Some Facts About Animal Control In Hamilton & Toronto

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Some Facts About Animal Control In Hamilton
Toronto
By Jim Petty
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This blog post answers some of the questions
about animal control in Hamilton and the same
would apply for animal control in Toronto or in
most areas of southern Ontario.
Question 1 Do you guarantee that you will
capture the wild animal?
Fact When we set out traps for wild animals,
they are exactly that wild. What does this mean
exactly? It means that wild animals come and go
and we cannot guarantee that they are always
going to hit a trap. Most pest control companies
do a very good job of following tracks or trails
of where these animals go.
If youre in a suburban environment, you may not
be the only person trying to trap this exact
animal as they tend to wander through a pretty
good section of your neighborhood. This doesnt
even take into account the fact that at times
you may see a dead raccoon or a dead possum on
the side of the road that may in fact be the one
youre trying to trap. So to answer question one
is no I cannot guarantee that I will be able to
capture the animal. We will try our best, however
no one could or should guarantee you that they
will capture the animal using traps.
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Question 2 If the pest control company does
not capture the animal, do we get our money back?
Fact Based upon the answers above, the answer is
no. Why? Aside from the various reasons above
that we cannot return money to a customer for
failure to capture an animal in a trap, the
customer must also realize the fact that it takes
time (our time) to come and set up the traps,
leave the traps, and check the traps. This all
costs money in terms of labor, fuel and time.
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Question 3 Why are city animal control people
referring us to you?
Fact As all cities and towns such as Hamilton
and Toronto are looking at reducing overall
costs, and that pressure is only going to rise.
Animal control is relatively low hanging fruit
for politicians and managers to cut back on as
there is a private industry to take over. Very
few times when people call me asking if Im
animal control do they realize that we are a
pay-for-service. Ive been asked if the city pays
me for this type of work and he answer is no. As
I dont have a contract with any city, and most
pest control companies do not, I always remind
the customer that we are a pay-for-service
company. If you think youre calling the city for
animal control,
I strongly recommend to everybody that they ask
if we are city funded animal control and if you
have to pay to have an animal removed. Its not
fair to either you as a customer or to us as a
company to show up to remove an animal and then
get the inevitable answer oh I thought you were
part of the city. That part should be done over
the phone, as I always remind people that we are
pay-for-service.
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Question 4 If there is an animal roaming
around outside my home can you come get it?
Fact Yes we can, however if there is an animal
roaming around outside, you as a customer need to
be aware of the fact that between the time you
call and we show up, that animal could be gone.
Depending upon location, a pest control company
may still ask you to pay for the visit.
Again this is something that should be discussed
over the phone when the appointment is being
made. The pest control company or animal control
company should make you aware that there can be a
minimum charge to show up to your home whether or
not the animal is still there. Now they should
not charge you full price as they would if you
decided to set traps or if the animal was still
there, however good pest control companies will
tell you that there is a minimum charge for them
to show up.
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Bottom line -
as a customer do not be afraid to ask questions
when youre on the phone with your pest control
company about animal removal and the costs that
are associated with it. Also discuss which
guarantees should and should not be included. The
ethical ones will tell you upfront that theres
no guarantees when you are dealing with wild
animals. The best customer is an informed
customer!
We would be happy to answer any questions you may
have regarding wild animal control in Hamilton or
animal control in Toronto, please feel free to
visit pettypestcontrolservices.ca for more info.