Residents seeking to trap and relocate or euthanize wild animals would have to call a private company rather than borrow a trap from the village, under a proposal before the Village Board.
This proposal came after the Cook County Forest Preserve District announced last month that wild animals no longer may be released onto forest preserve property because that will upset the population balance of animals living there.
“There are just so many animals being released into the forest preserve,” said Gary Parrin, village manager.
For at least 10 years, the village’s Health Department has been lending traps so residents could catch wild animals, such as raccoons, woodchucks and opossums, and release them in the forest preserve.
Residents were able to do so under the village’s nuisance wildlife control permit with the Illinois Department of Conservation. As of last year, the Forest Preserve District has allowed animals to be released only in Poplar Creek Forest Preserve along Shoe Factory Road in Hoffman Estates.
But under the native wild animal release permit, which the village was required to obtain from the Forest Preserve District, the district is forbidding the village to act as an agent for the residents.
The village, however, may still release wild animals into Poplar Creek, but it is restricted to 10 squirrels, 10 woodchucks and 10 opossums from June 1 to May 31, 1995.
The Health Department has about 12 traps of various sizes that it lends to residents 250 to 300 times a year, said Nancy Yiannias, village health service coordinator. After the traps are returned, residents have been required to fill out forms indicating the type of animal caught and where it was released.
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