NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Don Ellis has heard all the horror stories.
Homeowners awakening to the scamper of tiny paws in the bedroom wall. Peering with a flashlight into darkened crevices. Slinking through a musty crawl space to bait traps with peanut butter and acorns.
The frazzled homeowners remind Ellis of Bill Murray's groundskeeper character in the movie "Caddyshack." The film ends with Murray blowing up a golf course to get rid of a troublesome gopher.
"I'll get frantic calls at 2 and 3 in the morning," said Ellis, who receives 10 to 15 pleas a day to remove animals.
The problems range from squirrels in the attic to snakes in the basement, from potbellied pigs digging up the yard to raccoons sleeping in the bathtub.
"My job is like going on a safari every day," Ellis said.
The 51-year-old former police officer got the idea for a wildlife-control business in 1990 after capturing a skunk in his own backyard.
"I called the state and just about everybody else trying to get rid of it. But surprise, surprise, nobody wanted it," said Ellis, who ended up releasing the animal himself in a wildlife area.
Others noticed the void too.
Nuisance animal control services were virtually nonexistent a decade ago. Today, as suburban sprawl continues to shrink the wildlife habitat, it is an emerging industry with an estimated 10,000 operators nationwide, said Robert Schmidt, an associate professor of wildlife at Utah State University and a leading authority on the business.
Wild animals cause an estimated $3.8 billion in damage annually in the top 100 metropolitan areas of the country, according to a study published in 1997 by Utah State.
Squirrels are fond of chewing electrical wires. Woodpeckers can damage siding. Beavers chew up ornamental trees.
And raccoons are the worst.
"They'll climb up through the duct work, set off your alarm and absolutely tear up your house," Ellis said.
Still, environmental groups say animals are not the enemy and urge homeowners to be wary of wildlife-control operators.
Wildcare, a wildlife-rehabilitation center in Woodbridge, Canada, says some operators use inhumane methods of removal. It encourages trapping the animals and setting them free later.
In fact, trap sales are better than ever, say officials with Woodstream Corp. of Lititz, Pa., which manufactures Havahart animal traps. The cages are sold for between $10 and $75 each.
