Aggressive Turkeys Lurking Outside a Hospital are a Real Nuisance [News Blog]

Posted on March 6, 2018 by Elizabeth — No Comments ↓

By Alyssa Pereira, SFGATE Updated 4:36 pm, Monday, March 5, 2018

A large flock of foreboding turkeys hanging around the perimeter of an East Bay medical facility is beginning to cause some concern for the hospital’s visitors and staff, as first reported by KTVU.

Turkeys seen on the roof of a hospital in Fairfield. Photo: Sherry Carter

Photo: Sherry Carter

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Many times these birds can become nuisance animals. Particularly out in open ranges where there are structures or in suburban developments. Since they are creatures of habit– many birds will flock together and just return to the same dwellings and structures if there is food nearby. That is when you may need the skills of a nuisance wildlife control professional.

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(941) 729-2103
1-866-263-WILD(9453)

Don’t Feed Coyotes: State Wildlife Officials Warn Residents to Keep Small Pets Safe [News Blog]

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Elizabeth — No Comments ↓

By TyLisa C. Johnson, Times Staff Writer

Published: February 20, 2018

HOLIDAY — At 6:30 a.m. on a day last November, Wanda Dean woke up to her hysterical and tearful 89-year-old mother.

“Wanda, they got him!” she yelped. “They tore his head off.”

When Wanda went to inspect her mother’s backyard, Morris, the stray cat her mother cared for, was dead.

“Half of him was gone,” Dean said. “I was thinking, ‘This is what my mother just came and saw.’”

In the weeks before the incident, the mother-daughter duo heard claims from neighbors that four coyotes had built a den on the edge of a golf course less than a mile from her mother’s Holiday home. But coyotes in Florida, especially Pasco County, were a novel idea to them until that day.

Last year, Pasco County had 33 coyote-related calls to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, according to data they recently released.

In 2017, the wildlife commission’s Wildlife Assistance Program received 792 coyote calls statewide, nearly 100 more than two years prior. So far in 2018, the program has received eight coyote-related calls from Pasco County.

Coyotes are not a new neighbor, officials said. They likely were first brought to Florida in the 1920s to train hunting dogs.

The pointed-ear, 20- to 30-pound Canis Latrans was a western species, but expanded its range to north Florida in the 1960s and 1970s, according to the wildlife commission.

Pasco and Hernando counties began seeing coyotes in the 1980s, officials said, when the animal’s range expanded rapidly throughout the state. Now, coyotes are considered a naturalized species in all 67 Florida counties.

Coyotes have expanded across the nation because of the decline of other predator populations, a wildlife commission spokesperson said, and changed habitats because of urban development and agriculture.

While coyotes may be new to some, the wildlife commission said it is common for coyotes to coexist with humans in neighborhoods, especially in urban areas. Coyotes may even help maintain a balanced ecosystem by controlling populations of rodents and other nuisance wildlife.

Humans probably can be blamed for the coyote expansion by reducing the animals’ natural habitat, said Raoul Boughton, assistant professor in the department of wildlife at the University of Florida. Yet, urban areas are full of resources for the scavenger animals, he said, including pet food, bird seed, garbage, rodents and stray cats. Reports from golf courses, cemeteries and baseball fields are common, but coyotes go where food is available.

“Urban areas are rich in food resources to a coyote who will eat just about anything,” Boughton said. “And why hunt, when you can scavenge from people?”

That is why residents with small pets must be careful.

Coyotes are becoming less afraid of humans, Boughton said, because people keep feeding them.

“Most attacks that have occurred on humans have been because a coyote has been habituated to human contact,” Boughton said.

Residents should treat coyotes like they would an “unknown, non-leashed dog,” he said.

Attempts to remove coyotes are “inefficient and ineffective,” the wildlife commission said, because new coyotes populate where others have been removed. The species can produce more pups per liter to repopulate.

For many residents, the coyote presence in Pasco County has been a myth, but Dean wants other Pasco residents to know the threat of coyotes is real. What happened to her and her mother can happen to them and their small pets, too.

“When they experience first-hand, their own pet,” she paused, looking down. “It is one of the most horrendous things I have ever experienced.”

Contact TyLisa C. Johnson at tyjohnson@tampabay.com. Follow @tylisajohnson.

So Residents with Small Pets Must Be Careful

Coyotes are becoming less scared of humans, because people are feeding them.

Please be advised:

Coyotes will eat dogs, goats, miniature horses, horses, sheep, cows, or ANY farm animal.

