Problem Solving

Is It Legal to Trap a Squirrel and Move It Somewhere Else?

You can usually trap a squirrel on your own property. Driving it to a park is another matter: of the five states whose rules we read, only Colorado lets a homeowner release one somewhere else, and only within 10 miles, with conditions.

Usually not. You can generally trap a squirrel that is damaging your property, but in most of the states we checked you cannot put it in the car and let it go in a park. Washington requires a permit to transport live wildlife. New York says it is illegal to move an animal off your property. California requires a trapped animal to be killed or released immediately. Colorado is the one state here that allows a homeowner to relocate a squirrel, within 10 miles and with three conditions attached.

So once the trap door shuts, most homeowners can choose between releasing the squirrel where it was caught or having it killed humanely. Neither of those helps a bird feeder much, which is why the fix for feeder raids is on stopping squirrels, not here. This page is the legal half.

Everything below comes from the primary text: the regulation or statute, or the state wildlife agency's own page.

The rules, state by state#

"Can you move it?" is the column most people came for. The "trap it yourself" column matters too, because it is not a blanket yes everywhere.

Four of the five leave you, in practice, with two choices once the squirrel is in the trap: let it go where you caught it, or have it killed humanely. Colorado adds a third.

Why the answers online disagree#

Search this question and you get two confident answers: relocation is illegal everywhere, or it is the humane option and nobody minds. Both are wrong in at least one state on this page. Colorado permits it in writing. Washington requires a permit for it, and New York and California leave a homeowner no route to it.

Two things keep the confusion going.

The wrong California law gets cited. Pages about squirrel relocation often point to California Fish and Game Code § 2118. That section makes it unlawful to import, transport, possess or "release alive into this state" animals on a restricted list: primates, crocodilians, piranhas, certain snails and similar imports. Squirrels are not on it. The rule that governs a backyard trap is 14 CCR § 465.5(g), which covers cage and box traps used for "the protection of property" and requires that a trapped nongame mammal be "immediately killed or released." That word "immediately" is what leaves no room for a drive across town.

Agent rules are read as homeowner rules. The Massachusetts regulation widely quoted as "release on site or euthanize" is a condition of the problem animal control permit, so it binds licensed agents. The homeowner's own right comes from a different law, M.G.L. c. 131 § 37, which allows an owner to take a mammal damaging their property and says nothing either way about release. Neither text gives a Massachusetts homeowner a clear right to relocate.

Colorado, the one yes#

Colorado Parks and Wildlife allows a landowner, or their agent, to "hunt, trap, take, or relocate" tree squirrels on private property experiencing damage, without a permit. Relocation carries four conditions, and all four must be met:

• CPW is notified in advance.
• The release site is appropriate habitat for the species.
• You have permission from the landowner or managing agency where the squirrel will be released.
• The release is within 10 miles of the capture site.

CPW also requires every live trap to be "visually checked at least once every day."

Raccoons and chipmunks#

The same five sources cover the other two feeder raiders people most often want to trap, and the rules tighten for raccoons.

• Colorado allows raccoon relocation on the same four conditions as squirrels, but within 2 miles of the capture site rather than 10. CPW's nuisance page does not cover chipmunks.
• New York needs a DEC permit to take a raccoon that is only a nuisance, and allows it when the raccoon is damaging property. Chipmunks may be taken either way. If a gray squirrel or raccoon is taken for property damage during the closed season, the animal "must be buried or cremated immediately."
• Washington lists gray squirrels, raccoons and opossums among the animals its live-wildlife transport rule covers. Its trap guidance gives a chipmunk cage of 5 x 5 x 16 inches, a gray or fox squirrel cage of 6 x 6 x 24 inches, and a raccoon cage of 10 x 12 x 42 inches, single-door.

New York's DEC gives disease as one reason for its rule: relocating an animal "can move diseases like rabies or Lyme." The practical fixes, which start with bringing feeders in at dusk, are on keeping raccoons off feeders. For chipmunks, the ground spill does most of the attracting, as covered in chipmunks at the feeder.

Why trapping rarely saves the feeder#

Suppose you are in Colorado and do everything right. The feeder is still there, and so are the squirrels next door. Washington's wildlife agency puts it in one line: trapping "rarely is a permanent solution if other animals are in the area, and food and/or shelter remain available to them." A full feeder is food remaining available, by design.

The same agency is blunt about the animal's side. Mortality rises with "the stress and trauma associated with capture, handling, transport, and being released into an unfamiliar territory," and released animals "may harm or be harmed by resident animals."

That leaves the method that does work, which is making the feeder unreachable. A gray squirrel jumps about 5 feet up and 7 to 10 feet across, so the feeder goes on a smooth pole in open ground with a correctly sized baffle. Sizing and mounting height are in baffles: types, sizing and placement, and the siting rules are in where to hang a bird feeder. Safflower seed takes away much of the reward, and squirrel-proof feeders help once the placement is right, not before.

Before trapping anything, confirm it is a squirrel at all. Seed that vanishes overnight is usually something else, and the diagnosis is in my feeder empties overnight.

Where this page stops applying#

• Other states. If yours is not in the table, search your wildlife agency's site for "nuisance wildlife" and read two things: whether a homeowner may take the animal without a permit, and what the page says about "transport," "relocate" or "release."
• Towns and HOAs. Local rules can add limits, including on setting traps near homes. California's regulation bars traps within 150 yards of a residence unless set by the person controlling the property or with written landowner consent. How to find what applies locally is in neighbors and ordinances.
• Which squirrel. New York treats red and flying squirrels differently from gray and fox squirrels, and California's § 4152 names red fox squirrels specifically. If you are not sure of the species, check before you set a trap.

This is a reading of regulations and agency guidance, not legal advice. If you need an animal removed, New York's DEC points you to a licensed Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator.

What to do instead#

• Read your state's transport rule first. If it forbids moving live wildlife, a live trap leaves you with release on site or euthanasia, and you should decide which before you set it.
• Baffle the pole. One correctly mounted baffle outlasts any number of trapped squirrels.
• Cut the spill. Squirrels, chipmunks and rats and mice come for the ground as much as the feeder. The routine is in seed mess, hulls and dead grass, and the bag belongs in a sealed bin, as covered in storing bird seed.
• In Colorado, if you still want to relocate, call CPW before you trap, line up a willing landowner within 10 miles, and check the trap every day.

Feeding laws are a separate question from trapping laws. For the bear version, where the risk is to the feeder owner rather than the animal, see bear feeder laws by state.