05/07/2026
It has come to our attention that the "followers" of a certain "humane" wildlife company are making negative comments about EVERY pest control company in the St. Louis area. Only this ONE company does it right and the rest of us companies do not know what we are doing and we should "learn and adopt humane eviction procedures". I am not sure what that even means, but since this is becoming such a thing on social media I thought I should address what Buckingham Pest Control does and our methodology. This may be a bit of a read, but I feel it is important as soooo many people are jumping on this bandwagon that only one company knows what they are doing. To be honest I think that most everyone wants animals to be treated humanely.... including Buckingham Pest Control.
What does the MO Dept. of Conservation say about this issue? The MDC actually recommends euthanasia, but just because we do "pest control" does not mean that we enjoy putting animals down. The attached image from the MDC website is just partial information and reads "Relocation not recommended", but before I made this post I did actually talk to 2 MDC employees and one was an actual Agent. LIVE TRAPPING AND RELEASE IS COMPLETELY LEGAL IN THE STATE OF MISSOURI. There are a couple of stipulations, but trap and release is completely LEGAL. Bear in mind that the MDC recommends euthanasia.
There is no cookie cutter wildlife control program since it depends on type of animal, where the target animal is located (ground vs. roofline vs. attic) and where the exact entry point is located. I had a conversation with our wildlife guys and they estimate that about 70% of our jobs are taken care of by using what is referred to as a one way door. Just like the name implies it must be attached to the home with screws or similar (so the location will matter as we would not want to screw into certain areas of the home) and then the animal will be able to leave the attic or area in question and not be able to return. Like I said, this is our first option when we can implement this technique. The next option is to live trap with cages. I thought this name was self-explanatory, but apparently the "followers" of this company know that all companies that live trap, then take the animals away and then euthanize. Buckingham Pest Control has owned a euthanasia chamber for years. It is still on the top shelf of our storeroom. I thought it was still in the box, but I guess being moved around over the years the box has been thrown away. Our technicians have areas around their home and in their work areas that they know they can release far, far away from the customers home. This isn't a Disney movie.... an animal cannot use trains, planes, and automobiles to get home from Alaska.
As I stated, I wanted to make this post since I have had multiple "followers" of this company jump on me today claiming that all companies kill the animals except for the one. I obviously cannot speak for the other pest control companies and I am not even saying do not use the company in question. If their pricing and methodology is what a customer is looking for then by all means use this company. I personally did not appreciate the slanderous comments from the followers. I probably should not have referred to them as "cult members", but when you have multiple people all saying the same thing and accusing me of lying about how we deal with wildlife and that they know that ALL professional pest control companies kill what they catch I wanted to address this situation.
I will address the "Relocation is not recommended" portion of the MDC website. Relocation is not recommended as relocating to another area has its own issues. Please read the article above as it contains some good information. Remember this website is for the general public and not necessarily geared to the "professionals." We know the where and how and the how far of relocating an animal, but the general public does not. Years ago, I had a customer that wanted us to catch the racoons running around his soffit and he was going to take them to the country after capture. Per our conversation, I thought he meant take them far away and shoot them. OK..... We kept catching racoon after racoon. After catching quite a few (when typically there is one UNLESS momma just had babies) I finally inquired what he was doing with them??? He was taking them to the local park and letting them go.....
Simply evicting an animal does not mean that the animal will not try to get back into the home. It is now home. The MDC even refers to the animals that have gotten into homes as damage causing animals. They MAY try to chew their way back into a home and now there is even more damage. Even this "humane eviction" could potentially cause the evicted animal to eventually want to get back in. Full disclosure. I do not know this company. I have never spoken to them. I do not know what they do. If they have something magical then I have never heard about it, but for the record (since the accusations have been made. Buckingham Pest Control does not kill the animals we catch and our first choice would be to use a one way door when we can.
In summary, there is NO perfect solution on how to deal with the animals that have gotten into your home. Euthanasia actually eliminates the possibility that the animal is going to get back into your house, but the reality is that our society has a love for animals (I do too) and that relocation has been the method we have chosen and that most of our customers want.
If anyone has any questions I would be happy to address them here on social media or if you call the office and leave a message I would be happy to call you back and have an intelligent discussion about this issue. We just wanted to make sure that our customers and or social media followers know what methodology Buckingham Pest Control uses on our wildlife control programs.- Noel Buckingham
