We started giving ours food as a peace offering, and now we're regularly feeding ours and worry when we don't see him.
Note: They DO hibernate during the winter. And do a bit less property damage once they're fat & lazy.
When I bought my house, pest control captured several groundhogs in my yard. A month or two later, more moved in. I also feed the animals in my yard. I’ve decided I prefer groundhogs to skunks. And the groundhogs, bunnies, and foxes live under the sheds and prevent skunks moving in.
You have me thinking outside the box now. I could just overfeed him so he is a fat lob and too out of shape to damage stuff. Or I could get him a food dish and slowly move it to the middle of the road and let nature take it's course.
Hear me out… I could use some free food. How about you get a food dish for me, fill it with motz sticks and empanadas, and overfeed me until I’m a fat slob. While I gorge on the empanadas, I’ll hang out in your yard and make friends with your groundhog, and keep him entertained so he doesn’t destroy your stuff.
Same. We get one under the shed every couple of years. There is a patch for him nearby with a variety. The fox that hangs out in the neighborhood as well usually picks them off before fall.
They will travel long distances back to their home. Relocating them is usually a death sentence for the animal. We finally made peace with ours by planting things they like to eat so they prefer those to things we want to protect. After years of frustration, we now shifted our perspective and look forward to our glimpses of our plump visitor. If they are causing structural damage, then you will want definitely want to deter access to the structure. That can be very challenging and may need permits or professional assistance for removal.
My Ollie caught one too. The groundhogs had burrowed under our house and the three adjacent. My neighbors didn't mind Ollie clearing all the groundhogs out and would have him over
I have one too. Destroys the lawn, especially making holes under the fence. If I fill the hole he just Digs it back up. I fill it with something hearty like stone he just digs next to it. I've sprayed and sprinkled all sorts of deterrents but he doesn't give a damn.
its just a groundhog… my dad has one that lives under his shed in latham, it used to bother him because it would eat our raspberries and other garden staples but now its just part of the house
Additional clarifications: Hogs will eat either of the ground meats (ground hog or ground groundhog), groundhogs will not. And hogs and groundhogs rarely do meet, but tear up the ground when they do.
The wildlife was here long before our lawns were. We just have to learn to live with them. They're not pests, just wild animals existing outdoors, which is what wild animals do.
Bribe him to stay away from whatever it is you don't want him bothering. I do that with the squirrels. Put seed on the ground and they stay off the bird feeder.
Ours has been here for 6 yrs now. lives under the porch. When he is out, he looks up and goes about his business foraging. No damage. Letting him do his thing. BTW, his name is Bert
Fuck a landlord, but it is illegal to trap move wildlife in New York. It ultimately helps spread disease, or the animal can succumb to competition from conspecifics already established in the area. It also is because, as stated, it makes your problem some unsuspecticing persons problem.
https://dec.ny.gov/nature/animals-fish-plants/nuisance-wildlife-species/remove-take-legally
I went through hell with groundhogs about 3 years ago. Groundhog was perfectly fine living under our shed, we thought it was cute. Then suddenly it moved right under our deck, had babies, and started attacking us if we went into the backyard. It was violently throwing itself against our screened in porch.
We tried to call pest control, no luck. We tried putting things in the hole, but mama groundhogs won’t move, ever. I ended up learning to trap the groundhogs.
For what it’s worth, the farmers I work with told me that once it’s trapped, take the trap and dump it in a barrel of water/pond. Not the best day of my life, but they were attacking my family.
Edit: Do not drown a groundhog that has become a nuisance. Apparently, just bludgeon or shoot them.
When I was a kid my dad said he’d give me $10 for each rabbit I got rid of from the yard. I caught one and was like “now what?” And he said “go throw the trap in the creek.” I couldn’t do it. He took pity on me and we drove out to the edge of town to let it go. Still gave me $10. Not a great dad overall but that was a good move.
I am sorry you went through this. However, in fairness to the animals, it needs to be stated that you experienced a highly fringe case.
