WILD CRITTERS MAKE CAPE THEIR HOME; ANIMAL-CONTROL OFFICERS BUSY THIS TIME OF YEAR

It is that time of year again when unwanted, young critters are on the prowl in the heart of town.

"Wild animals have adapted well to our suburban area," said Charles Stucker, a veteran animal-control officer with the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

"This time of year we get a lot of calls," Stucker said. "We receive reports on baby rabbits, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, groundhogs, foxes, and possums. Calls on deer and coyotes aren't unusual either."

Stucker and Mike Lancaster, a program supervisor at the Cape Girardeau office of the Missouri Department of Conservation, agreed that city habitat can be attractive to wildlife.

"Woodpiles, back porches, decks, yards with a lot of trees, shrubs and gardens are big draws to animals," said Lancaster.

Unless the animals are causing damage or appear to be sick, Stucker and Lancaster urge homeowners to leave them alone. Most of the animals will move along, Stucker said.

If the homeowner insists, the animal-control department will help homeowners trap the varmints and remove them.

The Missouri Department of Conservation office will loan homeowners live traps and explain how to use them, but the homeowner must then transport the animals somewhere and let them go.

The conservation department refers a lot of calls to the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Some of the animal calls concern a neighbor's pet.

Stucker and animal-control officer Scott Eakers handle everything from calls about bats hanging around, snakes in homes, raccoons in trash cans, runaway dogs, and squirrels in chimney flues to calls of animals being struck by cars.

Both the conservation department and the police department receive numerous calls concerning snakes, some of them in houses.

The animal-control officers are equipped with live animal traps, snare poles, tranquilizer guns and a book of city ordinances.

The officers' duties also include enforcing weed control, litter, trash abatements, zoning violations and special-use permits. Last year the unit took more than 1,900 animal complaints, 559 weed control reports and 349 litter violations.

The officers work shifts, but even when no one is at police headquarters an officer is on call 24-hours a day. The department is looking for a third animal-control officer.

Stucker has some suggestions for ridding the backyard of critters without killing them.

"In most cases these animals burrow holes," said Stucker. "We tell the residents to fill the holes or place paper soaked in ammonia in the holes. After awhile the critters will stop coming around."

"We also urge the homeowner to do away with habitat for the animals," said Stucker. "These varmints move around at night, and they like dog and cat food that has been left out or bird food."

If all else fails, the officers will set a live-bait trap and move the animals.

"This should be a last-resort thing," said Stucker. "When we remove an animal it leaves an opening for another critter or varmint."

When the unit is summoned to remove an animal, domesticated animals are taken to the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri and wild animals are set free outside the city limits.

"We have an agreement with some area landowners that we can take raccoons, skunks, snakes, possums, squirrels and other wild animals to farms or property in the county and let them go," Stucker said.