What happens to the trapped animals?
In compliance with Pennsylvania law, all raccoons, skunks, groundhogs, bats, foxes and coyotes taken in by Animal Control are systematically killed unless the resident authorizes its release on the same property. Other trapped wild animals can be relocated. However, not only are the criteria used for selecting release spots unclear, it has been shown that the majority of wild animals released in an unfamiliar area will not survive through an inability to find food, water and shelter*.
I thought Animal Control picked up stray dogs and cats?
So do many residents... Indeed, if Animal Control officers’ time was freed up from dropping off traps and picking up and killing trapped wildlife (estimated 75% of their time), they would have all that time available to extend their services in the area of domestic animals, including picking up injured/lost animals, and possibly implementing efficient TNR programs for feral cats, for example.
Don’t you care about people though?
We do! That’s why we’re lobbying for a policy that helps everyone, and helps them in a way that resolves the problem in the long-term. Many of the wildlife conflict situations that occur in the city cannot be resolved by just using a trap. Also, many residents won’t use the service because they know the animal will be killed, so they are left with no assistance at all. We’re asking the city to provide hands-on, practical advice and assistance with safely evicting or excluding wildlife from a residence. We are not opposing the use of a trap in genuine high-risk situations. However, our right-to-know documents suggest that those situations represent a very small proportion of the trapping carried out.
Does trapping help at all?
In some true emergency situations, trapping may be the only solution. However, based on Animal Control records obtained through the “right to know” procedure, these situations appear to be few and far between.
In most other situations, trapping does the complete opposite. It does not help, it can leave residents with orphaned animals in the walls after the mother is trapped, and the situation is likely to be reproduced when another animal takes the place of the trapped one. For more details on why, click here.
Where does most of the trapping happen?
Trapping happens throughout the City, with clusters around Riverview and Frick Parks for example, often in high-income neighborhoods whose residents chose to live near a “green” area.
I like animals, but I like my tomatoes better, so isn’t this necessary?
No, it is actually quite possible to have a protected urban vegetable garden. Visit our But I want to be an urban farmer page for more information.
Don’t all cities do this?
No, they don’t. Pittsburgh is the only city of its size to provide such an extensive, "free" (to the resident, not to taxpayers) trapping program, requiring no justification of actual risk.
My neighbor is trapping all the local wildlife using city traps, what can I do?
Since there is no City quota on the number of animals a resident can trap in an Animal Control trap and since no justification is required, the best thing you can do right now is complain to your council member that your tax dollars are being used in this way. See contacts page for council member information. If you complain to your council member, please let us know too at pghscrapthetrap@gmail.com.
Can’t they just relocate the animals?
Relocation has been found to be a very ineffective means of dealing with wildlife issues. For one thing, it doesn’t deal with the "vacuum effect," where the removal of one animal just leaves space and food resources for replacement animals. And secondly, studies have shown that most relocated animals do not survive due to not knowing where to find shelter, water and food, along with territorial clashes with animals already in the new location. Typically, a “relocated” animal will die within a few weeks. In one study, 97% of adult squirrels relocated to a new area had been killed or chased off three months after release.*
What if I can’t afford to fix the hole in my attic?
Although most of the trapping requests we obtained where some "reason" was provided suggest that a relatively small number of cases actually involve an animal inside the house, we agree that this can be an issue. We would like to see the city’s Neighborhood Safety program extended to cover the repair of wildlife access points for low-income residents.
* Movement and mortality of translocated urban–suburban grey squirrels (Adams, L.W., Hadidian J., and Flyger, V, 2004)
In compliance with Pennsylvania law, all raccoons, skunks, groundhogs, bats, foxes and coyotes taken in by Animal Control are systematically killed unless the resident authorizes its release on the same property. Other trapped wild animals can be relocated. However, not only are the criteria used for selecting release spots unclear, it has been shown that the majority of wild animals released in an unfamiliar area will not survive through an inability to find food, water and shelter*.
I thought Animal Control picked up stray dogs and cats?
So do many residents... Indeed, if Animal Control officers’ time was freed up from dropping off traps and picking up and killing trapped wildlife (estimated 75% of their time), they would have all that time available to extend their services in the area of domestic animals, including picking up injured/lost animals, and possibly implementing efficient TNR programs for feral cats, for example.
Don’t you care about people though?
We do! That’s why we’re lobbying for a policy that helps everyone, and helps them in a way that resolves the problem in the long-term. Many of the wildlife conflict situations that occur in the city cannot be resolved by just using a trap. Also, many residents won’t use the service because they know the animal will be killed, so they are left with no assistance at all. We’re asking the city to provide hands-on, practical advice and assistance with safely evicting or excluding wildlife from a residence. We are not opposing the use of a trap in genuine high-risk situations. However, our right-to-know documents suggest that those situations represent a very small proportion of the trapping carried out.
Does trapping help at all?
In some true emergency situations, trapping may be the only solution. However, based on Animal Control records obtained through the “right to know” procedure, these situations appear to be few and far between.
In most other situations, trapping does the complete opposite. It does not help, it can leave residents with orphaned animals in the walls after the mother is trapped, and the situation is likely to be reproduced when another animal takes the place of the trapped one. For more details on why, click here.
Where does most of the trapping happen?
Trapping happens throughout the City, with clusters around Riverview and Frick Parks for example, often in high-income neighborhoods whose residents chose to live near a “green” area.
I like animals, but I like my tomatoes better, so isn’t this necessary?
No, it is actually quite possible to have a protected urban vegetable garden. Visit our But I want to be an urban farmer page for more information.
Don’t all cities do this?
No, they don’t. Pittsburgh is the only city of its size to provide such an extensive, "free" (to the resident, not to taxpayers) trapping program, requiring no justification of actual risk.
My neighbor is trapping all the local wildlife using city traps, what can I do?
Since there is no City quota on the number of animals a resident can trap in an Animal Control trap and since no justification is required, the best thing you can do right now is complain to your council member that your tax dollars are being used in this way. See contacts page for council member information. If you complain to your council member, please let us know too at pghscrapthetrap@gmail.com.
Can’t they just relocate the animals?
Relocation has been found to be a very ineffective means of dealing with wildlife issues. For one thing, it doesn’t deal with the "vacuum effect," where the removal of one animal just leaves space and food resources for replacement animals. And secondly, studies have shown that most relocated animals do not survive due to not knowing where to find shelter, water and food, along with territorial clashes with animals already in the new location. Typically, a “relocated” animal will die within a few weeks. In one study, 97% of adult squirrels relocated to a new area had been killed or chased off three months after release.*
What if I can’t afford to fix the hole in my attic?
Although most of the trapping requests we obtained where some "reason" was provided suggest that a relatively small number of cases actually involve an animal inside the house, we agree that this can be an issue. We would like to see the city’s Neighborhood Safety program extended to cover the repair of wildlife access points for low-income residents.
* Movement and mortality of translocated urban–suburban grey squirrels (Adams, L.W., Hadidian J., and Flyger, V, 2004)