What to Do If You Find a Baby Raccoon, Bird, or Bunny in Your Yard

You’re doing a final fall tidy, raking leaves near the fence, clearing out the garden bed, and you nearly step on something small, alive, and looking straight up at you. 

Your first instinct is to help it. 

Your second instinct is to panic slightly about what help actually means here.

The real first step is to back away, give it space, and resist the urge to intervene. That’s regardless of the wildlife species you come across.

Step two is reading this, because a baby animal in your yard in September/October is telling you something important.

Photo credits to unsplash.com

What You Should and Shouldn’t Do Right Now

What To Do:

• Observe from a distance before doing anything. In most cases, a parent is nearby and will return once you pull back. Wildlife mothers leave young for hours at a time. An unattended baby is not automatically an abandoned one.
• Keep pets and children away from the area. Stressed wildlife bites and scratches regardless of how small or harmless it looks.
• Note exactly where you found the animal and what it was doing. This information may be useful if you need to call a professional.
• A feathered bird hopping on the ground is a fledgling learning to fly, and the mom is monitoring it closely. Leave it. An unfeathered bird on the ground means a nest has been disturbed. Look for the nest directly above and, if possible, place the bird in it.
• Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator if the animal is visibly injured, ill, or the parent hasn’t returned after several hours.

What NOT To Do: 

• Do not touch or move a baby mammal with bare hands. Human scent doesn’t cause parental rejection (that’s a myth), but handling causes stress and can injure the animal.
• Do not attempt to keep, feed, or raise wild animals. It is illegal under provincial wildlife legislation without a permit, regardless of intent.
• Do not seal any entry point you find near where you discovered the animal. Sealing an active den traps an animal inside, creating a much worse problem than the one you started with. This is one of the most common and damaging DIY mistakes our technicians see.

What Each Wildlife Encounter Signals

Photo credits to unsplash.com

Why Fall Cleanup Is When Surprises Happen

September and October are months when you do final mows, rake leaves, clear garden beds, and pull outdoor furniture into storage before freeze-up. That activity may disturb nests and dens that have been quietly occupied all summer without anyone knowing.

• A skunk under the deck that went completely unnoticed through July gets discovered when someone reaches for the patio furniture in October. 
• A squirrel in the soffit becomes apparent when the leaves come down, and roofline activity suddenly becomes visible. 

These aren’t new problems. They’re existing ones that fall cleanup makes visible for the first time. The animal has often been there for weeks.

The critical thing to know in that moment is you do not want to seal the entry point. Blocking an active den traps an animal inside the structure, which is both inhumane and significantly harder to resolve than the original problem. Humane wildlife removal always starts with ensuring animals can exit safely before any exclusion work seals the entry.

Why October And Not January

Once a raccoon, skunk, or squirrel establishes a winter den on a Prairie property, they’re there until spring. In Western Canada, that means five to six months of an entrenched animal in or under your home, through the coldest part of the year, when access is limited, and disruption is highest.

Removing a fully denned animal mid-winter is harder, more disruptive, and more complex than addressing the situation in October before they settle in completely. 

Trapping and removal are most effective during the fall window before the first hard frost, while animals are still in the scouting and early-denning phase. 

The Humane Approach Makes the Most Sense, Here’s Where to Start

Finding a baby animal in your yard isn’t a crisis by any stretch. But in fall specifically, it’s a signal that the mother may have already chosen your property as a winter option.

That’s where Buzz Boss’s wildlife trapping and removal service comes in. Our certified, licensed, and insured experts handle raccoons, skunks, and squirrels humanely and professionally, assess where animals are entering, and remove them safely. You can get an estimate here.

Buzz Boss serves homeowners across Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Regina, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg.