Skunks, Coyotes and Vultures...Oh My!

For a highly-populated semi-urban village like Scarsdale, there sure is plenty of wildlife around these parts. Deer, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, opossum, foxes, bats, wild turkeys, turkey vultures, squirrels, rats, mice, various birds and even snakes make appearances in the 'dale. Many of these creatures are positively received by residents but some become a nuisance or are a threat to our pets, our kids and ourselves. Others just have a bad ol' reputation. So, when do you call village animal control? When do you call a private trapper or wildlife removal service? When do you just agree to cohabit outdoor space with the animals and enjoy the fact that we actually still have wildlife in these parts?

The Village of Scarsdale employs animal control officer, Phil Santore who you call any time you can use some help with a wildlife issue. If he can't help, he'll refer you to a private trapper who can. "We're always there to come out and help determine if further assistance is needed or if we can safely and properly help you deal with an unwanted animal." Mr. Santore has helped people shoo trapped birds out of houses, for example, but emphasized that each case is individual. "You can always call us to assess the situation," he acknowledged. Anything complicated will require a professional trapper and sometimes prevention needs to be put in place as well. Village animal control mostly deals with loose dogs and Mr. Santore encourages all residents to license and register their dogs because they can help if the dog goes missing.

"A couple of years ago we had an unprecedented number of calls about coyotes," Mr. Santore remarked. "However, unless they're posing a threat to people, and they rarely are, they're here to stay. They're not innately dangerous and if they or any other animal don't pose a threat to people, they are left alone. They live here, too, and are often found near water sources. I usually tell people if they see a coyote just to keep an eye on small pets and kids in the backyard or be outside with them. They're snatch-and-get-away animals and only pursue small prey." What about that raccoon in your driveway at 4 PM? "You can call us if you think a wild animal is rabid," he said, "Although an animal like a raccoon spotted during daylight hours does not necessarily mean it's rabid. There are other signs like foaming at the mouth and disorientation that will make us suspect rabies and at that point we would dispose of the animal. Otherwise, we do not remove animals from their natural habitat." In regards to animals killed by vehicles, Scarsdale Sanitation takes care of cleaning that up unless the turkey vultures get to them first.

I also spoke with private trapper Jim Dreisacker who said he gets different calls, depending on the season: squirrels and other rodents in attics in the colder months, woodchucks and groundhogs in the spring, raccoons in crawl spaces during their breeding months and bats in houses during the summer. "Bats have the potential to be rabid so you always want to call a professional for that." He also gets calls about skunks that can stink up crawl spaces if they encounter another skunk. "Skunks aren't dangerous and they only spray when imminently threatened," he said.

Mr. Dreisacker gets hundreds, if not thousands, of calls about raccoons; however, they can't all be relocated so he recommends locking garbage cans to deter them from feasting on your discarded food. He gets calls about birds (including owls) in chimneys and recommends chimney caps to prevent this from happening. His strangest call was for the removal of 24 squirrels in three days only to find out the previous owner had been feeding the squirrels who had had gnawed holes through doors. "There's a lesson here," he said. "Don't feed the wildlife!"

Colorful stories of wildlife abound in Scarsdale

Theresa Harpster came upon a bunch of turkey vultures eating something on Madison Road in Edgewood. "We took pictures of them out of our car's sunroof like we were on a safari," she mused. "Then there was the wild baby mouse that my kids found. We kept him in a cage for a month so he could grow until the vet said we could release him. Yup, we brought him to a vet. Then he escaped in our house. It did not end well for the mouse!" Her favorite story, however, is what her 10-year-old daughter said to her after a walk back home after dark. "We have to be very quiet during our walk because then maybe we can observe a raccoon in its natural habitat - a garbage can."

Christine Weston has had a few birds/animals in her chimney including a small owl that her husband had to gently hold and bring outside. "Then there was a large bird, most likely a hawk, that injured itself when it apparently tried to kill a small rodent and crashed into and broke a window! We've also had a coyote in our backyard," she said. She eventually had to put chicken wire around her chimney because animals kept getting in there.

Sarah White was removing a branch off her lawn after a storm when she encountered five little hairless, barely identifiable creatures (see photo). "I had no idea what to do or what they were so I called the Weinberg Nature Center. They told me to put them in a warm box so I lined a shoebox with paper towels and made them a hot water bottle so they'd stay warm. Then a nice nature lady came and took them to the Weinberg Nature Center where they made a home in the squirrel hutch. (They were squirrels.) They were cared for there until they were old enough to release back into the wilds of Scarsdale."

If you find baby wildlife in Scarsdale, you can call the Weinberg Nature Center or Greenburgh Nature Center for assistance. The Weinberg Nature Center website has very helpful information regarding the proper actions to take when discovering sick, injured or abandoned wildlife.

And could there be a better way to end a story about Scarsdale wildlife than a contribution from Scarsdale poet laureate Deborah Skolnik?

While driving on Mamaroneck
much to my fear
across the street bounded 3 jumbo deer!
The trio scared me right out of my Guccis
Had they been having hot drinks at Balducci's?
They seemed to be headed for WRT
So a treasonous thought occurred to me:
I hate to sound sorta cynical, or shrewish...
But psst...Saint Nick...your reindeer are JEWISH!