‘No two jobs are the same’
Nuisance wildlife trapper uses Awesome grant for start-up
SPECIAL TO THE SOUTH SHORE BREAKER
This past November, Nathan Lavigne received a call about a beaver damaging a well and went to check it out. In the first week, he trapped six beavers. Overall, he ended up trapping nine from the area, far more than he’s used to trapping from one location.
“Every job is an interesting experience,” says Lavigne. “No two jobs are the same.”
Lavigne, 29, is an animal trapper in Nova Scotia’s South Shore.
His friends in the countryside were always telling him about wild animals attacking their chickens or goats, so he “decided to do something about it.”
With help from the Awesome Foundation, a group that gives $1,000 grants to entrepreneurs, Lavigne created Nathan’s Nuisance Nature Wildlife Management.
The business is currently just Lavigne, although his girlfriend, Bailey Boehner, has come out with him on a few calls.
“I really enjoy it. I find the work interesting,” Boehner says. She, like Lavigne, comes from a hunting and trapping background. While she personally didn’t have trapping experience, she grew up watching her family trap.
The most common animals Lavigne traps are squirrels, raccoons and beavers. Beavers, which can flood living spaces, roads and wells, cause the most amount of damage.
Moles and voles are rare, and he has only trapped a handful of skunks.
Lavigne works on an on-call basis. His busy season runs from November through March. When people have a problem with wildlife, they give him a call. His business has spread through people finding his Facebook page or by word of mouth. He is also on the Department of Natural Resources’ call list of nuisance wildlife operators.
When Lavigne gets a call, he traps the problem animal, and, when possible, relocates them to their ideal territory. Animals like mice and rats, however, are not relocated. Beavers, he says, are also difficult and often expensive to relocate.
When an animal cannot be relocated, he recycles them into the fur trade. He currently has a pair of beaver pelt and rabbit fur mittens he made himself. He hasn’t had time to start a new project, he says, but plans on making a pair of boots, next.
DEALING WITH NUISANCE WILDLIFE
Lavigne says the presence of wildlife alone is not enough to cause problems. It’s only when the animal begins invading a person’s living space that it becomes an issue.
There are a few steps people