Frequently Asked Questions
Pets
Wildlife
You would call us if your pet has already passed away or needs to be euthanized. We are not the county and we will not report you. Our goal is to provide exceptional assistance for you and your pet.
Please contact Miami Dade Animal Services, we are not a county agency.
To properly help your dog, take safety measures for yourself first. Turn on the water hose and have it ready.
With your hand, wipe the poison, which looks like white tree sap, out of the dog’s throat. Rinse your hand immediately after. Do NOT put the hose in the dog’s mouth and throat area. After cleaning the area, be sure to take your pet to your local veterinarian immediately.
Call your pet’s veterinarian. We are not a vet or animal clinic. If your pet is terminally ill, we can help with the euthanasia and will provide you with a “Proof of Death” certificate.
No, Miami Dade County does not permit pets to be buried in the back yard. Your pets disposal must follow the standard of burial or cremation for health reasons.
Yes, but there will be a charge of $35 as per the veterinarian.
This is a matter of personal budget for each owner. Your pets cremations are returned in a cardboard box with black and white paw prints on it. The ashes are in a bag for easy transfer to the urn of your choosing. Urns can be purchased online or from a local supplier.
You do. We provide you with a “Proof of Death” certificate via email, as well as, instructions on how to email Miami Dade Animal Services with this information. You are responsible for forwarding that email to them. If for any reason, you lose the “Proof of Death” certificate, we keep a copy of your pet’s records.
Before you contact your physician of choice, clean the affected area out immediately to prevent infection. Then, call your doctor.
For the absolute disrespect of an animal, call the police. Otherwise, we recommend you call Miami Dade Animal Services.
It is illegal to chain a dog in Miami Dade County. If you see this please contact Miami Dade Animal Services.
The county’s focus is on spaying and neutering dogs, as well as, licensing strays and they are an adoption shelter. We, on the other hand, pick up your deceased pet, assist you with other pet issues and offer a variety a wildlife services. We do the jobs the county cannot do.
Call your pet’s veterinarian. We are not a vet or animal clinic. If your cat is aggressive we can safely capture it for transportation to your veterinarian. If your pet is terminally ill, we can help with the euthanasia.
First, you need to wait and see if the mother cat is with them and is just passing through your property, give this about 24 hours. Second, contact your neighbors to see if they own the cats. Third, give us a call to see if we can assist you.
No, Miami Dade County does not permit pets be buried in any residential yard. Your pets disposal must follow the county laws of burial or cremation.
No, we only trap on your personal property. We need permission from the owner of the property to place cages for trapping anywhere in Miami Dade.
No, there is no law forbidding them to feeding cats outside. There is no law which prohibits you from having the cats trapped by a service provider as well.
If there are any stray animals, dead or alive, it is the responsibility of the property owner to remove the animals. There are many strays throughout the county. Miami Dade Animal Services is struggling to keep up with just the demand of stray dogs, let alone cats.
Cats are smart, when they see other cats in our cages they become leery of them. We have tried various methods over the years, two nights is the most effective technique. If there are a few cats that have not entered the cages after two nights, we recommend re-trapping in three to four weeks.
Before we remove any cats, we ask you, to communicate with your neighbors who may own cats. Let them know we will be passing by the area to trap cats that do not have a collar. It is best to keep the owned cats indoors, until the removal has taken place. It is not the intention of Humane Animal Removal to collect anyone’s pets.
You could very easily be on one of their routes where they search for food. Hopefully you don’t have any living under your house, in your attic or under a shed or wooden deck. All of these are perfect daytime homes for families of raccoons and opossums.
Sometimes it’s not the fact that YOU are feeding them it’s the fact that your house is a good place for them to hide. Usually you’ll have a neighbor that feeds their pets outside, when night falls the raccoons and opossums come out of their hiding places to feed. If you have a wooden deck, a shed, crawlspace or woods on your property, your house is the perfect place for the animals to live. Humane Animal Removal can show you how to make your house unappealing to wildlife.
No, While most raccoons are nocturnal, there are some instances where they frequent dumpsters, trash cans and parks during daylight hours. This is usually the case when there is food involved. NEVER feed a raccoon, especially if it is accompanied by babies. Mother raccoons are fiercely protective and you reaching out with a piece of food might be misconstrued by the mother raccoon. Depending on the stage of rabies, there may not be any symptoms show by the infected raccoon. The most common symptoms of animals affected by rabies is frothing at the mouth, glassy eyes and neurotic actions. DO NOT TRY TO CATCH IT.
No, raccoons are naturally nocturnal but like any wild animal they will adapt to an environment. If food is available at 12 noon, then sure enough they will be around for a hand out. Sometimes on rainy days, they will tend to be more active due to the overcast skies.
A large dog is without question the best thing and the sprays that people have tried simply don’t work and they wash away after the first rainfall or sprinkler use.
Not really. If you have a fenced in yard a large dog works well but if you’re seeing the raccoons and/or opossums on a regular basis it probably means they are getting fed very well. Many times all it takes is for you to take in your pets food after feeding. Another tip is to secure your garbage cans and/or dumpster lid as raccoons and opossums especially like to feed out of them.
