Saturday, 30 August 2008
Lost and Stray DogsThe Council provides a service to domestic, commercial, industrial and food premises. Free advice is given regarding infestations of ants, bed bugs, beetles, bees, cockroaches, earwigs, fleas, flies, insects, moles, mice, pigeons, rabbits, rats, silverfish, squirrels, wasps and woodlice.
No obligation surveys are carried out for commercial, industrial and food premises with a view to providing estimates for treatments to be carried out on a contractual basis and also for the fitting of electronic fly killers, insectocutors, and pest proofing measures.
Rats (in the house or garden), bedbugs and cockroaches in domestic properties are all dealt with free of charge by the pest control team. For other pests (with the exception of moles and squirrels) there is a charge of £38.00, though this is reduced to £17.00 for those on qualifying benefits.
To pay £17.00, you must be in receipt of one of the following:
If you are an OAP who is in receipt of the State Pension only, you DO NOT qualify for the reduced rate. However, if you are an OAP who is in receipt of both State Pension AND one of the benefits listed above, you receive a further reduced rate of just £5.00.
The length of wait varies depending on the season. We normally give a time scale of between one and five working days, but in high season, this can rise to ten days. However, rats inside the property should be dealt with the same day, as should contained dogs.
Someone must be in the house when our pest control operatives call. This is so they are aware of the treatment that has taken place and, in the case of rats or mice, where the traps are laid. Following treatment, properties can safely be occupied; the sprays and chemicals used for insects are not hazardous for humans.
For ants, fleas, bed-bugs etc, it takes approximately two weeks for the spray to take effect. You should not clean the area once sprayed as this may cancel out the effect of the treatment. Elimination of bees and wasps should be complete within a couple of days.
The treatment is guaranteed for four weeks from pest control visiting. Sprays should be given time to take effect, but if the problem persists an operative can revisit for no additional charge.
Doncaster Council have details of several local bee-keepers who may be interested in collecting swarms of bees for their own benefit. Please ring for more details.
Treatments of moles or squirrels in domestic properties are charged at the commercial rate of £52.00 an hour.
If you find yourself with an infestation of an unidentified pest, you should bring a sample in a jar to Council House reception. On the jar should be a label with your name, address, and contact details on it. If our Pest Control department cannot recognize it, the sample will be sent to KillGerm for identification and this process can take around two weeks.
If we receive a report of a roaming dog, we will log it and when our dog wardens are in the area they will look around to see if they can find it. If the owner’s details are known, a letter can be sent out to the property warning them to keep a tighter control on their animal. In cases where the dog appears aggressive or is causing a nuisance, one of our dog wardens can visit the owner personally to advise them on their responsibility as a dog owner.
If you have found a dog and contained it, a dog warden will pick up the animal the same day. All dogs are taken to Hampole Kennels (telephone 01302 722748) and there is a charge for owners to reclaim them. If not reclaimed, the dogs will be re-homed. No healthy dogs are ever destroyed.
If you have lost your dog, we can log it on the system so it can be matched against any dogs that have been found. It may be useful to ring Hampole Kennels on the number above to see if the dog has been picked up and taken there. However, the Council unfortunately does not have the resources to go out especially and look for dogs.
Noise caused by dogs barking is classed as a Public Health issue. The Public Health team within Environmental Health should be contacted on (01302) 737573.
The Pest Control team does visit businesses, and charges the commercial rate of £52.00 an hour for ALL pests unless the business has a Pest Control contract with the Council.
A preliminary enquiry should be logged with Customer Services on 736000. They will pass it to Pest Control and an operative will come out to assess the business and calculate how many traps, scheduled visits and so forth would be required. The annual charge is extremely variable depending on the size of the business, surrounding area etc. but a quote will be given after the assessment visit.
