“Tails” From the Wild Side
Its never safe to handle a Bat
Its never safe to handle a Bat with your bare hands, Just look at those teeth, always wear leather Gloves, and if you don't know what your doing dont touch bats. 1 out of 11 bats tested at the state lab in Augusta 1 may have rabies.
WE specialize in bats and would be happy to talk with you.
“Tails” From the Wild Side
Lots of skunks
Ring Ring, Ring Ring, “Hello, Critter Catcher” may I help you? I think we may have a skunk ! Many times a day I get this call, skunks get very little respect, overall they mind their own business and want to stay out of your way, usually looking for a mate in the early spring Feb. - March and next looking for a nice place to raise a family of 2-7 baby skunks that will emerge mid June. They eat harmful grubs and insects from your lawn and dig small holes in your lawn that aerate your lawn, skunks are very clean and have no oder unless they are forced or startled into spraying in self defense. skunks under the porch, or shed drawn to your home with bird seed falling from your bird feeder or your neighbors feeder, They don’t want to spray you. If you think a skunk may be in your yard and you need to go out, open and close the door make some noise or a little commotion Mr. skunk will be happy to get out of your way. If this dont work for you I will. We at “Critter Catcher” will live-trap your skunks and move them out to the willie-wags where they can live in the wild, we at Critter Catcher specialize in resolving conflicts between animals and people. Your personal “Critter Catcher” Maynard Stanley
“Tails” From the Wild Side
Chasing a sick fox
Spent the afternoon chasing a sick fox up in belfast today, He has Mange mite and maybe Distemper, The mite causes horrible itching and the constant scratching removes their hair and get "Hot Spots" where they dig themselves raw to the point of bleeding they will suffer allot with this, the distemper is a neurological disorder they may lose their fear of people and they will lose interest in hunting for food and will take handouts and sometimes eat birdseed, They will have Diarrea and have muscle weakness in their back end if you watch them they will walk a ways and then sit down or fall down.... they often have Diarrea and then fall in it, the back end will look very nasty , now when you would think it couldn't get any worse they will develop a discharge from their eyes a yellow puss that will crust over and kinda glue the eyes shut. very sad to see this beautiful animal in such a state. Fox can get ether Feline or Canine distemper and it is very contagious for any unvaccinated cats or dogs, and the Mange Mite can be caught by people so watch out if handling a dead fox or coon
“Tails” From the Wild Side
Those “Stinking” Squirrels
Ring Ring, Ring Ring, Hello Critter Catcher may I help you? Yes I think we have a dead animal in the house ..... there is a terrible oder can you help ? Sure we will be right over, as we pull in the caretaker meets us at the door and says I cant smell it now he says, yesterday it was just awful this is typical of a dead critter in the chimney, the smell will depend on downdrafts and barometric pressure to pull the smell up the chimney or push it down... where it will be enjoyed by everyone
“Tails” From the Wild Side
Oh Rats
The squirrel without the “fuzzy tail” wood rats are small about the size of the red squirrel and the norway rat will get up to 18 inches like the one in the picture. we had 4 calls on rats this week, rats are with us all year long and easily find a hole into your home or make one. We at Critter Catcher can handle your rodents with discretion and can seal up your home to keep them out.
We at Critter Catcher specialize in resolving conflicts between animals and people.
“Tails” From the Wild Side
“Squirrel Condos”
“Squirrel Condos”
Squirrels squirrels squirrels, this summer home in friendship was having squirrel problems we went down and took the first squirrel out of the washing machine this summer and then proceeded to trap a few more in the home, we did a inspection, located where they were coming in and sealed up the holes. I left traps in the cottage and went back to check in two weeks and found squirrels had got back in I continued to trap catching a total of 14 squirrels, after re-inspecting we found that the squirrels had chewed in five new holes one at each of both the bays in the picture the squirrels removed all of the installation chewed it up and made these nest out of the installation,
fortunately no wires were chewed we seal the bottom of each Bay with wire and will go back and check traps in a few days afterwards to make sure no more squirrels are getting in we will clean up the scat sanitize and then we will put the wall back together.
