Squirrels and raccoons may be cute but they, along with other animals like deer and armadillos, can cause significant headaches for homeowners and gardeners. Whether they're rooting through your trash, tearing up your garden, or presenting a disease threat to your pets and families, nuisance animals should be encouraged to live where they best belong: the wild.
UGA Extension wants to educate you on how to prevent wildlife from becoming a nuisance, and measures to take if animals do become a nuisance to you and your family.
Our Programs and Services
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On-Site and Telephone Consultation Available in many situations for home owners and consumers.
Recent Publications
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Wildlife Management Series: Using Milorganite to Temporarily Repel White-Tailed Deer from Food Plots (C 889-2) Food plots provide supplemental forage to wildlife during periods when native vegetation is less abundant or lacks nutritional quality. Because deer often prefer fertilized food plot plants to natural…
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Wildlife Management Series: Evaluating Attractants for Live-Trapping Nine-Banded Armadillos (C 889-3) Foraging armadillos often uproot ornamental plants. Their rooting also destroys gardens, lawns and flower beds. Their burrowing can damage tree roots and building foundations. Most armadillo damage is…
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Wildlife Management Series: Using Milorganite to Repel White-Tailed Deer from Perennials (C 889-1) White-tailed deer provide aesthetic and economic value, but deer can cause a variety of negative economic impacts. Deer can damage personal property, agronomic crops, landscape plantings, and food plo…
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Home & Garden Georgia Pest Management Handbook Series: Vertebrate Pest Control (SB 48-13) This section of the Home & Garden Edition covers control of vertebrate pests such as beavers, chipmunks, deer, and bats, as well as repellents and how to manage reptiles, amphibians and birds. Note th…
Websites
UGA-affiliated sites
UGA Department of Animal and Dairy Science Learn more about the animal and dairy science department at the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources This college homepage includes resources targeted to students, researchers, and communities with ecological concerns.
External sites
Georgia Wildlife Resources Division Provides information and resources on how to prevent and handle nuisance wildlife encounters.
Invasive Mammals of Concern in Georgia Descriptions of animal pests by scientific and subject name and includes descriptions and identifying images.
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Stinging Biting Insects Elmer Gray, a research entomologist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and specialist for UGA Cooperative Extension, shares information on some of the season's most common biting and stinging insects, urging residents to stay vigilant and take preventive measures.
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Prevent Spread of Dengue The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) has been shown to transmit dengue in some regions, so Georgia residents should take precautions to prevent infection.
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Mosquito Season Prep With January rain totals well above normal across the Southeast, it is a good time to take inventory of where standing water is holding and what can be done to eliminate it.