How to Decrease the Chances of Seeing a Coyote while Walking your Dog

Wait until the sun is already up before walking the dog in the morning, and in the evening, walk the dog prior to the sun setting.
Do not let your dog out in the yard without observation, before sunrise or after sunset.
Make sure that your dog will reliably come when he is called.
Walk the dog along with other people, and in well-trafficked areas.
Remember the times of the year when coyote activity is heightened. That is Feb-May- give or take.
Have the pet spayed or neutered – or be sure to keep a super close eye and reliable leash on the animal.

WORRIED ABOUT COYOTES?

Call 1-866-263 WILD!

BONUS

There is a protective vest available for pets. You can find it here: https://www.coyotevest.com/

Click here for the coyote vest https://www.coyotevest.com/

Read How to Keep your Pets Safe From Coyotes Part II

IF YOU ENCOUNTER A COYOTE:

Don’t turn your back, and don’t run. They might chase you and they can run up to 40 mph.
If the coyote moves closer use the method known as “hazing.”
- Blow a very loud whistle.
- Clap hands loudly and stomp feet.
- Throw sticks or rocks at their feet.
- If you don’t have anything available, act large ie. open your jacket, raise your arms and yell.
Don’t engage a coyote that is cornered, injured or with pups – instead slowly walk away backwards.

Follow all of these tips to keep you and your pet safe.

Nuisance Wildlife Removal Inc is fully licensed and insured. We are a locally and family-owned business that has been operating in Manatee and Sarasota county for 20 years. We are the REAL experts with the long term EXPERIENCE that can save you from costly mistakes. Don’t trust your home or budget to a new guy on the block. Call today to speak with a trusted professional.

tap phone# to call from your mobile device

1-866-263-WILD OR 941-729-2103

Nuisance Wildlife Removal Inc

1329 10th Street East Palmetto, Florida 34221

(941) 729-2103

Study Finds Humans Can Echolocation Just Like Bats [News Blog]

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Elizabeth — No Comments ↓

Study Finds That Humans Can Use Echolocation Just Like Bats

One of the more interesting Marvel superheroes is Daredevil, a character who is blinded as a child, but who is able to sense the world around him because his other senses – most notably his hearing – improve to compensate for his disability.

As it turns out, this super power is more real than you might think. According to a new study from Durham University, there are humans who really can use echolocation, just like a bat, in order to see objects in their path based on sound waves that bounce off them.

While this is a power that, theoretically, many people can develop, at present, most of us don’t really have a reason to try. After all, those of us who can see will naturally rely on our eyes rather than attempting to learn echolocation. For some blind people, though, this skill is a fabulous help in everyday life, and it now has some scientific backing which suggests it works.

Participants of the study were self-professed echolocation masters; people who claim to have the ability to see by clicking and instinctively listening to the way sounds bounce around. To test that, these participants were placed within a sound-proof testing environment, with a 7 inch (17.5 centimeter) disc placed somewhere in the room. The participants were then asked to locate the disc using only their “super powers”.

Surprisingly this worked, albeit it depended on where the disc was placed within the room. It turns out that human echolocation is designed specifically for picking objects that are in a person’s way; when the disc was placed immediately in front of the participants, they were able to immediately locate it 100% of the time. This percentage dropped to 80% of the time if the object was slightly behind them, and 50% if it was directly behind their backs.

While this laboratory setting is very different to the outside world, it’s clear that something unusual is going on – just as bats bounce audio waves off their surroundings in order to scan around themselves, humans can produce clicks to orient themselves and spot potential hazards. Unlike bats, we’re not able to spin our ears around to take in a wide angle of sounds, and our hearing is nowhere near as that of other animals, but we can genuinely learn this skill.

Their research adds credibility to a claim often made by Daniel Kish, who presented a TED talk in 2015 where he discussed how he uses echolocation to navigate the world. Kish lost his sight at a young age, and in relearning to navigate the world, he instinctively began clicking as a way of helping himself get a sense of his surrounding area.

Kish is now so good at this technique that he can perform extraordinary feats, such as riding a bike, solely by relying on his echolocation.

It seems that for those who truly need it, this super power is real. Which is good to know, not least because this information may help to change people’s perceptions of the disabled. Kish is an advocate of finding ways to help blind people become more involved in society so that they’re seen not as needy recipients of charity, but equal contributors who are capable of helping just as much as they receive help.

With any luck, this new paper will help to champion that cause.

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Nuisance Wildlife Removal Inc. is fully licensed and insured. We are a locally and family-owned business that has been operating in Manatee and Sarasota county for 20 years. We are the REAL experts with the LONG-TERM experience that can save you from costly mistakes. Don’t trust your home or budget to a new guy on the block. Call today and speak with a trusted professional.

