Animal Welfare Professionals

With our shelter being in a rural area, we have dealt with mice consistently. However, it has turned into a full-blown infestation. Throughout the years we have gone through three different pest control companies, and we still ended up here. After getting a quote to seal all entry points, replace our insulation, and sanitizing our building, we are expecting to pay upwards of $95,000 for a full remediation. As a non-profit, seeing that quote was devastating. 

Has anyone else dealt with a mice infestation? Are there any resources out there for grants that this would fall under? I have been searching but haven't been too lucky.

We plan to do as much remediation as possible with our current financial situation, but it feels nearly impossible to do the full thing.

Thank you in advance for any thoughts and resources!

#FundraisingandDevelopment

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Cassie Brown
Board Treasurer
Henderson Humane Society
KY
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Ours wasn't quite as bad as what yours sounds like as we didn't need remediation, and unfortunately I can't speak to whether or not there are grants or funding sources available to help, but what ended up helping us was having our own working cat in the garage where we store our food. Nothing has worked so well as having her there. We haven't seen mouse droppings since she was introduced and nothing has gotten chewed through. Night and day difference!

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Sam Maurice
Humane Society of Jefferson County
Jefferson WI
https://hsjc-wis.com
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That quote is overwhelming, especially for a non-profit shelter. Before looking into massive commercial contracts, tackling it in phases usually brings costs down drastically:

DIY Exclusion First: Most of the quote is labor for sealing and insulation. Organizing a volunteer "work day" with local handy folks to seal exterior gaps using copper mesh/steel wool, expanding foam (like Great Stuff Pestblock), and metal flashing will stop new entry immediately for very little money.

Capital Improvement / Emergency Grants: Look into facility/infrastructure grants rather than general animal welfare grants. Organizations like the ASPCA occasionally have safety/emergency capital grants, and local community foundations often help with building maintenance for local non-profits.

Local Contractor Partnerships: Reach out to local independent pest control and insulation companies. Many are willing to do in-kind work, donate materials, or offer steep non-profit discounts for a tax write-off and local community sponsorship shout-out.

Are all your pet food and supply storage areas already in airtight, heavy-duty metal bins? That usually takes away their main food drive inside.

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Zoe Dawson
Founder Of Pest Control Company
Rodent Control Rochester MN
MN
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I don't have much for advise but I wanted to say that you are definitely not alone in this struggle. I think our shelter maybe more mice than insulation at this point... We had a pest guy coming out at least once a month previously. We have some storage garages separate from our main building in which we had some of our overstock soft critter bedding being stored.  Come to find all of it completely destroyed and unusable due to mice that posted up shop in them. The Orkin guys came out and said that those garages were so bad that they were going to basically use those garages as a training ground and an example to the newer guys about what not to do. For months we had pest guys coming out at least once a week. I'm really not sure what our shelter has looked into as far as remediation but we have live and electric traps everywhere and contraceptive mouse feed stations all over building.

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Laurel Wilton
Feline Welfare Supervisor
Nebraska Humane Society
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