We live on 1/2 an acre…so our property is fairly small. We have neighbors on one side of us and a road on the other. Behind our property is a commerical building…a typical suburban area. Over the past 6 months we’ve been over-run by groundhogs. When I say over-run…I’m not kidding! On our small 1/2 acre we had over a dozen tunnels and dens! It was becoming unsafe for us to walk around in our backyard!
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Early in the summer my wife fell through a tunnel they had dug and broken her left foot. She wore a cast for 3 1/2 months. They dug dens and tunnels underneath my one garden shed. It was so bad that my one side of the garden shed started to lean and tilt from sinking into the tunnels. The groundhogs were causing all kinds of property damage throughout our yard. On top of that, they destroyed one of two of our backyard vegetable gardens. Before you say anything…yes, both gardens were fenced in! They dug underneath the fences!
After contacting our township and talking with wildlife officials they agreed that we had too many living on our 1/2 acre. There are NO natural predators here to keep their numbers in check. We love animals…so killing them was not an option in our book. Instead, we opted to live trap them and to relocate them 5 miles down the road to a wooded area where they would be safer and have plenty of room to roam.
Over the course of 2 months we were able to safely catch 7 groundhogs and relocate them to the new area. Even with that, we still have at least a half dozen roaming around our yard. Hopefully I’ll be able to safely catch a few more and relocate them before they hibernate for the winter season.
Before beginning a project like this you always want to contact the officials in your particular area. Each area has different rules and regulations regarding live trapping and relocating wildlife. Once you have permission…you’ll need a live animal trap, heavy duty work gloves and a tarp. Once trapped toss the tarp over the trap to help keep them calm during the relocation process. Know ahead of time where you’ll be taking them to and quickest route to get there. You want to release them quickly….don’t keep them caged overnight.