We at Critter Catcher specialize in resolving conflicts between animals and people. Your personal “Critter Catcher” Maynard Stanley jr
“Tails” From the Wild Side
All in a Days Work "Busy as a Beaver"
All in a Days Work "Busy as a Beaver"
A local Town hires me to trap a nuisance beaver thats been damming a culvert, I catch her, round 1 goes to me and we head off to relocate her several towns away, as I drive south on RT1 I see a truck flashing his lights behind me I pull over and he says "you lost your beaver back in town next to the police station, if you want her you better get back to town" round 2 goes to Miss Beaver, I turn around and go back into town looking ...looking... no beaver ... looking ….. then a tattletale sign ... yes .. a man with a camera and his daughter doing a half shuffle across a lawn I suspect they are headed in the direction of my escaped Giant rodent ... YES ... Waddle ... Waddle .. she has one speed “waddle” and down hill and across a 3 acre lawn, we are in the middle of town, .. I must catch her or follow her for 1/2 mile as she makes her way to the nearest water…. the st. George river.
We zig zag from street to street Miss beaver is making a beeline to the river two streets down she is slowing down I see my chance, as she gets to the next lawn, I pull ahead and park my truck jump out and grab my control pole, as I approach Miss beaver she stops and turns and sees my wife Norma and the 2 people that own the house and me she eyes us all….. You can tell she knows down deep that she can wup all of us ….. she just don't know who will be first. She stands up and lunges at me and I drop the loop of my catch pole down over her head and I pull to tighten the loop she flips and shakes the loop off… round 3 goes to Miss Beaver.
I open my loop wide and tease her with it to catch her I must get the loop behind her front legs.. She does a false charge now she has one leg thru the loop and one behind I do a false charge to provoke her and it works she is ready to meet me on the battle field, her next lunge puts her next leg thru the loop of my catch pole … quickly I tighten the loop before she gets to me, as the loop tightens she does a backflip and triple roll in a frutal attempt to escape. Round 4 goes to me. Now what ! …...I have a 40+ lb. Beaver, and I have a damaged hancock beaver trap and a bunch of squirrel traps.
I hand the catch pole over to Norma and I work quickly to reset the big and dangerous hancock trap, all the while Miss Beaver puts up a fight, I get the hancock set with the safety ring next I take the catch pole and walk Miss beaver back into the trap and Norma pulls the safety ring rope and the trap snaps shut.. and I wired it closed before releasing the catch pole and loading Miss Beaver back on my truck and continue our Journey to the pond that will be her new home and hopefully soon to be a lake.
We at Critter Catcher specialize in resolving conflicts between animals and people. Your personal “Critter Catcher” Maynard Stanley jr
“Tails” From the Wild Side
Skunk in a Grave hole
Skunk in a Grave hole
I had a interesting call the other day, a skunk in a grave hole, did not get pictures, the hole was dug the day before, when the funeral home guys arrived to put the cement vault in the hole they found the skunk digging into a wooden casket that was exposed by digging the new hole, he had pieces of the wooden casket which was very rotten in the new grave, when they called me the funeral was to arrive at grave site in 15 minutes and they did not want put the recently deceased in the hole with the stench of skunk---- no pressure ---- I used my cat tongs to set a skunk tube- carefully in the grave - next some 1' x 4' strips of plywood as a drift fence/funnel to keep him from going into the old grave and spray bottle to move him into the tube and tripped the door on the tube with the cat tongs.
“Tails” From the Wild Side
Skunk in a Grave hole
Skunk in a Grave hole
I had a interesting call the other day, a skunk in a grave hole, did not get pictures, the hole was dug the day before, when the funeral home guys arrived to put the cement vault in the hole they found the skunk digging into a wooden casket that was exposed by digging the new hole, he had pieces of the wooden casket which was very rotten in the new grave, when they called me the funeral was to arrive at grave site in 15 minutes and they did not want put the recently deceased in the hole with the stench of skunk---- no pressure ---- I used my cat tongs to set a skunk tube- carefully in the grave - next some 1' x 4' strips of plywood as a drift fence/funnel to keep him from going into the old grave and spray bottle to move him into the tube and tripped the door on the tube with the cat tongs.
“Tails” From the Wild Side
Skunks are out and look'n for love
Skunks are out and look'n for love
Our last storm left about 8 to 10 inches of snow, and today is 23° and a beautiful sunny day, Will in the last two days we’ve received three calls on skunks and that’s because this is breeding season for the skunks when two males fight or spar for a female quite often they will spray a little bit, and if they’re under your house or your porch they can really stink up your home, In June the female skunks will be having babies and a will have from 2 to 6 baby skunks and quite often see them walking around during the day looking for food, So breeding season for Skunks has officially begun in the mid-coast Maine area. Sometimes we can help eliminate the skunk oder. We at “Critter Catcher” will live-trap your skunks and move them out to the willie-wags where they can live in the wild, we at Critter Catcher specialize in resolving conflicts between animals and people. Your personal “Critter Catcher” Maynard Stanley jr
“Tails” From the Wild Side
Maynard Stanley Jr receives Maine CDC award
Maynard Stanley Jr receives Maine CDC award
"He is a real proponent of educating people about infectious diseases at the grassroots level" said Meghan Kelly who is with the Maine Center for disease control in epidemiology.
