Jackson Township man controls critters (11/21/07)

It's 2 a.m.

You're awakened by a strange noise coming from your attic; or maybe the crawl space or basement.

After a few moments spent catching your breath and determining it's an animal intruder and not human, the thought creeps into your head: "What now?"

The answer, says rural Pennville resident Tim Dale, is easy. Call for Critter Control.

Dale, who says he has always had a passion for animals, has turned that into a career - intervening when wildlife and rodents come too close for human comfort.

After spending several years as a part-time wildlife control specialist on his own, Dale decided to join the Critter Control franchise, and he hasn't slowed down since.

Although most of us would recoil at the thought of coming face to face with squirrels, rats, bats, possums, raccoons, birds, snakes and countless other species, it's something that Dale enjoys.

Critter Control, which has more than 100 franchisees nationwide, has been in existence since 1983. And Dale, whose territory stretches from Fort Wayne to Indianapolis, says he and his one employee drive more than 40,000 miles per year across that region doing work that homeowners don't want to.

"We answer the phone 24/7," says Dale, who lives with his wife, young daughter, a small pack of dogs and several horses in "Magic Valley" northeast of Pennville.

On a recent afternoon, just hours after arriving home at 12:30 a.m. that morning from a late-night call, Dale answered "emergency" calls in several East Central Indiana cities, including Marion and Muncie. He was headed back to Muncie, his business headquarters, to attempt to trap a hawk in a factory and to trap a squirrel that had gotten into a used car dealer's office.

Dale, a former manager for a replacement window company out of Fort Wayne, did animal control for several years as Dale's Animal Control Damage while working his full-time job.

"It got to be too much. My wife (Lynne) said it was one or the other. I picked the one I enjoyed," says Dale. "Very few times do you get to do what you enjoy for a living."

Dale, who drives a bright yellow Dodge Ram pick-up with "Critter Control" emblazoned on the side, says that his workload doubled after joining the company, which is listed in a variety of phone books across the region. The easy-to-remember phone number (800) CRITTER (274-8837) doesn't hurt, either.

A native of Pennville, the 42-year-old Dale says he had several "normal" pets growing up, along with adopted baby raccoons and other assorted wildlife.

He has been bitten by virtually every species of animal he's ever trapped - including raccoons, possum, mice, rats and bats - but he is scared of just two: Spiders and snakes.

"I can handle anything with fur, but I'm afraid of spiders," he says with a laugh.

Although wildlife invading homes and other human habitat can happen at any time of the year, there are seasonal patterns. August is bat time, with the flying mammals searching for comfortable roosts; often in the attics of homes.

Later in the fall, now in fact, squirrels may be the most common and pesky invader.

Squirrels, Dale says, will chew anything - including electrical wires. If a squirrel or other animal chews strips the insulation from wires which aren't carrying current, a fire can be sparked when the switch is flipped to the "on" position.

Literature from Critter Control claims that up to 50 percent of fires with undetermined causes may be caused by rodents gnawing on wiring inside of homes.

Although some city, town and county animal control officers will handle wildlife calls, Dale says that most don't have a required permit from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

The goal in most situations is to live trap animals and release them back into the wild, but Dale admits that stress is too much for some of the animals he traps and that they have to be euthanized.

"We try to release most fur-bearing animals. By law you have to release it in the county in which it was trapped or euthanize it," Dale says.

Dale, who has a background in construction, says that he and other Critter Control representatives offer a full-range of animal services - including finding points of entry and sealing them, trapping and removing the animal(s) and repairing damage.

In addition to the occasional encounter with an arachnid (spider) or snake, Dale says the toughest part of the job "is the high ladder work and the hours."

Shrinking habitat, especially fence rows and wood lots, has pushed more and more wildlife into cities and towns, says Dale. Once the animals overcome their fear of humans, they settle into a comfortable city life existence.

An estimated 75 percent of his calls are from urban residents.

"It's such a fast-paced world that people don't have time to take care of it themselves," or don't want to, Dale says.

On at least one occasion, Dale wasn't sure he wanted to take care of a problem, either.

One his way home from vacation, Dale took a call about a snake that was loose in an apartment building. After learning several other less important details, Dale was told that the snake was actually a Timber Rattlesnake.

Taking the prudent step of searching for anti-venom before stepping foot inside the apartment, Dale called a variety of hospitals, finally finding a dose at a hospital in Cincinnati.

He was apprehensive even before talking to a physician at the hospital, whose instructions were chilling: If bitten, administer the anti-venom immediately, then call for a helicopter which would deliver him to a hospital equipped to deal with rattlesnake bites. Dale was told that if he was on the helicopter in time, he had would have a chance.

Thankfully, he says, he never crossed paths with the snake, which apparently made its own way out of the apartment after devouring all the mice in the building.

One of his current ongoing assignments is at a church near Liberty, south of Richmond, which is infested with an estimated 2,000 bats.

Capturing animals is done by trapping, snare and, sometimes, bare hands. With a background as a fur trapper, Dale knows food preferences and behavior, and can usually capture his intended prey.

But he sometimes is forced to crawl into unpleasant situations such as attics and crawl spaces for more direct method of capture.

His favorite trick for getting rats and mice that are stuck in vertical pipes? Lower a rope into the pipe, and grab the rodent when it uses the rope to climb up and out.

Although it may be one of the most frightening wildlife problems for homeowners, skunks have never been a big problem for Dale, who says he has never been sprayed.

One of most prolific pest animals over the past few years has been Canada Geese, who pose sanitation problems in addition to becoming aggressive - especially during nesting season.

While clients are more than happy to see Dale arrive on the scene, not everyone shares the same point of view. Dale says he has been harassed by animal right individuals and groups - including being videotaped while on the job and finding stuffed animals in live traps.[[In-content Ad]]