BDN consults Dill about woodchucks in the garden
The Bangor Daily News interviewed Griffin Dill, an integrated pest management professional with University of Maine Cooperative Extension, for an article about how to handle woodchucks in the garden. “To the dismay of many gardeners the woodchucks can be a significant problem in the home garden and even around the home landscape itself,” Dill said. He discussed preventative measures to stop woodchucks from coming into the garden in the first place and damaging crops, as well as trapping if those measures are not successful. “A lot of people’s first instinct is to trap and relocate,” he explained. “You’re really probably limiting the potential survival of the woodchuck to next to nothing anyway. It’s generally not recommended to move wildlife around like that because you can spread wildlife disease.” Dill said the more humane option is to euthanize the animal, which is done primarily through shooting it. If you are not comfortable with that, Dill recommends hiring a professional pest control company to handle the problem for you. “Not everyone is comfortable in that situation which is understandable,” Dill said. “There are a number of pest control companies that handle wildlife calls like that.”