Pest Control vs. Animal Control – What’s the Difference?

Pest Control vs. Animal Control – What’s the Difference?

Creature Control

Understandably there is some occasional confusion as to what does and does not qualify as pest control. Pest control is actually part of a larger umbrella business, the business of “creature control.” Creature control encompasses pest control companies/exterminators, wildlife control/animal control companies, and animal shelters/humane societies. What separates each of these company types are the licenses, control methods, and the types of creatures that are being handled.

Animal Shelters and Humane Societies

Surprisingly a lot of pest control companies get calls from people concerned about their pets. Whether their cat has had kittens, their hamster is injured, or they want to surrender their dog, the calls come flooding in. However, pest control is completely separated from the help that these callers are seeking. For the proper assistance, they need to contact either a local humane society or animal shelter. Both businesses deal solely with domesticated animals and strays including cats, dogs, horses, domesticated birds, etc. The focus of these companies is the care and adoption of pets to loving homes.

Wildlife Control/Animal Control

Somewhat similarly to shelters and humane societies, animal control/wildlife control services also handle animals, but they deal with non-domesticated animals. Some common wildlife control calls include bats, birds, chipmunks, lizards, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, coyotes, and more. Their services typically involve catch and release methods that relocate wildlife to more hospitable habitats.

Pest Control/Exterminators

Pest control companies such as ourselves are quite a bit different from the other two as our focus revolves around securing homes and businesses against infestations of insects and tiny rodents. Depending on the specific pest issues that we are treating, our methods are either preventative or focused on eradication, a far-cry from the re-locating and adoption-based practices of the other two… although, we highly doubt anyone would ever want to ‘adopt’ cockroaches or spiders. At Pointe Pest Control, you can call us for any of the following:

• Ants
• Bed Bugs
• Carpet Beetles
• Carpenter Bees
• Centipedes
• Clove Mites
• Cockroaches
• Crickets
• Drain Flies
• Ear Wigs
• Fleas
• Grasshoppers
• Hornets
• Mice
• Millipedes
• Mosquitos
• Moths
• Rats
• Silverfish
• Spiders
• Ticks
• Wasps
• Yellow Jackets