The BC SPCA has developed an animal welfare accreditation program to help people choose pest control companies that have a more humane approach to dealing with unwanted critters.
Pest control is huge and growing industry currently valued at about $400 million in Canada but “we’ve seen it go wrong over the years,” said Dr. Sara Dubois, Chief Scientific Officer for the BC SPCA.
Dr. Dubois said a lot of companies use the word humane in their marketing but “when you’re searching for these companies you don’t know if their definition of humane is the same as yours. We could at least find the companies that we would use ourselves and align with our values.”
She said AnimalKind companies focus on quickly and effectively removing wildlife such as raccoons, squirrels, birds or skunks and preventing future problems instead of using poisons, glue traps or “other methods that cause animals to die slow, agonizing deaths.”
At Wild ARC, the BC SPCA’s wildlife rehabilitation centre in Metchosin, Dr. Dubois said they receive many animals that have suffered due to inhumane pest management practices.
“For example, we receive baby raccoons and squirrels who were orphaned when their mothers were trapped and songbirds who are brought in stuck to glue traps, horrible devices where trapped rodents suffocate or succumb to shock, dehydration or exposure,” she said.
Two companies, AAA Wildlife Control in Vancouver and Alternative Wildlife Solutions in Victoria have been accredited as AnimalKind.
“We’ve actually gone out to job sites and audited them. We’ve got two more companies going through the process and our goal is to have more,” said Dubois.
The owner of AAA Wildlife Control’s parent company, Brad Gates, said he’s spent much of his 33-year career in the industry “trying in vain to establish licensing for wildlife control” and he “cannot wait for AnimalKind to become the North American standard.”
