Animal Adapters Scott Borthwick - Canaan, NH
In my 40+ years of being a Nuisance
Wildlife Control Operator I have heard time and again “ I understand why this animal is in my house. It’s because we have infringed on their habitat”. I have found just the opposite. We create habitat for them inadvertently by building our habitat. Here are many examples. Squirrels are famous for chewing their way into people’s attics. However, they don’t just randomly pick a house to live in. They look for access points like dormers. 95% of the squirrel work we get is because the soffit and facia on dormers don’t fit tightly against the roof. Sometimes they will chew the access points larger giving the appearance that they just chewed their way in. Mostly it’s because of excessive weight gain from eating at the local food pantry we provide, ie: bird feeders. Bats, mice, and birds also take advantage of
these locations. Once inside they use the insulation you have provided for their nesting material. They also use insulation as a toilet. We are finding more and more bats actually hibernating in attic insulation rather than in caves. Gable end vents and shutters make great roosting places for bats. Chimney swifts have been around long before chimneys but are called this because of their desire to raise their families in unused chimneys. Woodchucks, skunks, opossums, raccoons, and even foxes are denning under decks built close to the ground. It’s nice to have a roof over their den entrances. Stone walls, old stone foundations, unused barns, and other abandoned buildings make great housing. Manmade ponds stocked with trout are ideal feeding stations for otters and mink who tend to hang around until
the food source is gone. Great Blue Herons also enjoy these locations. Culverts and small bridges make the perfect location for beavers to build their dams. Docks and boathouses are an awesome place to build their lodges as well. I have seen beaver lodges built on top of docks giving the impression that beavers have their own dock. One beaver lodge I came across was built around a wood duck box which looked like they have a mailbox. These are just a few ways that animals are adapting to our “infringement” on their habitat. In today’s modern world we are starting to address birds and squirrels setting up shop under roof-mounted solar panels. So much so that the wildlife control industry has come up with special screening to install around the panels preventing animal access. But I am sure wildlife eventually will figure out something else. Scott Borthwick owns Estate Wildlife Control. He lives in Canaan, NH with his wife Donna, two dogs, a couple of horses, and one tough old chicken named Henrietta.
28 4 Legs & a Tail
Winter 2022
