First I recognize that laws differ not only from state to state but even from county to county or city to city if that be the case. So at the very least talk to animal control as well as Fish and Game. But here is my story.
I had a Raccoon actually try to get into my kitchen a couple of years ago. i was standing about 10 feet from it and for a while it didn't seem to care, it was going to get in that door and almost did. good news isd it second thought it's plans and left. but that could have been a very ugly situation. So a bit rattled I called both animal control and fish and wildlife and here is what I found out. I could not shoot it in any form or kill it in any other of many ways that are deemed cruel. that list was a bit strange cause putting the critter in a bag and throwing it int he river was not considered cruel. so the list was weird but important or I would actually violate the law. okay no shooting not even with air rifle or bow. could not poison. could not trap it with a leg trap type trap, but I could live trap it and animal control would even supply the trap. The real problem began with after i caught it.
I could not transport it at all so this means i could not even drive out to the country to shoot it where it was legal to use firearms.
i could not transport even after it was dead. and most surprising It was illegal to relocate it by any method. i could not even hike up the hill to let it go somewhere else once I trapped it. Basically the only thing I could do once i trapped it was kill it. it is actually illegal to even let it back out of the trap alive. but every single means of killing it was also illegal and it was illegal to move it to a location that I could legally kill it. Except as I mention above. i happen to have an irrigation ditch along the back edge of my yard. I could throw the coon trap and all into this ditch and drown it. at the very best this just happen to be a loop hole I could use. I share this just to show that some places will not tell you outright that you cannot kill animals on your property, but they do have a huge tangled network of laws that makes that effectively so. Oh by the way, No I did not have to kill the coon. evidently he was not as impressed with our kitchen as I feared he was and never saw him again. must have been my wifes cooking. I am just kidding my wife is a very good cook and was just a little insulted by the coons failure to come back.
I had a Raccoon actually try to get into my kitchen a couple of years ago. i was standing about 10 feet from it and for a while it didn't seem to care, it was going to get in that door and almost did. good news isd it second thought it's plans and left. but that could have been a very ugly situation. So a bit rattled I called both animal control and fish and wildlife and here is what I found out. I could not shoot it in any form or kill it in any other of many ways that are deemed cruel. that list was a bit strange cause putting the critter in a bag and throwing it int he river was not considered cruel. so the list was weird but important or I would actually violate the law. okay no shooting not even with air rifle or bow. could not poison. could not trap it with a leg trap type trap, but I could live trap it and animal control would even supply the trap. The real problem began with after i caught it.
I could not transport it at all so this means i could not even drive out to the country to shoot it where it was legal to use firearms.
i could not transport even after it was dead. and most surprising It was illegal to relocate it by any method. i could not even hike up the hill to let it go somewhere else once I trapped it. Basically the only thing I could do once i trapped it was kill it. it is actually illegal to even let it back out of the trap alive. but every single means of killing it was also illegal and it was illegal to move it to a location that I could legally kill it. Except as I mention above. i happen to have an irrigation ditch along the back edge of my yard. I could throw the coon trap and all into this ditch and drown it. at the very best this just happen to be a loop hole I could use. I share this just to show that some places will not tell you outright that you cannot kill animals on your property, but they do have a huge tangled network of laws that makes that effectively so. Oh by the way, No I did not have to kill the coon. evidently he was not as impressed with our kitchen as I feared he was and never saw him again. must have been my wifes cooking. I am just kidding my wife is a very good cook and was just a little insulted by the coons failure to come back.
