough to see some pretty spectacular things on a daily basis that others may never see in a lifetime. 

My brother’s son, who also goes by the name Drew, recently came to work for us on the wildlife side.  It has been fun watching him go out on calls and experience wildlife on a daily basis.  He often comes back with an exciting story of what he saw out in the field that day and he reminds me a lot of myself nearly twenty years ago when I was new to the business.  He was particularly excited a few weeks ago after returning from a call for a skunk in a house and the story was just too good not to share.

Little Drew, as we call him, drove up to the address of his next call for a skunk in a house.  The call came in from a college town but what he saw was a big, nice house that he was admiring as he walked up to the door.  Drewcouldn’t help but wonder how could a skunk possibly be living in this house?  When a few college kids answered the door he realized it was actually a fraternity house that he was servicing.  The kids showed him to a couch in their living room explaining there was a skunk living in it.  Drew inquired, almost doubting that this was possible, as to why they thought there was a skunk living in their couch in the middle of the living room.  The guys explained that over the past month after returning from parties a few of them had individually seen the skunk return to the couch.  They didn’t believe their eyes since it was often very late and they admitted they had been drinking.  Then that day in the middle of the afternoon their suspicions were confirmed when they all saw it run through the living room and into the couch!

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Considering Removing Wildlife from Your Home? Read This First It's that time of the year when the phones are ringing with raccoon infestation calls. Mama raccoons are preparing for the birth of their litters and doing so by finding a safe, secluded place to give birth. Often times their chosen place is in your attic, basement or other area of your home. The season never passes without me recalling the time, almost ten years ago, when I had my encounter with a mama raccoon in an attic. I always retell this story to our Little Rascals Wildlife technicians each year to remind them of the "wild" in wildlife.

It was a beautiful spring day and I was out on a raccoon call. I arrived at the customer's home and the homeowner described to me how she found a litter of raccoons inside her attic and the mother was just hit by a car on the street in front of her home. I had noticed the dead raccoon as I turned down the drive. The homeowner pointed me in the direction of her attic and I went to work. Now bear in mind I have nearly 15 years of nuisance wildlife control under my belt and safety is always top of mind with me. Somehow that day I put my intuition and knowledge aside and took for granted that what the well-intentioned homeowner told me was true. You see, raccoons can be vicious when cornered and they feel the need to defend themselves. But add into the mix a raccoon defending her young and the result can be disastrous. I made my way into the attic armed with my cage and gloves hearing the distinct cries of the young above me. Standing on the attic joists I spotted the kits and went ahead carefully removing them one by one from the nest and into my cage. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted her, the mama raccoon, and immediately knew I was in trouble. She attacked me, defending her young. Fortunately I was able to protect myself from her bite, raccoons are a very common carrier of rabies. But in order to get away I leaped through the attic door and landed on the hallway railing, fell to the side of the stairs and ended up on the ground floor. I barely got my senses about me when I looked up and out of the attic opening appeared the mama raccoon hissing and threatening me from above. I managed to make it out of that account alive but not without injury. I suffered with shoulder pain from the fall for some time before having my injury operated on. But despite that I still consider myself lucky that day.

I fault myself for letting down my guard and not following our typical protocol which would have alerted me to the mother's presence and called for a different approach to the situation. I always remind our wildlife technicians during this time of the year to proceed cautiously, most especially when their young are involved. Cowleys follows a 5-Step Program when removing wildlife. These steps were designed with our technicians' safety, the safety of the homeowners and the safety of the animals in mind. Whether you encounter animals in the wild or they make their way into your home, remember the "wild" in wildlife. To learn more about Cowleys 5-Step Wildlife Removal Process or for a quote click here. Watch as our experienced Little Rascals Wildlife Technicians remove baby raccoons from a homeowner's attic.

What Homeowners Need to Know About Raccoons in New Jersey

If you live in New Jersey chances are you have had a raccoon sighting at one time or another. Raccoons are plentiful here in the Garden State and they live quite comfortably in our neighborhoods enjoying easy access to the food we are discarding. Often referred to as “masked bandits”, raccoons are known for their after dark mischief knocking over garbage cans and rooting through the scraps for a meal.
Raccoons can find a home most anywhere. They enjoy riverbanks and wetlands as well as our suburban neighborhoods. Problems arise when they find their way into our attics, crawlspaces, wall voids and even chimneys to build their dens.