Maynard Stanley Jr received the Maine Center for Disease control award for his contributions towards curbing rabies and other are infectious disease.
“Tails” From the Wild Side
HELP I HAVE A SKUNK IN MY KITCHEN !
HELP I HAVE A SKUNK IN MY KITCHEN !
HELP I HAVE A SKUNK IN MY KITCHEN ! screams the lady on the phone ...... This is not the call you want at 9:30 at night... she continues to tell me the details:
A Skunk came in thru the pet door and into my kitchen he tipped over the garbage and thats when my muffy ran to the kitchen barking, he got sprayed right in the face then he ran into the living room, and I think the skunk ran into the dining room, can you help me ? Yes we will be right over, after arriving we located the skunk under a dinette set next I set a tube trap and guide boards then I carefully guide the skunk into the trap without it spraying.
This is not the first time this has happened for us. wild animals invade peoples homes thru the pet doors all the time
“Tails” From the Wild Side
Helping hands save Osprey
Camden Bureau Chief
By Holly Anderson
DAMARISCOTTA MILLS (May 13, 06): On any given day in the Midcoast, Rockport Animal Control Officer Maynard Stanley Jr. usually finds himself being called upon to remove errant raccoons and skunks from unwanted places and to help locate the owners of missing pets.So it was a surprise to the stalwart animal wrangler, who owns and operates Critter Catchers and Maine Woods and Waters in Owls Head, when he came upon an osprey fighting for its life against the raging current rushing through a fish screen at the old mill dam in Damariscotta Mills.
Barely keeping its head above the water, the osprey was trapped by the current against a fish fence in Damariscotta Mills. (Image courtesy of Norma Stanley)
This time of year is the annual spawning time of 12-inch, silvery alewives, which were historically a smoked and pickled food fish but have now become bait fish for the lobster industry. Alewives spend a month, usually until mid-June, swimming under bridges, through streams and up fish ladders in an annual trip from the Gulf of Maine to their home freshwater streams inland.
It is little surprise that an osprey, also called a fish hawk, might be lured to Damariscotta Mills this week.
Another photo of the osprey splayed against the fish fence by the current of the river at Damariscotta Mills, trying to extract itself from the water and fly to safety. (Image courtesy of Norma Stanley)
"The osprey got caught in the fish screen at Damariscotta Mills...where they dip alewives for smoking," said Stanley. Damariscotta Mills is located between Damariscotta Lake
and Damariscotta River, off Route 215 and alongside the Maine Eastern Railroad tracks. As the photos, taken by Stanley's wife Norma on Wednesday show, the osprey was in distress and in danger of being pulled under by the current. Once pulled under,
Stanley said that the raptor would have wound up wedged under the screen frame at the bottom of the river.
A local man held a stick under the osprey until Rockport ACO Maynard Stanley Jr. could get his net, the osprey managed to stay above the water until he was rescued. (Image courtesy of Norma Stanley) Stanley ran to his truck to get his net to rescue the osprey.
Just in time, Rockport ACO Maynard Stanley Jr. grabs his net and scooped the hapless osprey from what would have surely been a watery grave, moving the raptor to a tree branch where it spent the next 30 minutes resting and recovering. (Image courtesy of Norma Stanley)
The effort was a success, and Stanley said that the bird then spent some time resting and recovering.
"He rested for about 30 minutes, then like magic, when nobody was watching, he took off and flew away," Stanley said.
Looking a little worse for the wear, this osprey soon recovered from his ordeal trapped against a fish screen by the raging current in Damariscotta Mills. (Image courtesy of Norma Stanley)
Maine is host many species of predatory birds, including hawks, eagles, ospreys and falcons. Ospreys are found around coastal and freshwater habitats.
Another view of the rescued osprey. (Image courtesy of Norma Stanley)
They are often mistaken for bald eagles due to their similar size, nesting habitats and diet tendencies that include plenty of fish and amphibious birds. One way to tell the difference between an eagle and an osprey in flight is the silhouette of the wings, which are M-shaped and more slender in an osprey.
Thirty minutes after being plucked from certain death, Rockport ACO Maynard Stanley Jr. said that the osprey disappeared into the sky. (Image courtesy of Norma Stanley)
