On Monday, August 28st, Nat Geo Wild premiered a brand new television episode for “When Nature Calls”, starring the co-owner of Varmint Gone, Keith Lange. During the episode, Keith was shown taking Kenai, the dog, to the vet after he was “quilled” in the face by a porcupine. Due to Kenai’s hesitation and the immense amount of quills, the owners and Keith decided it would be best to have Kenai be put to sleep with an anesthetic and have the quills removed in far less painful fashion. During Kenai’s operation, Keith returned to the owner’s property to set out a trap to capture the porcupine and to place Varmint Gone’s scented barrier treatment around the home. The next day, Keith returned to a happy, healing Kenai and no further sign of the pesky porcupine.
In addition, porcupines are found throughout much of Alaska and are a member of the rodent family. In the winter, porcupines feed on the cambium or inner bark of white spruce, paper birch trees, fruit-bearing tree and spruce needles, causing permanent damage to the trees in an owner’s yard. It is also important to note that due to the slow nature of their walk, family pets are bound to run into them and cause a quick and expensive trip to the local vet to remove quills from the pet’s face and neck. The quills are made up of hollow tubes with “barbs” constructed to the ends of each quill, which ultimately, makes it very difficult and extremely painful to remove from any soft tissue they embed into. In saying so, it is critical to capture and relocate the porcupine, as soon as possible. After successfully trapping the problematic porcupine, a Varmint Gone technician will cover the properties’ borders with a specially-made barrier scent, which keeps porcupines and other varmints from returning to the owner’s property. In doing so, this ultimately protects one’s property, family, and pets.
Varmint Gone has over 30 years of experience in live trapping and relocating varmints to remote areas of Alaska where they can live without causing problems for property owners and their pets. Varmint Gone Anchorage offers porcupine removal services and other live trapping services to properties located in the Anchorage and Mat-Su Borough of Alaska.