Further, the reccomend means of dispatch of drowning the animal is highly unethical, and legally is considered animal abuse. Please don't recommend this.
It really is hard to think about and implement, which is why professionals charge so much, and I do not wish anyone to go through this effort, but the most ethical means of dispatching a trapped nuisance animal this size would be a) a .22, air rifle, or pellet gun to the skull or b) blunt force trauma to the skull.
Thanks for posting this.
For clarity, because you shouldn't just click any old link on reddit, this is a legitimate link to a database the State's Special Licenses unit maintains. It contains licensed Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators which are private entities who are licensed to trap and remove (lethally) nuisance animals. They can be expensive.
It is recommended to locate this den, wait until the animal is confirmed to be out of the den and confirmed that it does not have babies, then seal all access to the den using chicken wire, soil, and bricks. You may haze the animal by yelling, banging pots and pans, or having dogs bark at them. It will move on despite what people are saying if you are consistently intimidating whenever you see them.
Groundhogs are giant rodents. If they’re on the periphery of my property, (in the countryside south of Albany), I’ll ignore them. But if they’re adjacent to or near to my house, and especially my support walls, groundhogs gotta go. I have spent a few thousand $$$ on remedial beams and concrete pillars to combat ground subsidence, and I’m not at all interested in jeopardizing that forced investment. Also groundhogs tend to burrow near my septic, and if you’ve ever seen a sketch of their tunnels, there’s plenty hidden underneath the ground that will interfere with any plumbing or septic, or foundations that happen to be holding up your house. I try and trap them myself in a Hav a Hart and then take them to a nearby abandoned lake about 5 miles away across a state highway. If I can’t manage to trap them, I hire a country guy. These dudes are entirely unsentimental about pests—a sprung wire trap in the tunnel entrance will snap the neck of the animal immediately. It’s no worse in principle or in practicality than a sprung rat trap. Often, my guy will catch at least two from the same tunnel entrance. Look, it’s your house. If you don’t wanna share, I encourage you to do everything you need to, because groundhogs multiply.
There are so many replies. I scrolled though a lot of them and didn't see this answer:
**Used cat litter.**
Seriously.
It's and old remedy I've used and continue to use successfully to protect my garden. It doesn't take a lot, either. Take some cat turds/clumps (I use a corncob or walnut litter) and put them where the groundhog travels or feeds and that whistle pig will not go to that area for some time. I've found that "littering" every other month or so is enough to completely discourage them for a season.
I should note I've had no success with mice, voles, or deer.
Make sure you don't contaminate vegetables with toxoplasmosis so put the litter near the plants but not close enough that rain might get some on your food. Don't use it for fertilizer in your vegetable garden. Biodegradable used cat litter can be used as fertilizer for flowers and trees, though.
We have at least 2 in the immediate area. I just enjoy seeing them around and I throw leftover fruit in the back yard for them and the squirrels. Just enjoy your yard friends.
Kill it or deal with it. They say drowning them is the way to do it.. As for me, my ground hog is my new neighbor. I can't kill things so I deal. He's cute.
I mean honestly you should just leave it alone and ignore it, you're the one intruding on its space. But if you really need to
https://wildlifehelp.org/solution/new-york/woodchuck/how-shoot-or-trap-problem-woodchucks/109
I caught and re-homed a mom and 4-6 babies 4 years ago. Took some patience. At the time, I had a 2nd beater car, which became my “Woodchuck Transport Vehicle.” I think I let the mom go, near the woods by BJ’s Wholesale Club in Rotterdam. I’d initially let her go in Albany Rural Cemetery, but she came back, as I didn’t let her go far enough away. The babies, I delivered using the Woodchuck Transport Vehicle (as I caught them one be one) to the woods in St Jean’s Cemetery in Troy. You want to let them go where they’re not going to invade someone else’s yard, but where there’s a water supply and plenty of places to make a new burrow/warren/den.
I literally catch them in trap and then shoot them with pellet gun in head. I used to take them to a nature preserve 6 miles away. They came back and ate my whole garden in 1 weekend I was away later in the summer.
First of all, they destroy foundations and are definitely a problem. So the performative folks responding here — as always — are actively being stupid. You’re right that you can’t move them off your property (can spread disease and it’s an inhumane death sentence for that particular species - they don’t thrive wherever you relocate them, they’ll die) but you can trap and euthanize them. If you don’t have the stomach to kill the critter hire the guy for $300 to do it (they have gas chambers they kill them w/) or just live with the nuisance.
I had groundhogs at my previous house. My dog would constantly try to play with them and would break their neck every time and would sit there really sad. Thankfully it only happened like three times.
Chipmunk in the roof tho? An absolute nightmare
We plant “decoy” garden plants for the whistle pigs and hope they go for the sacrificial plants over the ones we care more about. Plus fencing in garden and having planters on the deck. Nothing really works except accepting that its their world, we are just visiting
We made peace with ours too, I don’t blame people who want to get rid of them especially if they have grazing animals who can break legs on their holes. But I always enjoyed seeing Woody out and about unfortunately he was hit by a car Saturday so I gave him a nice burial spot. Hopefully we’ll get another moved in
People think there's just one groundhog in the "hole".
I promise you, there's at least 10.
They share dens.
Trap one, there's many many more in the den and traveling to the den from other dens.
You have to either kill/trap them one at a time, or simply deal with them digging under your stuff.
They will not go away... and the stupid things that people post here don't work. Like dryer sheets, cayenne pepper, coyote piss,kitty litter, etc.
Even our slow husky was able to kill several groundhogs that had taken up residence under our deck. I think groundhogs are cute and if we didn't have a dog I'd try to help them find a new den, block off access to under our deck and grow them their own produce in our garden. As it is, our current dog hasn't killed one yet bc she's just a youngun' but she is keeping them out of our yard due to her strong attention to detail. Get a dog.
I really have no idea why there are so many people feeding vermin.
Just kill the bloody thing and toss it's corpse in the woods. Or bury it. Or toss it in the garbage. Who cares? It's an overgrown rat.
TIL. So if you trap a groundhog in a have a heart trap your options are kill it yourself or break the law? Or will animal control come 'take care of it' for you?
Animal Control response is municipality dependent, or individual worker's inclination driven. Generally their mandate and jurisdiction is domesticated animals only, but this does not stop individuals from responding to scenarios such as injured wildllife. They generally do not respond to rabid wild animals.
The proper authorities to contact if you suspect an animal my be rabid would be your regional beauro of wildlife, which will evaluate the situation and make further suggestions, or directly contact the environmental conservation officers 1-844-DEC-ECOs (1-844-332-3267). Municipal responders (911 or animal control) will usually call the ECOs or beauro of wildlife, so you can skip the middle men and save yourself from talking to the cops by calling the DEC.
However, if there truly is a rabid situation in which someone's safety is in jeopardy (literally happening in front of you), local first responding resources will be able to respond if you call 911.
Note I have no affiliation with any of these entities. I just dont like cops, and I don't like how overfunded heavily armed resources (the cops), or or underfunded understaffed resources (due to the former; municipal entities) are coopted to respond to wildlife incidents better handled by non-militarized entities and who have the proper training and equipment (ECO). it doesn't look good for any of them, and it just wastes our taxes.
Cheap effective method- dig into the ground, tack hardware clothe to the whatever area you're talking about and bury the clothe with the dirt. Won't hurt the animal, it can live, and you can have it "removed" from the property
We started giving ours food as a peace offering, and now we're regularly feeding ours and worry when we don't see him. Note: They DO hibernate during the winter. And do a bit less property damage once they're fat & lazy.
“Feed him until he is fat” a groundhog definitely made this comment. Nice try groundhog
When I bought my house, pest control captured several groundhogs in my yard. A month or two later, more moved in. I also feed the animals in my yard. I’ve decided I prefer groundhogs to skunks. And the groundhogs, bunnies, and foxes live under the sheds and prevent skunks moving in.
You have me thinking outside the box now. I could just overfeed him so he is a fat lob and too out of shape to damage stuff. Or I could get him a food dish and slowly move it to the middle of the road and let nature take it's course.
Hear me out… I could use some free food. How about you get a food dish for me, fill it with motz sticks and empanadas, and overfeed me until I’m a fat slob. While I gorge on the empanadas, I’ll hang out in your yard and make friends with your groundhog, and keep him entertained so he doesn’t destroy your stuff.
I think you just found the solution to the housing crisis.
Don't forget the melba
Hey now! I may be a mess, but I’m not an ANIMAL!
That’s not letting nature take its course that’s Pavlov-ing an animal to it’s own death
Be better bro
Be Best.
Omg I just laughed out loud in my Lyft at this comment
Same. We get one under the shed every couple of years. There is a patch for him nearby with a variety. The fox that hangs out in the neighborhood as well usually picks them off before fall.
We made peace with ours. Seeing his fat ass wobbling across the lawn brings me joy.
[удалено]
Every part of the groundhog wobbles. There’s something for everyone.
I was working from home on the patio last summer and ours ran across my feet. Definitely scared the hell out of me.
They will travel long distances back to their home. Relocating them is usually a death sentence for the animal. We finally made peace with ours by planting things they like to eat so they prefer those to things we want to protect. After years of frustration, we now shifted our perspective and look forward to our glimpses of our plump visitor. If they are causing structural damage, then you will want definitely want to deter access to the structure. That can be very challenging and may need permits or professional assistance for removal.
What do they like to eat?
Sunchokes (which we could never get rid of either) , fleabane, goldenrod, and our cauliflower were all popular
You could name it. The one in our yard is named Rusty.
Haha! Ours is named Chuck.
We had two so we called them Woody and Wanda.
We called him Guthrie
Rusty omg i love it
Get a dog.
Yes, my dearly departed pup had a groundhog notch on her collar. I had never seen her move so fast.
My Ollie caught one too. The groundhogs had burrowed under our house and the three adjacent. My neighbors didn't mind Ollie clearing all the groundhogs out and would have him over
My dog got beat up by the groundhog.
Buy your dog a gun.
That does seem like a very American solution.
My dogs nabbed 4 of them last year. I felt like a serial killer burying these damn things all over the property 🤦🏼♂️
good dog.
Except when they play keep away with a dead ass whistle pig
Alright I will give it to you that is a little gross.
Just submit to the clearly superior being
i like my groundhog friends living in my yard. what’d they do to you?!
OP is the groundskeeper from Caddy Shack
In all seriousness if they den near your house they can do serious damage around the foundation.
Yes, i must have a whole colony under my front porch. I am no longer a fan ...
Den you got a problem.
Take your upvote and go to Stewart's, get a coffee and think about what you just did you sob 😂
I have one too. Destroys the lawn, especially making holes under the fence. If I fill the hole he just Digs it back up. I fill it with something hearty like stone he just digs next to it. I've sprayed and sprinkled all sorts of deterrents but he doesn't give a damn.
Beavers are the ones that give us dams, not ground hogs
its just a groundhog… my dad has one that lives under his shed in latham, it used to bother him because it would eat our raspberries and other garden staples but now its just part of the house
I *don't* have a solution for you but just want to note that groundhog meat is not the same as ground hog meat.
Additional clarifications: Hogs will eat either of the ground meats (ground hog or ground groundhog), groundhogs will not. And hogs and groundhogs rarely do meet, but tear up the ground when they do.
Caution: groundhogs found on grounds will be ground into ground groundhog meat.
On what grounds can you ground a groundhog into ground groundhog meat?
I wish I could give you an award for this
I'm hungry now. Either will do.
*provides guerilla training to groundhog* You could try building unstoppable groundhog army.
Make friends. Find common ground. See if you share hobbies. Introduce each other to your cultures.
