Wildlife on Private Property: Removal and Protected Species

Squirrels in the soffit, a raccoon in the attic, bats behind the shutters: the animal is on your property, but it is not your property. Wild animals are held by the state in trust for the public, and a state fish and wildlife agency decides what a homeowner may lawfully do about them. On top of that sit federal statutes protecting migratory birds, bald and golden eagles, and species listed as threatened or endangered. Local ordinances add a third layer on discharging firearms, setting traps and feeding wildlife. Check all three before anything is trapped, sealed or shot.

Who controls the animal on your land

Start with the state agency, usually called the department of fish and wildlife, natural resources, or conservation. It publishes the rules on trapping seasons, permitted devices, relocation, dispatch methods, and who needs a license to do the work for someone else. Most states require anyone removing wildlife for hire to hold a nuisance wildlife control operator permit. Homeowners may often handle certain common species on their own land without a permit, but that allowance is narrow, species-specific, and conditioned on what happens to the animal afterward.

Above the state sits federal law administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects a long list of native birds along with their nests and eggs, which is why an active nest over a doorway is a legal problem rather than a housekeeping one. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act separately protects eagles and their nests, and the Endangered Species Act protects listed species and can reach habitat disturbance. USDA APHIS Wildlife Services also works on some conflicts and on rabies-vector management with state and county partners.

Worth knowing: The layers do not cancel each other. A state may allow you to remove a species that federal law protects, and it may prohibit something federal law says nothing about. You need the answer from each layer separately.

What a homeowner may usually do

Careful: Trapping an animal and driving it to a park is the most common illegal act in this area. It is prohibited in many states, cruel to an animal dropped in unfamiliar territory, and pointless: the vacancy fills within weeks unless you seal the entry point.

Do the building work properly. Exclusion means finding every gap, installing one-way devices where appropriate, then closing the openings with materials an animal cannot chew through. Structural or roofing work may need a permit of its own, covered in our guide to building permits for home repairs and renovations. Overhanging limbs are the highway animals use to reach a roof; who may cut them is handled in trees, overhanging branches and fallen limbs.

Bats and birds: the two timing problems

Two categories reliably catch homeowners out because the lawful answer depends on the calendar rather than the method.

1. Bat maternity season

   Most states prohibit exclusion while flightless pups are present, because sealing the roost walls them in. The window is set by state guidance and varies by climate and species.

2. Outside maternity season

   Exclusion using one-way devices is generally lawful and is the standard professional method. Killing bats is prohibited or restricted in most states, and some species are federally listed.

3. Active bird nest

   If it belongs to a protected migratory species, the nest, eggs and young may not be disturbed without a federal permit. Waiting until the young fledge is usually the practical answer.

4. After fledging

   An inactive nest of most protected species may be removed, and the site can then be screened so it is not rebuilt. Eagle nests remain protected whether or not they are in use.

Rabies changes the analysis. A bat found in a room with a sleeping person, an unattended child, or anyone unable to report a bite is treated as a possible exposure. Contain the animal rather than releasing it, because the health department may want it tested and testing is impossible once it has flown out the window. Call your county health department the same day. Bites and exposures involving any mammal feed into the same rabies control system that governs quarantine of household pets, described in our guide to animal control impoundment and getting a pet back.

Hiring a wildlife control company

Most homeowners end up hiring someone. The contract is where the disputes come from, because trapping is cheap to sell and exclusion is expensive to do properly.

• The state nuisance wildlife control operator permit number, verified with the agency rather than taken on trust.
• Proof of general liability insurance, since the work happens on your roof and in your walls.
• A written scope separating trapping from exclusion, naming which entry points will be sealed.
• What happens to each animal caught, and confirmation that the method is lawful in your state.
• Whether the price includes returning for young left in a nest or den.
• A warranty on the exclusion work, with its term and its exclusions written down.
• Cleanup, insulation replacement and disinfection quoted separately, not in a lump sum.

Tip: Ask the company to walk the exterior with you and point at every gap it intends to seal before you sign. A firm that will not do that is selling traps rather than a solution.

If the work damages your home, or animals are left sealed inside a wall, the claim is ordinary negligence against the contractor, plus whatever your state's home improvement licensing law provides. Where the problem starts next door, deliberate feeding, unsecured garbage or a collapsing outbuilding can support a private nuisance claim, and many cities ban intentional feeding of specified species outright.

Deer, coyotes, geese and beavers

Larger conflicts run on their own tracks. Deer damaging landscaping, coyotes in a subdivision, resident geese on a pond and beavers flooding a culvert are usually handled through a state depredation or damage permit, sometimes with a designated agent doing the work, sometimes through a community program rather than an individual one. Beaver activity in particular becomes a drainage dispute as much as a wildlife question, which our guide to drainage, runoff and water damage between properties addresses. Technical assistance for community-scale conflicts is described by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Common questions

A raccoon is living in my attic. Can I trap it and release it in a park?

Usually not. Many states prohibit relocating trapped wildlife, and where it is allowed the release site typically must be private land with the owner's permission, not a public park. The rule exists because relocation spreads disease and dumps a territorial animal into occupied habitat. Check your state fish and wildlife agency's page on nuisance wildlife before setting any trap, and assume relocation is barred until you read otherwise.

There is a bird nest over my front door. Can I knock it down?

Not if the birds are a protected migratory species and the nest is active with eggs or young. Federal law protects those nests, and the practical answer is to wait until the young have fledged, then remove the empty nest and screen the ledge so it is not rebuilt. A few introduced species are outside that protection. Identify the bird before touching anything, and check the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service materials if unsure.

Who pays when a removal company damages my roof during exclusion?

The company, if the damage came from careless work. That is an ordinary negligence claim backed by the general liability policy you should have confirmed before hiring. Photograph the roof before work starts and again afterward. If the contractor is licensed under a state home improvement or pest control program, that agency may also take a complaint, which is often faster leverage than a lawsuit for a moderate repair bill.

A bat was flying in my bedroom while I slept. What does the law expect me to do?

Treat it as a possible rabies exposure and call your county health department immediately. Do not release the bat outside; contain it if you safely can, because testing requires the animal. Public health rules in every state build in a post-exposure protocol, and the decision about treatment belongs to a clinician, not to you. Exclusion of the roost is a separate job, handled afterward and subject to maternity season timing rules.

What to do when something is living in your house