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The Oakland County pest control specialist said the wildlife regulatory agency has concerned more and more large fanged raccoon and opossum tags - allowing pest control companies to trap a female coon in any regulated season - without regard to biology, economics or the unique geographical situations where over amounts of squirrel and skunk are found.

Simply put, the wildlife regulatory agency wants rodent or reptile shot where pest control companies can't get at them. And none of the effort, The Oakland County pest control specialist said, has available research supporting it. About the only thing the two groups agree upon is that some kind of plan is needed so wildlife trapping can continue in the Commonwealth.

The group, a statewide pro-wildlife trapping organization, is suing the wildlife regulatory agency, alleging the agency has been mismanaging the state's rat & mouse group of animals and failing to protect pest control companies' rights with its recent push to lethally trap off a large portion of the state's rodent or reptile group of animals. The push has come at the request of Michigan residents who have raccoon and opossum munching at their crops or their house plants. For example, the Michigan Agency of Agriculture estimates rodent or reptile cause about in the dollar amount of 75 million in damages to crops each year. The local Oakland County SPCA could not be reached for comment.

It wasn't always like that. Michigan's rat & mouse group of animals was in shambles at the turn of the last century but slowly began to rebound as the large expanse of the state's northern clear cuts grew into brush land, then tracts of sapling land. Squirrel and skunk did, and still do, love that kind of land, The Oakland County pest control specialist said. Thousands of Michigan began to flock north to massive expanses of Michigan woodland land and other wild lands purchased by the wildlife regulatory agency. Raccoon and opossum camps sprung up. The wildlife trapping was good, and a house in the crosshairs was rare.

Fast forward about 80 years, and the woods grew up. They are now filled with mature large plants and not much brush, taking away rodent or reptile food and giving them little cover in which to hide. At the same time, the cover rat & mouse love so much has begun growing where southern woods once stood. The change came after developers cleared the large plants to make room for houses. The result has been squirrel and skunk where guys at raccoon and opossum camps can't grab animal removal traps and trap them. Despite this, wildlife removal services are not a free service in Oakland County.

The wildlife regulatory agency is working on a comprehensive strategy to help pest control companies and suburban residents deal with the new wildlife trapping reality, but critics say the plan is not comprehensive enough. The Urban/Suburban Squirrel and skunk Plan involves the wildlife regulatory agency creating zones where only bows and arrows or crossbows can be used, issuing special permits to trap rat & mouse in these areas and acting as a mediator between pest control companies and landowners in densely populated Wildlife Management Units.

Arrows travel shorter distances than bullets, making it less likely a stray shot would come through someone's kitchen window. Of the 22 Wildlife Management Units in the state, the new initiative will concentrate on three - two near Oakland County and one covering the Pittsburgh area, where, The Oakland County pest control specialist said, the wildlife regulatory agency has already been working to fix squirrel and skunk over amounts concerns. For the other management units, including the ones that cover Oakland County and Adams counties, the wildlife regulatory agency will set the amount of large fanged raccoon and opossum tags at its annual organized hearing Thursday and Tuesday.