Signs That a Raccoon Might Be In Your Home

Raccoons are most likely the largest animal that will invade your home. These large mammals typically weigh between 15 and 20 pounds but can be as heavy as 40 pounds. If a raccoon builds a den in your attic chances are you will hear them walking around. They are more active at night, therefore sounds are most likely to be heard after dark. Raccoons are quite vocal and you may discover them in your home after hearing them growling, hissing or purring. They typically breed in spring and summer and baby raccoons, referred to as “kits”, have a very high pitched cry.

Dangers of Raccoons

While cute and furry don’t let your guard down if you have an encounter with a raccoon. They can be quite ferocious, particularly if they feel threatened or their young are present. Raccoons are considered to be a primary carrier of rabies and according to the Humane Society, raccoons are more likely to have rabies than any other mammal in the eastern U.S. Raccoons are more active at night but a daytime sighting does not necessarily mean the animal is rabid.

Protect Your Pets from Rabies

It is important to make sure all domestic animals (dogs, cats and livestock) are up-to-date with a rabies vaccine. If your pet should be bitten by a raccoon it could mean the difference between a 45-day quarantine and a six-month quarantine to protect your family.

These animals can be very aggressive when cornered and are a great danger to your family, pets and property. To learn more about Raccoons or Cowleys Little Rascals Wildlife Removal Services.

Have you had an encounter with a Raccoon?

We get the calls quite often this time of year when the Homeowner will call in and attempt to describe to us the noises they heard coming from the attic.  Mrs. Jones will tell our receptionist, “I can hear something scampering or scurrying up there” or “I hear high pitched crying coming from my attic”!  It can be very unnerving to settle down to sleep and then discover there are noises coming from the attic.  Let’s take a closer look at pests or rodents that may invade your attic, the sounds they make and reasons why you won’t want to share your living space with them.

Mice

Attics are prime living locale for mice.  An attic offers the warmth and shelter from the outdoor elements while providing proximity to afood source either in your kitchen or by exiting and re-entering your home.  Some tips that mice may be living in your attic are: 

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Bird Solutions by Cowleys once again took care of business and let a flight of pigeons know that they had to find a new location to spread their filth. This time the pigeons found a home in a commercial facility in Kearny NJ, a suburb of Newark named after Civil War general Philip Kearny. And that was appropriate because Cowleys technicians went into town ready for battle.  Cowleys technicians were faced with three loading docks infested with pigeons. As with many loading docks that often keep large spaces open for truck deliveries, a large number of pigeons found a safe and comfortable home.  They were roosting on the Girders and I-beams on the inside ceiling area, producing nasty piles of droppings all over the trucks and loading areas below. Company employees would readily admit it was a vile situation walking in an area where it was only a matter of time before you would either get splattered or step in a pile of white sticky goo. The employees and truck drivers were complaining and afraid of getting sick from the birds and their droppings. Fortunately, company management called Bird Solutions by Cowleys to resolve the problem.

We addressed the situation with various deterrent devices including well-placed bird netting. Now the areas are pigeon free and safe and clean for the employees.

 

Remember “Leave it to Beaver!” the perfect family TV sit-com? Well, time stops for no one. Even Jerry Mathers, the youthful actor who played Theodore Beaver Cleaver, has turned 64. Today, with all of the reality shows, if there were ever a remake, the new show would undoubtedly be called “Leave it to Cowleys!” Drew Cowley would be featured as the handsome wildlife removal professional who methodically plots out all of the details to safely trap the beavers. Then we watch Cowleys wildlife technicians risk life and limb facing the largest rodents found in North America. With adults ranging from 40 to 60 

pounds and teeth that cut into wood like a chainsaw, beavers are challenging adversaries. These industrious creatures cut limbs and whole trees to build dams. A beaver can cut down more than 200 trees a year; it can fell trees up to about 16 inches in diameter. And since they are rodents, the teeth keep growing and stay sharp.

