Nuisance Wildlife Services

Commercial Agriculture Abatement Using Raptors:

Primarily for:

  • Blueberries
  • Cherries
  • Grapes

There is not much agriculture in Nevada, but we are prepared to assemble teams of qualified falconers for local and out-of-state seasonal work of this type. We have years of experience in this line of work.

Trapped Birds Indoors:

If you have a wild bird trapped in your building, restaurant, supermarket, warehouse, store, office building, or anywhere else, we can remove it.

Coot Abatement on Golf Courses:

These are extremely destructive migratory water fowl that come to Las Vegas in the winter and are basically just turf-eating poop-machine pests. They also happen to be protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act so they require a little extra leg work on the property owner’s part before we are allowed to come in and help with the situation.

One of the problems with coots is that US Fish and Wildlife Service dictates the method of take for water fowl, and basically, it’s steel shot and a shotgun, which isn’t looked upon favorably (or legally) in many urban settings. It also requires a USFWS depredation permit which has to be issued directly to the property owner who can then hire someone like us to execute the permit, but we cannot apply for the permit on their behalf.

If you are interested in more information on this process please call and we may be able to answer your questions on the subject.

Resort/Hotel Falconry Experiences:

What started out as nuisance bird abatement at high end resort-style hotels, golf courses, outside dining, and wedding venues has evolved into a twofold project maximizing positive public relations for properties experiencing pigeon, seagull, grackle and sparrow problems.

We can provide both harassment and hazing measures to pest birds with trained raptors and also provide opportunities for mini falconry education classes that allow hotel guests the chance to see these amazing trained raptors up close, get pictures, and ask questions. This type of work is seasonal—fall through late spring—and is usually a weekend service when guest numbers and interest are highest.

B.A.S.H. (Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard):

This is a highly specialized service that requires working around incoming and outgoing aircrafts at airports or military bases. It requires us to be in constant contact with air traffic control and requires that all staff pass required background checks for security purposes.

This work is seasonal as migrating flocks of birds love the wide-open landscape of airports to rest in. Airports that happen to be in alignment with migration patterns understand this yearly problem. A lot of preparation goes into this type of contract and we typically don’t intentionally seek this work out, but if asked, we can assemble a highly skilled team of qualified falconers.

One reason we can be so successful at any line of abatement work is that we breed, raise, and train most of our own raptors for the job and what we don’t have we know the best people to get them from. We value professionalism, quality, and integrity as pillars of our core business model. That’s why we never take on a job we don’t think we can deliver in the best, most effective way possible. We don’t cut corners—ever!

While some contractors bid and sign contracts first then worry about finding someone to subcontract later, we never will. All of our employees are hired company staff of AWCS. You will want to avoid (or at least ask more questions) of companies that subcontract to anyone with a falconry license without knowing if they have the right type and number of birds needed to do the job correctly, and more importantly, you’ll want to make sure they have the appropriate insurance policies.

Rabbit Abatement on Golf Courses:

Similar to coots mentioned above, cottontail rabbits are a big problem for most golf courses due to how destructive they are of the greens. They also burrow holes under golf cart and walking paths and damage irrigation. Like coots, they are protected small game animals with a hunting season in the state of Nevada and require a depredation permit issued to the golf course from Nevada Department of Wildlife in order for us to come and remove them in large numbers. While we can take them legally with our birds of prey during the permitted hunting season, it is much faster and more effective to take care of them with a depredation permit.

Many local golf courses will experience massive over populations of cottontail rabbits at some time or another. In wild environments it takes about 7 years for the rabbit population to peak before the natural predator population increases enough to catch up with them. There’s usually a crash in the population at that time and then it slowly comes back to boom again 7 years later. Golf courses, on the other hand, are not “wild” environments for rabbits and their natural predators. Many golf courses have fewer predators (since people are worried about their pet cats and dogs being killed by coyotes) and an unnatural abundance of food, water, and shelter. Rabbits boom almost every year in this type of environment and become a constant problem almost year-round. They mow your grass to the point of no return, wipe out landscape material, dig holes under cart paths, and the droppings really screw up your putting greens. Fun fact: Cottontails LOVE rosemary bushes. If you have rosemary bushes, odds are you have cottontails.

Again, cottontail rabbits are a Nevada small game animal and have a hunting season on them. It is unlawful to kill or trap a cottontail rabbit without the appropriate permits. However, a property owner can apply for a Nevada Department of Wildlife Depredation Permit, just like for coots, that will allow for a specific number to be lawfully removed. We have the best, most accurate, noise-suppressed air rifles available on the market. That along with our uniforms allow us to raise little to no suspicion even to residents living along the golf course itself. Remember, Airborne Wildlife Control Service is highly insured for this type of removal and we take safety very seriously. The best part about it is all rabbits legally taken are processed and frozen to be recycled into food for exotic and endangered birds of prey at our facility here in Las Vegas.

Please call us for more information on how we can help with your rabbit problem.

Landfill and Waste Transfer Station Abatement:

Landfills, or “dumps” as they are commonly referred to, are rather nasty places to hang around in. Aside from the unpleasant smell, one could only imagine the countless forms of dangerous bacteria that can be found thriving there. Flocking birds such as pigeons, crows, ravens, starlings, and seagulls, don’t turn up their noses when there is an opportunity to find food amongst the rest of the garbage. Pickings are so good in fact that just a handful of birds will become a confidence decoy inviting more and more birds to the dinner table. In no time just a few birds will expand into a virtual sea of birds that can grow so large it actually can block visibility for heavy equipment operators working at the facility. Aside from bothering workers on the ground, an even bigger problem is a large flock of birds flying to or from the food source and coming in the way of passing aircraft.

While the average person would say having flocks of birds hanging around the landfill sounds fine since they’re not bothering them at their homes or anywhere they can see, nothing could be further from the truth. From studies done on the environmental impact of flocking birds at landfills, it has been proven that these birds are major vectors for transmissible diseases like E. coli. While they generally fly off to outling locations to roost and breed, they bring with them whatever they picked up from the landfill. Since they have wings they can travel very far distances. Seagulls are the most concerning because they always return to a water source, including fresh water reservoirs. With them comes the spreading and raising of bacteria counts to dangerously high levels.

The honest truth is that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) knows the risk and mandates something be done at landfill facilities to mitigate issues related to flocking birds. I could go into lots of additional details and concerns, but health risks are really the number one priority.

For this type of abatement we may use a few different tools, but our number one go to is trained raptors to make dumpster diving unsafe for opportunistic birds looking for an easy meal. Like every other contractor we also use pyrotechnic devices since in the past you needed a special permit for those, but recently regulations have relaxed and now allow for lower powder-charge “bangers” to be used for this purpose. They are not nearly as impressive or effective as live birds of prey, and some states and counties may still impose some restrictions on them. Depending on the location of the facility we will do a little research in advance to make sure we have all of the tools legally available for us to do the job well!