DEAR JOAN: Is it legal to set traps on the top of the backyard fence to snare squirrels and let them die in the heat? I grew up here in Contra Costa County and am a humanities community college ...

Whether you live in the city, the suburbs or a rural area, wildlife can encroach on your land. Unfortunately, many of these animals — including raccoons, feral cats and opossums — can quickly become ...

They’re fixtures in our yards and our lives. Trees add beauty to Janet Lammens’ Wash Park backyard – at least they did. “It’s pretty ugly,” Lammens said, standing beside the 20-year-old tree. Over the ...

Gardeners struggle with a lot of problems, from uncooperative weather to faulty irrigation, but perhaps the biggest trouble gardeners say they have is keeping rodents out of the garden and away from ...

Q: My yard backs up to US Forest Service land and consequently I have all kinds of critters trying to get my fruit and vegetables. I have installed a 7-foot plastic mesh deer fence which works well. I ...

Squirrels, John Adcock Jr. says, are very adept at breaking and entering. "They carry around the keys to your house in the front of their mouth," said Adcock, of Adcock's Trapping Service, ...

Q: Thanks for your July 30 column mentioning that squirrels and raccoons are considered vectors, meaning that they are capable of spreading diseases. Does that mean we can legally trap and kill them?