Nuisance Wildlife Species
Controlling Problems with Wildlife
Encounters with wildlife have become more numerous as a result of urban growth into an animal's natural habitat. Seeing an animal in the woods can be fun, but having a skunk under the porch or a woodchuck digging up your yard, is not. Information on the following pages are intended to help landowners find out how to prevent and control negative encounters with wildlife.
Resolve Wildlife Issues
Tips to Eliminate Wildlife Conflicts
Best practices for landowners to repel or control and prevent problems with unwanted animals.
Contact a Wildlife Control Operator
Find an expert near you to help with wildlife problems.
Remove or "Take" Nuisance Animals Legally
Identify if you need a permit or license to legally trap or shoot an animal on your own.
Common Problem Species
Use the links below to find information on specific wild animals that commonly cause issues at home or on your property and learn how to combat conflicts with them.
Mammals
Birds
Insects
Other Helpful Resources
- Feeding Wildlife: A Wrong Choice - find out why feeding wildlife does more harm than good for both you and wildlife.
The following links leave DEC website:
- Dealing With Wildlife and the New York Laws That Protect Them - Become aware of laws that apply to nuisance wildlife and how they might affect your Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plan.
- Beasts Begone! A Practitioner's Guide to IPM in Buildings - How to remove animals from a building, and prevent their entry.
- USDA Wildlife Damage Management
- US Fish and Wildlife Service Backyard Bird Problems
- Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management
- Wildlife Control Information - numerous publications and links to help address wildlife conflicts.
- Wildlifehelp.org - includes tools to figure out what type of wildlife is causing damage, solutions to prevent damage, and Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator registration.
More about Nuisance Wildlife Species:
- Tips to Eliminate Wildlife Conflicts - General tips intended to help landowners prevent problems with wildlife before they occur and resolve problems after they occur.
- Remove or "Take" Nuisance Animals Legally - Find out if you need a permit or license to legally take an animal from your property if it is a causing a nuisance, damaging property or threatening your safety
- Nuisance Beaver - The purpose of the nuisance beaver control manual is to provide information on the most effective techniques available for resolving beaver/human conflicts.
- Nuisance Canada Geese - Information for dealing with nuisance Canada geese including permit requirements for take of Canada geese in New York.
- Coyote Conflicts - Coyotes provide a great deal of benefits to New Yorkers thru observation, photography, hunting and trapping. However, not all interactions are pleasant. Some coyotes in suburbia have lost their fear of people. This can result in a dangerous situation.
- Nuisance Gulls - Gulls are a valuable natural resource in New York State that provide important recreation and enjoyment to bird watchers and the general public, but large numbers of gulls may become a nuisance, often causing property damage and raising health concerns. This page pertains to the management of nusiance gull populations.
- Stop Feeding Waterfowl - Feeding wild ducks and geese is actually harmful to the wildlife population.
