Wildlife Removal & Exclusion in NEPA

How to Identify Wildlife Activity — and Why DIY Falls Short

You can usually identify the animal before you ever see it. Gray squirrels make fast, scampering noise at dawn and dusk and leave two-inch chewed entry holes at the roofline. Raccoons are heavier — loud thumps at night, torn soffits, and large droppings in one latrine area. Bats announce themselves with squeaking at dusk, dark staining around gable vents, and rice-sized droppings that crumble to dust. Skunks and groundhogs give themselves away with burrows under decks and sheds.

Northeastern Pennsylvania's mix of city neighborhoods and wooded ridges means wildlife pressure is constant. Gray squirrels chew into attics through roof vents and fascia gaps, raccoons pry off soffit panels and den in chimneys, and bats roost in the gable vents of older Scranton and Wilkes-Barre homes. Skunks and groundhogs burrow under decks and sheds, and every fall the migration indoors begins in earnest as temperatures drop.

Wildlife in a structure is never a wait-and-see problem. Squirrels and raccoons gnaw wiring and destroy insulation, bat guano accumulates and can harbor histoplasmosis spores, and a skunk under the deck is one surprise away from a very bad evening. Pennsylvania law also shapes how removal must happen: bats are protected during the summer pup season, and relocation of certain species is regulated. Doing it wrong is both inhumane and, in some cases, illegal.

Our approach is removal plus exclusion — getting the animals out is only half the job. We install one-way devices so animals leave and cannot return, handle live trapping where needed, and then seal the structure with heavy-gauge materials that stand up to determined chewing. Contaminated insulation and droppings are cleaned and sanitized. For homes backing onto woods, the Green Ridge corridors, or the Pocono foothills, we offer seasonal inspections that catch new entry attempts before they become den sites.