How Often are Traps Checked?
A question we are often asked is, “How often do you check traps?”
For most nuisance animal species we deal with, the answer is once every calendar day.
That’s because is it ethical to check at least once every day and it is required by law.
The law to which we refer is the Ohio Nuisance Wild Animal Control Laws. In the Ohio Administrative Code it is referenced as OAC 1501:31-15-03.
Here is the actual text of the law concerning trap checking:
(C) Monitoring traps, snares or other devices
(1) Traps, snares or any other devices used to take or capture nuisance wild animals may be monitored with an operational electronic device or by personal observation by the person setting the trap or a designated agent. It shall be unlawful for any person to fail to monitor traps, snares or any other device used to take or capture nuisance wild animals, and remove all animals from their traps, snares or other devices once every calendar day, except:
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in trapping muskrats, beaver or river otters under ice to fail to monitor and remove all animals from their traps or snares at least once in every seventy-two hour period.
(b) It shall be unlawful for any person engaged in trapping muskrats with body gripping traps less than six inches in diameter that are completely submerged in water, to fail to monitor and remove all animals from their traps at least once in every seventy-two hour period.
(c) Traps or other devices used for control of nuisance rats, mice, moles, shrews or voles are exempt from trap monitoring requirements.
Here, Ryan discusses trap checking:
Traps Need Checked
As with most rules, you can see there is some flexibility in trap checking, provided the time requirement is met.
Interestingly, if Ryan sets a trap he does not have to check the trap in person every day provided someone else is making a daily check.
So if the homeowner and Ryan come to an agreement where the homeowner will check the traps and text Ryan if something is in it, the requirements have been met. In those instances, the homeowner is the “designated agent” to check traps.
When trap monitoring technology is used, a person doesn’t even have to visually check the traps! How cool is that?
Electronic trap monitoring devices (ETMD) are more recent innovations and though not widely used, meet the law’s requirement.
ETMD systems are mounted to traps and when the doors close, sensors put an alerting system into motion. The alerting systems use cellular and/or gps signals along with apps and programs.
A nuisance wild animal control operator using these systems might set a trap in the morning and get an alert just a short time later. The text message alert would tell the operator that there is an animal in the trap.
Conversely, no alerts would mean all the trap doors are still up and there is no need to do a physical, visual inspection of the trap. That saves time for sure. And, is allowable under Ohio law.
Obviously, there is a start up cost and learning curve with an ETMD system. That is why there isn’t widespread use of these systems in the nuisance wildlife control industry currently. While not opposed to the idea, Frontline Animal Removal currently (7/2019) doesn’t employ this technology.
Here are a couple links to companies that offer ETMD systems:
Exceptions to the Rule
Lastly, there are always exceptions. These exceptions, when it comes to nuisance animal laws, are related to species and trapping style.
Traps for muskrats, beaver, and otter trapped under ice only need check every 72 hours. Also, muskrats trapped in under water in body gripping traps also only need checked every 72 hours. These rules acknowledge the fact that these trapping methods are lethal making a trap check for the welfare of the animal moot. As you can see, these are very condition specific.
Traps for rodents like rats, mice, moles, shrews, and voles have no time requirement for trap checking.
We do trap moles so this applies to us. So, after a series of lethal mole traps are set in a yard, we do not check those traps every day as we do with other traps. Moles are trapped underground and giving these traps a little longer to “soak” between checks keeps the sets in good order.
Live Trapping | Akron, Canton, Kent
Hope you enjoyed this little review of a part of Ohio’s Nuisance Animal Control Law.
If you need nuisance wild animal removal in the Akron, Canton, Kent Ohio area, please give us a call.