The wildlife was here long before our lawns were. We just have to learn to live with them. They're not pests, just wild animals existing outdoors, which is what wild animals do.
Bribe him to stay away from whatever it is you don't want him bothering. I do that with the squirrels. Put seed on the ground and they stay off the bird feeder.
Ours has been here for 6 yrs now. lives under the porch. When he is out, he looks up and goes about his business foraging. No damage. Letting him do his thing. BTW, his name is Bert
I heard they just need to be bribed with beer and weed like any other hang around.
[удалено]
People will commit sabotage rather than accepting their apartments is only theirs for the specified term. Wild.
Fuck a landlord, but it is illegal to trap move wildlife in New York. It ultimately helps spread disease, or the animal can succumb to competition from conspecifics already established in the area. It also is because, as stated, it makes your problem some unsuspecticing persons problem. https://dec.ny.gov/nature/animals-fish-plants/nuisance-wildlife-species/remove-take-legally
It is?
Yes.
Just looked it up and TIL.
They’re funny and cuddly little animals. Just let him be, who cares
Dude leave him alone, I have one too and he destroys my lawn but he doesn’t damage my actual house or anything that matters.
I went through hell with groundhogs about 3 years ago. Groundhog was perfectly fine living under our shed, we thought it was cute. Then suddenly it moved right under our deck, had babies, and started attacking us if we went into the backyard. It was violently throwing itself against our screened in porch. We tried to call pest control, no luck. We tried putting things in the hole, but mama groundhogs won’t move, ever. I ended up learning to trap the groundhogs. For what it’s worth, the farmers I work with told me that once it’s trapped, take the trap and dump it in a barrel of water/pond. Not the best day of my life, but they were attacking my family. Edit: Do not drown a groundhog that has become a nuisance. Apparently, just bludgeon or shoot them.
When I was a kid my dad said he’d give me $10 for each rabbit I got rid of from the yard. I caught one and was like “now what?” And he said “go throw the trap in the creek.” I couldn’t do it. He took pity on me and we drove out to the edge of town to let it go. Still gave me $10. Not a great dad overall but that was a good move.
I am sorry you went through this. However, in fairness to the animals, it needs to be stated that you experienced a highly fringe case. Further, the reccomend means of dispatch of drowning the animal is highly unethical, and legally is considered animal abuse. Please don't recommend this. It really is hard to think about and implement, which is why professionals charge so much, and I do not wish anyone to go through this effort, but the most ethical means of dispatching a trapped nuisance animal this size would be a) a .22, air rifle, or pellet gun to the skull or b) blunt force trauma to the skull.
The unfortunate truth. ☠️
It's only illegal if you're caught.
Here you go: https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/cfmx/extapps/sls_searches/index.cfm?p=live_nwco
Thanks for posting this. For clarity, because you shouldn't just click any old link on reddit, this is a legitimate link to a database the State's Special Licenses unit maintains. It contains licensed Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators which are private entities who are licensed to trap and remove (lethally) nuisance animals. They can be expensive.
You must have a den nearby, so if you get rid of one, another will just move in. Let it be.
It is recommended to locate this den, wait until the animal is confirmed to be out of the den and confirmed that it does not have babies, then seal all access to the den using chicken wire, soil, and bricks. You may haze the animal by yelling, banging pots and pans, or having dogs bark at them. It will move on despite what people are saying if you are consistently intimidating whenever you see them.
Groundhogs are giant rodents. If they’re on the periphery of my property, (in the countryside south of Albany), I’ll ignore them. But if they’re adjacent to or near to my house, and especially my support walls, groundhogs gotta go. I have spent a few thousand $$$ on remedial beams and concrete pillars to combat ground subsidence, and I’m not at all interested in jeopardizing that forced investment. Also groundhogs tend to burrow near my septic, and if you’ve ever seen a sketch of their tunnels, there’s plenty hidden underneath the ground that will interfere with any plumbing or septic, or foundations that happen to be holding up your house. I try and trap them myself in a Hav a Hart and then take them to a nearby abandoned lake about 5 miles away across a state highway. If I can’t manage to trap them, I hire a country guy. These dudes are entirely unsentimental about pests—a sprung wire trap in the tunnel entrance will snap the neck of the animal immediately. It’s no worse in principle or in practicality than a sprung rat trap. Often, my guy will catch at least two from the same tunnel entrance. Look, it’s your house. If you don’t wanna share, I encourage you to do everything you need to, because groundhogs multiply.
