Wildlife Removal in Toronto, Oakville and the GTA

Raccoons are Ontario's most common urban wildlife intruder. They favour attics and chimneys for denning, especially in late winter and early spring when females seek a sheltered spot to give birth. Heavy nighttime movement, scratching in the ceiling, and a strong odour from droppings are the most common signs. In April and May, a raccoon in the attic is often a mother with kits, so any spring removal has to account for the young first. We remove raccoons by live trapping only, with a licensed trapper on staff.

Grey squirrels are active year-round and typically get in through a damaged vent, a gap where a tree branch overhangs the roofline, or worn fascia board. Entry is usually opportunistic rather than strictly seasonal, though activity peaks in fall as they cache food and look for a warm place to nest for winter. Once inside they chew: wood, insulation and wiring included.

Skunks den under decks, sheds, and porches rather than inside the home itself, and their presence is usually obvious well before an inspection: the smell alone is often the first sign. They're generally non-aggressive unless cornered. Before a den is sealed, it has to be checked for young and confirmed empty, so no skunk is shut in under the structure. Activity peaks in late summer and September, when the year's young set out on their own and lawns get torn up by skunks digging for grubs.

Bats roost in attics, wall voids and behind loose siding, usually getting in along the roofline. The signs are small dark droppings piling up below an entry point or across the attic floor, and bats leaving the roofline at dusk. Several Ontario species, the little brown myotis among them, are listed as endangered, so timing is set by the bats: one-way doors go in during April and early May, before pups are born, or from mid-September to the end of November, once the young can fly. From December to the end of March, bats hibernating in a building must not be shut out. Don’t touch a bat, and if one has been in a room where someone was sleeping, call your local public health unit.

The Virginia opossum, Canada's only marsupial, is a fairly new arrival in Ontario and is now relatively common in Toronto's larger parks and ravines. It is about the size of a house cat, grey with a whitish face and a bare, rat-like tail, and it mostly comes out at night. Opossums den under decks, porches and sheds, in garages and woodpiles, and a raided garbage bin, compost or bird feeder is a common sign. From late winter until late fall a female may be carrying young, so we check for them before the licensed trapper on our staff live-traps the opossum and releases it nearby. Then the way in is sealed.

Groundhogs, also called woodchucks, dig in under decks, sheds, porches and front steps and along foundations, often next to a lawn or vegetable garden. Look for an open hole 25 to 30 cm across with a heap of soil beside it, and a stocky brown animal out by day. They sleep through the winter in the burrow and raise their young there in spring, so Ontario's advice is to move them out in late summer. We use a one-way door or live trapping, then bury wire mesh along the base.

The Legal Side of Wildlife Removal in Ontario

Wildlife removal in Ontario has legal limits, set by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act and its regulations. Ontario’s rules say a live-trapped animal has to be released within 1 km of where it was caught and within 24 hours, so driving it out to the countryside isn’t allowed. Several of Ontario’s bat species are listed as species at risk in Ontario, and most native birds are protected federally. The Protected Species in Ontario List includes seven Ontario snakes, and the milksnake and northern watersnake are specially protected reptiles in Ontario. These rules decide what can be done and when, and they’re the clearest reason not to trap and relocate an animal yourself.