Port St. Lucie No Longer Traps Nuisance Animals

One Treasure Coast City is providing a rare animal service for free, but now the city is forced to change and it will cause you to pay up.

Animal control officer Greg Gibbons days are a lot more predictable. Because now, he can't do anything about nuisance animals. That is unless it's sick or hurt. Animal Control officer Bryan Lloyd says, "We were legally trapping and legally releasing these animals, but due to new changes as of July 1st, we can no longer legally relocate these animals."

Port St. Lucie Animal Control officers, as a free service, trapped opossums and raccoons. They trapped any so-called "nuisance" animal. Then they would release it across town.

Now, Florida Fish and Wildlife says trapped nuisance animals must be euthanized, which Port St. Lucie will not do, or release the animal on the same property it was caught.

No longer can the animals be driven from the home. The reason: fear of spreading diseases. Greg Gibbons says, "Some people don't understand we've been going to their house for years, removing the animals from their house, and now all of a sudden we just stopped."

Animal Control officers will still respond to cat calls, gators, snakes and squirrels, but if you have an annoying opossum or fox, you must now call a private trapper. Which could cost you big money.

For trappers in your area, check out: http://floridaconservation.org/