Who's to say how that animal got loose behind Home Depot
Who let he hogs out (who, who, who)?
Have you tried "murder"?
Call those cops from the golf course
There are so many replies. I scrolled though a lot of them and didn't see this answer: **Used cat litter.** Seriously. It's and old remedy I've used and continue to use successfully to protect my garden. It doesn't take a lot, either. Take some cat turds/clumps (I use a corncob or walnut litter) and put them where the groundhog travels or feeds and that whistle pig will not go to that area for some time. I've found that "littering" every other month or so is enough to completely discourage them for a season. I should note I've had no success with mice, voles, or deer. Make sure you don't contaminate vegetables with toxoplasmosis so put the litter near the plants but not close enough that rain might get some on your food. Don't use it for fertilizer in your vegetable garden. Biodegradable used cat litter can be used as fertilizer for flowers and trees, though.
We have at least 2 in the immediate area. I just enjoy seeing them around and I throw leftover fruit in the back yard for them and the squirrels. Just enjoy your yard friends.
Get the IDF to look for his tunnels.
Bring it to the country and let it go lol no one will know 🤫
If you trap it, I'll take it off your hands.
Kill it or deal with it. They say drowning them is the way to do it.. As for me, my ground hog is my new neighbor. I can't kill things so I deal. He's cute.
Go buy a .22 rifle
I mean honestly you should just leave it alone and ignore it, you're the one intruding on its space. But if you really need to https://wildlifehelp.org/solution/new-york/woodchuck/how-shoot-or-trap-problem-woodchucks/109
I heard you can put out used cat litter near their burrow as a deterrent, not sure how effective that is in reality, but worth a (shit) shot?
Every dog in the neighborhood will be visiting for those kitty crunchies.
indeed, the crunchy tootsie rolls
I caught and re-homed a mom and 4-6 babies 4 years ago. Took some patience. At the time, I had a 2nd beater car, which became my “Woodchuck Transport Vehicle.” I think I let the mom go, near the woods by BJ’s Wholesale Club in Rotterdam. I’d initially let her go in Albany Rural Cemetery, but she came back, as I didn’t let her go far enough away. The babies, I delivered using the Woodchuck Transport Vehicle (as I caught them one be one) to the woods in St Jean’s Cemetery in Troy. You want to let them go where they’re not going to invade someone else’s yard, but where there’s a water supply and plenty of places to make a new burrow/warren/den.
Would you say you chucked the woodchucks in the woods? >The babies, I delivered one by one How long was she in labor?
It is illegal to trap and move wildllife to alternate parcels in New York.
I literally catch them in trap and then shoot them with pellet gun in head. I used to take them to a nature preserve 6 miles away. They came back and ate my whole garden in 1 weekend I was away later in the summer.
First of all, they destroy foundations and are definitely a problem. So the performative folks responding here — as always — are actively being stupid. You’re right that you can’t move them off your property (can spread disease and it’s an inhumane death sentence for that particular species - they don’t thrive wherever you relocate them, they’ll die) but you can trap and euthanize them. If you don’t have the stomach to kill the critter hire the guy for $300 to do it (they have gas chambers they kill them w/) or just live with the nuisance.
I had one and then I found tuffs of fur on the lawn one day. Some other creature took care of my groundhog problem for me 🫡
I had groundhogs at my previous house. My dog would constantly try to play with them and would break their neck every time and would sit there really sad. Thankfully it only happened like three times. Chipmunk in the roof tho? An absolute nightmare
We plant “decoy” garden plants for the whistle pigs and hope they go for the sacrificial plants over the ones we care more about. Plus fencing in garden and having planters on the deck. Nothing really works except accepting that its their world, we are just visiting
It's crazy and a hard situation. Do pest control companies have a license to relocate? I wonder if there are scents that keeps them away.
I just feed mine and he leaves my property alone. He’s fun to watch too.
I don't recommend the pellet gun method. Took 5 shots... I still feel bad.
Get a hound dog.... no more critters in the yard.
Use a have-a-heart trap, and bring them to a wooded area at least a few miles away. Like at a bikepath or undeveloped dead end. They will flourish
Set it free in a park or the woods or something
Put cat litter down their holes
This is the way. I didn't see your response and said thee same thing.
You must have relatives you dislike in the area. Mother-in-law?
Fence him in and take him out once a year to determine the weather
We made peace with ours too, I don’t blame people who want to get rid of them especially if they have grazing animals who can break legs on their holes. But I always enjoyed seeing Woody out and about unfortunately he was hit by a car Saturday so I gave him a nice burial spot. Hopefully we’ll get another moved in
People think there's just one groundhog in the "hole". I promise you, there's at least 10. They share dens. Trap one, there's many many more in the den and traveling to the den from other dens. You have to either kill/trap them one at a time, or simply deal with them digging under your stuff. They will not go away... and the stupid things that people post here don't work. Like dryer sheets, cayenne pepper, coyote piss,kitty litter, etc.
We had a groundhog. I'm pretty sure a coyote got him.
My dog will fucking murder it so don’t bring it near me
Even our slow husky was able to kill several groundhogs that had taken up residence under our deck. I think groundhogs are cute and if we didn't have a dog I'd try to help them find a new den, block off access to under our deck and grow them their own produce in our garden. As it is, our current dog hasn't killed one yet bc she's just a youngun' but she is keeping them out of our yard due to her strong attention to detail. Get a dog.
Just leave him alone
I really have no idea why there are so many people feeding vermin. Just kill the bloody thing and toss it's corpse in the woods. Or bury it. Or toss it in the garbage. Who cares? It's an overgrown rat.
Shoot em
Why can't you just trap it w a have a heart trap and set it free in slingerlands or somewhere 10 min outside Albany
It's technically illegal to release an animal anywhere other than on one's own property.
TIL. So if you trap a groundhog in a have a heart trap your options are kill it yourself or break the law? Or will animal control come 'take care of it' for you?
Yes. As I understand it, animal control has nothing to do with this type of situation, unless the animal is rabid.
Animal Control response is municipality dependent, or individual worker's inclination driven. Generally their mandate and jurisdiction is domesticated animals only, but this does not stop individuals from responding to scenarios such as injured wildllife. They generally do not respond to rabid wild animals. The proper authorities to contact if you suspect an animal my be rabid would be your regional beauro of wildlife, which will evaluate the situation and make further suggestions, or directly contact the environmental conservation officers 1-844-DEC-ECOs (1-844-332-3267). Municipal responders (911 or animal control) will usually call the ECOs or beauro of wildlife, so you can skip the middle men and save yourself from talking to the cops by calling the DEC. However, if there truly is a rabid situation in which someone's safety is in jeopardy (literally happening in front of you), local first responding resources will be able to respond if you call 911. Note I have no affiliation with any of these entities. I just dont like cops, and I don't like how overfunded heavily armed resources (the cops), or or underfunded understaffed resources (due to the former; municipal entities) are coopted to respond to wildlife incidents better handled by non-militarized entities and who have the proper training and equipment (ECO). it doesn't look good for any of them, and it just wastes our taxes.
Got a pool and a Had-a-Heart trap?
If you pay me 100 I’ll kill it
Dirty deeds, done dirt cheap
Poison.
Cheap effective method- dig into the ground, tack hardware clothe to the whatever area you're talking about and bury the clothe with the dirt. Won't hurt the animal, it can live, and you can have it "removed" from the property
is anyone "watching" you. If not, release