Call
now to solve your nuisance
wildlife problem!
727-710-0373
Serving
Pasco county with humane critter
removal 24 hrs a day* and 7 days
a week !
Click
here for a free service call!
*
Pasco county is
a rapidly growing area. It wasn't
long ago that it was mostly forested
and rural.
Many of our wild
friends either get pushed out
or become 'urbanized'.
Peoples attics
seem like a cozy nesting place.
Trash cans and pet food are easy
meals and swimming pools are convenient
toilets and bathing spots.
As harmless as
their intentions may be, some
wildlife can
be extremely destructive
to your property. We specialize in rat control and raccoon in attic plus bat control.
The Trapper Guy
will come out and humanely
remove the live animal
from your property and if possible,
relocate it.
I will fix the damage caused and
make preventative measures so
they won't return.
With proper wildlife
control we can co-exist
with our wild neighbors.
*
24
hour services are for emergencies
only. Live animal in a living
area where safety of the occupants
is in question is considered an
emergency.
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Pasco
wildlife news
Airborne
assault aimed at halting raccoon rabies
Health officials will use planes and
helicopters to drop thousands of pellets
treated with an antirabies vaccine.
By STEVE THOMPSON
Published February 20, 2004
For
two weeks beginning Monday, low-flying
planes and helicopters will be bombing
Pasco County with little objects that
look like Fig Newtons and smell like
fish.
Don't
be alarmed. It's raccoon bait.
The
smelly treats will be dropped as part
of an oral rabies vaccine program, funded
in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
to eliminate raccoon rabies. Half a
million baits will be dropped over a
more than 2,400-square-mile area that
includes much of Pasco, Hillsborough,
Hernando, Lake, Sumter and Polk counties.
The
baits are composed of 2 milliliters
of red liquid vaccine sealed in wax
and covered in fish meal.
In urban
areas and near schools, the baits will
be dispensed by hand from trucks. Some
of the baits distributed this way will
be small red packets slathered with
fish oil.
In some
neighborhoods, mosquito control helicopters
will drop the baits from about 500 feet.
In rural areas, small twin-engine planes
will be used.
The
baits weigh less than an ounce and shouldn't
dent cars. The baits float, so if one
lands in your swimming pool, fish it
out and throw it away.
If one
lands in your back yard, you "should
use a piece of paper or something like
that, pick it up and throw it back into
the brushy area so that the raccoons
get it," said Dr. William Kyser,
a veterinarian and consultant on the
project.
It is
not harmful to touch the baits, though
they might make your hands smelly or
irritate your skin. They shouldn't be
handled if you're pregnant or immunosuppressed,
wildlife officials say.
The
baits are not toxic to pets. Dogs and
cats that gulp them might get diarrhea
- from the fish meal, not the vaccine.
Raccoons
are the most common animal diagnosed
with rabies in Pasco, though cases are
infrequent, said Dr. Marc Yacht, director
of the Pasco County Health Department.
"The
reason raccoons are so important is
that they like to show up at campsites
and kids like to play with them,"
he said. Also, dogs and cats frequently
get into fights with them, he said.
In humans,
rabies can be treated if caught early.
Otherwise, it can be fatal. But Yacht
said he knows of no human cases in Pasco's
past.
To keep
it that way, he also stressed the importance
of vaccination for pets and appropriate
livestock.
"When
we see a domestic animal that's positive
(for rabies)," he said, "that
really raises a flag for us."
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