GASTON, SC (WIS) - Melanie Young and her family have tried nearly every trick in the book in an attempt to end a squirrel infestation around their home.
It all started about 6 months ago when Melanie found a squirrel in her daughter's bedroom. "The squirrel was actually poking through looking at us," Melanie said.
Since that incident, the Young family's unwelcome guests have been busy chewing the guts out of the family fleet and sidelining the two cars. All this work has left the Youngs with a hefty repair bill.
Melanie was left with Internet remedies like scattering cayenne pepper in her driveway until the cavalry showed up Friday.
Vince Cunningham from A All Animal Control gave the Young's a property inspection, checking to make sure all access points were sealed.
"Our job is to make the home unavailable to the wildlife, and put them back in the trees," said Cunningham.
Cunningham says making sure branches don't hang over your roof and keeping bird feeders away from your house will help keep squirrels at bay. That's apparently advice the neighborhood could use.
The problem isn't unique to the Youngs, as their neighbor found a squirrel in her engine two nights ago. Now her driveway is peppered as well.
While that might make you feel good, Cunningham says it's not really effective. Neither is trying to seal up your house on your own. If you've got squirrels inside, you definitely don't want to keep them there.
"That animal's gonna do everything it can to get out," said Cunningham. "It's gonna chew its way out, scratch its way out. Like the Young's situation, we had a squirrel digging into the bedroom coming through their daughters ceiling. How terrifying is that when your daughter wakes up and sees a squirrel sticking his head out saying 'Hello! somebody shut my door can I come out this way?'"
Young hopes folks that think they've got animals in the attic get the professional touch before a squirrelly situation gets out of hand.
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