Wildlife Control Operator

The human mind is an amazing thing, but the animal mind can be just as crafty and cunning, if not more so. As a Wildlife Control Operator, you pit your skills and experience against animals great and small every time you go to work. The tasks you face, such as evacuating a family of squirrels from a tiny attic, are unlike any other line of work you can find out there. People depend on you to handle living, breathing problems that they can’t take care of on their own.

Wildlife Control Operators are problem solvers. But how you solve the wildlife problems facing your customers is up to you. To trap or kill, relocate or dispose of? Your personal philosophy, professional ethics, and evaluation of each specific situation guide the day-to-day decisions you make.

Every job is different. You need to collect a wide array of skills and specialized information in order to rise to each occasion. Constantly learning is a hallmark of the Wildlife Control Operator. You have to pick up something new and different from every animal you come up against.

Animals are adaptable. Expect your job as a Wildlife Control Operator to take you to all sorts of places and into all sorts of conditions. You work indoors, outdoors, in cramped crawlspaces, drafty attics, or old woodsheds. Anywhere an animal can hide, you’ll need to go.

If you work with an established company, you often have a partner and a company vehicle (usually a truck or van) to take on jobs. If you have your own business, or are tackling a small job for a company, then you might work alone. Traps need to be checked daily, and captured animals dealt with.

Whether you work for a company or go solo, you’ll need good people skills (talking, listening) to go with your animal skills. You should also be able to explain billing and contract specifics to your clients, so you’ll need to know some math.