Simply put, Animal Services in both Dade and Broward do not have the staff to deal with dogs, cats, raccoons, opossums, snakes, ducks and the list goes on. They can barely keep up with dogs. If you want them removed, you will have to hire a private company to do so.
This is probably the most common question that we get. Miami Dade Animal Control Services are underfunded for the amount of animal problems out there. They can’t keep up with the road kills and stray dogs much less the stray cats, opossums, raccoons, foxes, iguana’s, snakes, ducks and countless other species that frequent Miami and South Florida. Humane Animal Removal has solutions for many of your nuisance animal problems.
Animal Services will not respond to any type of wildlife problem, they deal only with dogs.
No. Miami Dade County Animal Services and Broward only removes dogs and injured animals from public property. Check with your local animal control for any updated services. If you want the animals removed you will have to hire a private company.
NO, 911 is for emergencies and will not send the police for raccoon or opossum sightings.
Cautious is a better word. The animal may not chase you down and bite you, simply back away and avoid the animal. Both the opossum and raccoon really could care less about you, yet if startled, it could jump and attack from fright. It is not advised to approach either animal. Any wild animal, they could bite if provoked or if it’s protecting their young.
No, Miami Dade county does not permit this, not to mention this can be dangerous.
No, it is unlawful to dump wild animals. You can’t take your problem and make it someone else’s. Check with your local animal control services in your area.
No. Living in a suburb, it is not legal to discharge a firearm, especially in a residential community.
No, it is unlawful to discharge a firearm in a residential neighborhood. You don’t want to to go to jail for a raccoon, opossum or other wild animal.
Absolutely not, so much so that you can be prosecuted. Poisoning is a cruel way of getting rid of a raccoon or opossum. These are not roaches or ants.
Check with your local animal control services shelter in your area before doing this.
The number one reason is that people leave food out for cats. Raccoons and opossums are scavengers and will take the easy hand out any time they can get it. TAKE THE FOOD IN after your pets have eaten what they want if you feed them outside. They’ll quickly learn to eat while the food is there and not at their leisure. The next attractive safe haven is a wooden deck. Raccoons and opossums like to live under them during the day as the dirt stays cool and being under the wooden deck keeps other animals away from them. Remember, they have to sleep somewhere and both raccoons and opossums are nocturnal, meaning they do their search of food primarily at night.
Humane Animal Removal will teach you the techniques needed to make your yard wild animal UNattractive. Here are some pointers if you choose to do it on your own: A dog with a loud bark will deter the animals from your property and rid the animals reason for being there, ie food or refuge. One of the most common reasons that raccoons and opossums frequent someones house is leaving pet food out overnight. Feed your pet and remove any uneaten food. Seal up any crawl space entrance under your home and/or wooden deck. Sheds are also notorious for harboring wild animals under the foundation. We are well educated on how to block out and close up certain areas a raccoon or opossum may be entering your house or shed.
Usually it is raccoons that are digging in search of grub worms. They can make a mess of your yard and once they’ve found a good source of food, they will be back. Opossums on the other hand, usually are guilty of eating part of your mangos and avocados and leaving the partially eaten fruit to rot on the ground. Squirrels are guilty of this same thing as well.
Raccoons are the usual suspects. They’ll dig up grubs in your garden or mulched area whereas opossums are usually eating rotten fruit from your trees.
We release any cat, unharmed from any trap on your property unless you want it taken off the property we offer different options for cats.
Tough question to answer, some do, some do not. Best thing to do is go to a board meeting and tell the board that you are having an ongoing problem with raccoons and or opossums. Tell them that since you pay your dues, you expect this to be overseen by the property manager. Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.
Most HOA’s will, but not always, it is best to have them contact before us as you may not be the only one in the neighborhood having problems with wild animals. This is usually covered in your HOA dues.
No. Raccoons CAN have rabies but it is very rare. That being said, we tell everyone to treat any encounter with a raccoon like it does have rabies just to be on the safe side. Opossums, being marsupials do not host the virus. The only way they can have rabies is to be bitten by an animal infected with the virus. Seeing a raccoon acting strangely during daylight hours can be a tip off. Best to call Humane Animal Removal for assistance.
Raccoons can carry the rabies virus. Opossums are marsupials, their metabolism does not host the virus very well. There have been documented cases of rabid opossums although extremely rare.
Yes, the more you have, the less it costs per animal. We try to be fair to everyone.
No, we try to be as fair as possible so we discount the cost if multiple animals are caught.
No, neither the county or the state will remove raccoons or opossums. The only animal that Miami Dade county will remove without charge is a free roaming dog that is not owned by you. Dead animals will be removed from the road if they are impeding traffic. You are responsible for all other animals that are found on your property. We are just a call away to assist you.
Yes, Miami Dade county, like every other municipality has cut way back on their budget. The only animals that they will remove are domestic animals such as stray dogs and dead animals in the road. Check with your local animal control for any updated services. If you would like the animals trapped for removal, you will need to hire a private company and pay for the services. Give us a call for a quote 305-232-1100.