For more information or a FREE estimate

call 1-866-263-WILD! or 941-729-2103.

Or easily contact us by clicking here.

Check out our Animal FAQs from our customers!

Nuisance Wildlife Removal Inc

1329 10th Street East Palmetto, Florida 34221

(941) 729-2103

Snakes Alive! 31 pound Burmese python devours 35 pound white-tailed deer fawn in Florida. – News Blog

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Elizabeth — No Comments ↓

NAPLES, Fla. — Patrick Riley, Naples, FL Daily

For Burmese pythons — one of South Florida’s most notorious invasive species — few meals are too big. But new research by scientists suggests the snake might be snacking above its weight class.

While tracking pythons in Collier Seminole State Park in Collier County, a group of wildlife biologists from the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and land managers from the state park stumbled upon an unsettling discovery: An 11-foot Burmese python that had devoured a white-tailed deer fawn weighing more than the snake.

The 2015 finding, which has since been peer-reviewed and is set to be published in the Herpetological Review this month, is believed to be the largest python-to-prey ratio documented to date, with the snake weighing 31.5 pounds and the deer 35 pounds, said Ian Bartoszek, wildlife biologist and science coordinator for the Conservancy.

“It almost did not compute,” he said during an announcement of the findings in the Conservancy’s snake laboratory Thursday.

More: Man crosses paths with two pythons on way to pick up takeout

More: Python hunt fuels fashion for Fla. business

“We were sitting there just trying to process that an animal this size could get its head around what turned out to be a deer. It’s surreal to see that in the field.”

When the researchers moved the snake out of the wild into an open area that day, the stressed python began to regurgitate the deer, Bartoszek said.

But had the snake’s meal been uninterrupted, the python would have eventually fully digested the fawn, which was less than 6 months old, he said. The python was later humanely euthanized.

Burmese pythons, which came to South Florida via the pet trade beginning in the late 1970s and were eventually accidentally or intentionally released into the wild, have had the delicate local ecosystem in a chokehold for years.

But the Conservancy’s recent discovery could spell more bad news for Florida’s already endangered panther population, Bartoszek said.

“White-tailed deer are the primary prey for our state and federally protected Florida panther,” he said. “That’s panther food.”

TO READ OUR POST ON THE 4 NON – NATIVE VENOMOUS SNAKES THAT LIVE IN FLORIDA CLICK HERE

snake-removal-siesta-key-FL — Rainbow Boa Constrictor

With Burmese pythons capable of reaching near 20 feet in length, finding a relatively small specimen successfully devouring a fawn heavier than the snake was “jaw-dropping,” Bartoszek said.

“It showed my team and myself what we were actually dealing with out t From left, Kathy Worley, director of science, Ian Easterling, here, what this python is capable of,” he said.

To be sure, Bartoszek said, the pythons, which are apex predators, have been known to swallow large animals, including alligators. What stunned the scientists was the predator-to-prey ratio, he said.

“We know that they’ll take adult deer now and then,” Bartoszek said. “If they’re tapping into young deer, then that just makes me a little bit worried that there will be additional impacts that we haven’t even considered yet.”

During a news conference on Thursday, March 1, 2018,

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials don’t keep records of python predator-to-prey ratios, said Carli Segelson, a spokeswoman for the agency’s division of habitat and species conservation.

“Pythons pose a concern for all native wildlife in Florida,” she wrote in an email. “Although infrequent, pythons are known to occasionally take a fawn or small deer, and this has been well documented previously. However, pythons are not believed to be a significant predator of deer.”

The Conservancy’s python program, which launched about five years ago and is funded by private donors and the Naples Zoo, has researchers radio-tag pythons and then follow them to other snakes during breeding season to remove them from the wild.

As of last month, the Conservancy’s team has removed hundreds of adult Burmese pythons with a combined weight of more than 10,000 pounds in Southwest Florida.

Parallel to the Conservancy’s efforts, the South Florida Water Management District launched a python elimination program last year, sending python hunters into district-owned lands in Miami-Dade, Broward and Collier counties to track down the snakes and remove them.

SNAKE REMOVAL EXPERTS: Available 24/7

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WORRIED ABOUT SNAKES? Call 1-866-263 WILD!

Or easily contact us by clicking here.

Nuisance Wildlife Removal, Inc. is very well known in the community as the GO-TO expert with the highest experience level in solving difficult insect and pest infestations efficiently and easily. We employ advanced technology such as thermographic cameras and Go-pro technology. This reduces the amount of damage to your structure and this will reduce the overall cost of your project.

