When all this snow starts to melt next month, the familiar odor of skunks will befoul our neighborhoods, and woodchucks will begin burrowing under porches and sheds.
But take heart — there’s a new trapper in town.
And there’s even better news: no longer will a fee be assessed for those who request that traps be set. We previously paid $20 for the town trapper’s initial work and another $10 for each subsequent visit.
Everybody benefits
At its Dec. 22 meeting the Salina Town Board approved a one-year contract with Walker’s Wildlife Solutions for the trapping of skunks and woodchucks. Supervisor Mark Nicotra was authorized to sign the contract stipulating payment of $15,000 for 2015.
Walker’s charged $4,000 less than the town paid its previous trapper, according to Town Clerk Jeanne Ventre.
Residents will also save money when they use Walker’s service, Nicotra said.
“Now there will be no charge for setting the traps,” the supervisor said. “So it works it well for our residents all the way around.”
The village of Liverpool — which is located within the town of Salina — has for many years directed village residents with animal nuisance problems to utilize the town’s trapping services.
“That will continue,” Nicotra said. “The only difference is that there will no longer be a fee for setting traps.”
Walker’s Wildlife Service
Mike Walker — who is licensed as a Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator by the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation — replaces Bill Berry of Berry’s Wildlife Control in Warners. Berry had trapped nuisance wildlife here for several years.
Based in East Syracuse, Walker’s Wildlife Solutions serves Onondaga, Oswego, Cortland, Madison, Oneida and Cayuga counties. Walker routinely provides services such as animal capture and removal, dead animal removal and poison-free rodent control using live trapping.
While the town specifically cited a need to target skunks and woodchucks, Walker also has experience trapping squirrels, bats, raccoons, birds and beavers. Coyotes and foxes have been spotted in the town in recent years. Last summer, a rabid bat was found near Old Liverpool Road.
Town Comptroller Greg Maxwell coordinates animal nuisance calls with the town’s licensed wildlife trapper.
SPCA also contracted
At its Dec. 22 meeting, the town board — Jerry Ciciarelli, Michael Del Vecchio Jr., Colleen Gunnip, James Magnarelli and Nicotra — also unanimously approved a contract for $3,033.90 for the SPCA to provide animal cruelty services and to provide shelter for animals seized by town Dog Control Officer Esther Davis.
For nuisance wildlife services, call Walker via the town clerk’s office, 451-4210, or directly at 857-3856. Visit walkerswildlifesolutions.com for more information.
For dog control issues, call Esther Davis at 457-2710.
Talented teachers in concert
The Liverpool Central School District Music Faculty Recital will be staged at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 1, at Liverpool Public Library.
“It’s a long-standing tradition going back nearly 50 years,” said concert coordinator Jim Spadafore, a retired LCSD music educator. “It gives the teachers a chance to exhibit their talents and to perform with one another across the district. And it’s free and open to the public.”
Porter live at Limp
Dave Porter and his high-tech sidekick, Bob, will appear at 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27, at the Limp Lizard Barbecue, 201 First St.
Dave and Bob will perform innovative arrangements of classic rock and acoustic hits.
Using tracks he played and recorded himself using guitars, keyboards and percussion, Dave accompanies himself digitally, but he blames it on Bob, a former store mannequin.
Dave is the former bandleader of 805, the progressive rock band which scored a two-year deal with RCA records in the early 1980s. In 2011, 805 was inducted into the Syracuse Area Music Awards Hall of Fame.
Admission is always free at the Limp Lizard; call 451-9774 for more information.
Bleak mid-winter advice
“If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it,” advised New England poet Lucy Larcom (1824-1893).
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