Episode 1 Beavers Turn into Condo Commandos

Cowleys received a call from the manager of a condo complex about beavers damaging their trees and damming up their culvert drainage pipes. The water level in the retention ponds was getting high and was threatening to flood their pool, pool house and some nearby condos. Something had to be done and done fast

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Each and every day, a Canada goose residing in New Jersey eats 2-3 pounds of grass and deposits approximately 1-2 pounds of droppings.  It is estimated that the 3 million plus Canada Geese in the United States dump 1.8 billion pounds of droppings.  As a coastal state, New Jersey has gotten more than its fair share of these bird and their offerings.  It's bad enough that people slip and fall on these slippery droppings.  Like all bird waste, the droppings are chock full of diseases and parasites.  These geese are not wild in the traditional sense; because they habituated to people and adapted to living in and around us.

Rats with wings.  Sky rats.  Gutter Birds.  Flying Ashtrays. Pigeons are one of the most unloved birds around.  Some even suffer from peristerophobia, an extreme fear of pigeons and their potential for contamination, especially because of their prodigious droppings.  There is a basis in fact for this fear.  More people would be seeing therapists for peristerophobia if they knew the extent of the toxicity of this waste to humans.  When their droppings dry out, turn to dust and become airborne they can be absorbed in the mucous membranes of unknowing victims in their eyes, nose, or mouth.  There are over 60 diseases that pigeons can transmit to humans including potentially fatal diseases like salmonella and meningitis as well as a range of histoplasmosis fungal infections.  Respiratory histoplasmosis permanently affects the lungs while ocular histoplasmosis eats away at the eyeball tissue causing serious vision problems.

If you hear some babies crying in your house and all of your kids are grown-up or the nursery isn’t in the corner of your attic, you’re not having auditory hallucinations.  Something very real is lurking up there.  You can bet that some wildlife mother has decided to care for her litter in the comfort of your home.

Hundreds of Sea Gulls and some pigeons have been roosting on a home in Millstone, NJ, leaving a nasty mess on their roof.

Just because it's winter doesn't mean bats couldn't be in your walls.

A new application of GPS technology, TRAPSMART, takes the guesswork out of when an animal has been trapped by offering real-time notification. 

Serious pigeon problem on local docks.

Nuisance birds take over and use the inside or outside of a building or warehouse as roosting, loafing and nesting sites.  Nuisance birds cause extensive damage to structures by drilling holes or clogging ventilation systems and machinery with their nests creating fire hazards.  They cause water backup in rain gutters that can lead to dangerous and costly structural damage.  To add insult to injury, these birds leave mounds of diseased waste droppings that are acidic enough to dissolve paint, stain wood, erode metal, and cause concrete and stonework to crumble.  Bird problems don’t magically go away.  Once these birds get settled in, they won’t be leaving on their own accord.  You need to contact an experienced bird control professional who can evaluate the problem and institute cost-effective bird control measures that work.

When a client is at wit’s end in dealing with birds and their noxious droppings, the general attitude is that drastic times call for drastic measures.  They want these birds gone.  Shoot them. Trap them.  Poison them.  That’s wrong for a variety of reasons.  First, the Migratory Bird Treaty and Endangered Species Acts prohibit the trapping or killing of most birds, eggs or nests without a permit.  So, before doing anything, you must identify the pest bird and know any applicable municipal, state, and federal laws.  Proper and effective bird control is about removal and exclusion through various physical, visual, or auditory deterrents.  The objective in bird control is to not only rid yourself of the existing bird infestation, but also to make sure that birds find your facility undesirable. You want your facility made as “bird-proof” as possible so you don’t have to keep revisiting the problem every year.

Bird control is a multi-tactic approach involving a variety of deterrents.  Bird control can be difficult and frustrating, but it is a winnable war.  Physical barrier deterrents such as anti-roosting spikes, nettings, post and wire deterrents, bird slopes, and shock tracks are usually the most effective over the long-term and just as important, no harm comes to the birds.  Effective long-term bird control requires behavior modification.  Eliminate potential food and water sources.  Finally, do not attempt to clean up bird droppings yourself unless you have the proper protective gear and have been trained in hazmat procedures.