Nuisance Wildlife Removal Inc

1329 10th Street East Palmetto, Florida 34221

(941) 729-2103

Raccoon Cafes Are a Thing [News Blog]

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Elizabeth — No Comments ↓

Facebook/Gus Kentworthy

You’ve heard of cat cafes, but this is something completely new—and a bit bizarre.

When they weren’t winning medals and rescuing dogs from dog meat farms, a few U.S. Olympic athletes spent their time in South Korea doing something a little different. The city of Seoul is a cultural experience with a lot to offer, but the local raccoon cafe called Blind Alley is a particular oddity.

The fact that it’s unexpected is what attracts Korean locals and tourists alike.

Dog and cat cafes and coffee shops are a common sight in the U.S., but South Korea has taken this concept to another level. The raccoon cafe is a place in the city where people go to hang out with these adorably masked creatures. The animals–including a few dogs and a capybara–are kept in a closed-off room complete with tables, chairs, and an indoor jungle gym. Visitors to the cafe can purchase food and drinks and then take off their shoes and venture into the raccoon room. The owner, Han Song Hee, rescued the raccoons from a fur importer.

Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy called his unique experience to the cafe the highlight of his trip to PyeongChang, South Korea. That’s right, the raccoons even beat out competing in the Winter Olympics. Kenworthy shared pictures of him and his boyfriend Matthew Wilkas on social media getting cuddly with the seemingly friendly forest animals.

While pictures are cute and the idea of spending time with cute raccoons sounds appealing, not everyone is on board with the concept of a raccoon cafe. Unlike cats and dogs, raccoons aren’t domesticated animals. They live in the wild and aren’t native to Asia. While some people see happy raccoons enjoying life and meeting new friends, others see a form of cruelty keeping the poor raccoons in an environment that doesn’t match their specific needs.

There are signs posted around the cafe with basic rules and warning visitors that raccoons can bite so they shouldn’t be fed outside food. They’re also encouraged to respect the animals’ personal space, but regulating that rule when people visit for the sole purpose of getting a selfie with a wild animal isn’t always possible.

There are health risks that you should be aware of after any wild animal has been taken from your home.

What Are the Health Risks of Raccoons in Lakewood Ranch FL?

The health risks of raccoons should never be underestimated. Raccoons create enormous damage and transmit infectious diseases to Parrish adults, children and pets. Contact a licensed and insured nuisance wildlife management company for expert raccoon removal, raccoon trapping and raccoon exclusion services.

The Health Risks of Raccoons

It’s important that you have that Parrish raccoon removed from your attic, crawl space, basement or other building location before things get out of hand. Raccoons contaminate building surfaces with urine and feces and chew up everything from electrical wires to support beams. If you hear noises in your attic, call a wildlife removal professional before a raccoon or some other wild animal causes significant damage or even a catastrophic fire.Wild animal droppings harbor dangerous parasites and foster the growth of mold and microbes. Raccoons are known carriers of infectious diseases that can be contracted by humans and pets.

• Raccoon Roundworm, or Baylisascaris, is a dangerous species of roundworm carried by raccoons. Millions of roundworm eggs are deposited into the environment through raccoon feces. Children and pets can easily ingest fertile eggs by coming into contact with infected soil, tree stumps and other seemingly safe locations. Once inside the body of an animal or human, the larvae migrate throughout the body and infect the brain, eyes, spinal cord and other organs.

• Rabies is a health risk commonly associated with wild animals. Rabies, which attacks the central nervous system, can be fatal if left untreated.

• Leptospirosis is a bacterial infection spread to humans through raccoon feces and urine. Common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, severe headaches, high fever, anemia, meningitis and organ failure.

• Salmonella is also spread through raccoon feces. Humans and pets can ingest the bacteria through incidental contact with infected areas. The symptoms of Salmonella poisoning include high fever, severe diarrhea and abdominal pain.

Raccoon Trapping and Exclusion

A wildlife management expert can humanely remove and relocate raccoons and other nuisance wild animals. Professionally trained wildlife removal specialists can also decontaminate building materials, repair all damage and permanently seal your home or business to ensure that the problem doesn’t reoccur. Local wildlife management companies provide expert raccoon trapping, raccoon removal and raccoon exclusion services in the greater Parrish area.

WORRIED ABOUT RACCONS? Call 1-866-263 WILD!

Need a raccoon trapper in Lakewood Ranch, FL or elsewhere in Manatee/Sarasota County?

Raccoons can gain entry to homes and businesses by squeezing through hard to detect gaps and holes in rooflines, HVAC systems and foundations. Rats, mice and squirrels breed and contaminate food and building surfaces quickly.