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Thursday, June 3, 2004
Making a career out of critter control
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Also on this page: David Sparks | |||||||||
Q: What exactly is Sparks' Ark? A: Well, it's a varied thing. One of the things I do is not actually part of the business - I rehabilitate and take care of injured wildlife. I've been doing that for probably 25 years, anyway, and doing that is what got me into this business. I also used to be the the animal control officer for Westbrook, from 1987 to 2002. The other part is, I catch nuisance animals for people, like bats and raccoons and squirrels, and I do some pet rescue work, like getting cats out of trees. Squirrels getting into people's attics and houses are the mainstay of this business. Q: Do you work with bigger animals, too? A: Fish and Game wardens deal with those animals; I deal with small animals. Someone called me to return a loose cow this year, but luckily they managed to get the cow back before I was needed. That's quite a time-consuming job It's not like on TV, where they hit the animal with a dart and it falls down. Last year, I helped chase about 15 cows that had been running loose for over a month, in Buxton, and after nine hours in the heat of the woods, with ticks and mosquitoes, we managed to get five cows. And then I also do the educational programs and birthday parties with animals. My wife used to work at the Children's Museum and asked me to put together a program and it just kind of evolved from that. I've probably been doing 'em for seven years now. Q: How did you start the business? A: When I left Bradlees it was kind of a scary thing. It was still open, but they were cutting back manpower and I kind of volunteered (to retire) to get the severance package to start this business. I was the breadwinner of the family at the time and I did not know if the business would take off. For two weeks, I went to all the local feed stores, vets and so on, told them what I was going to be doing and gave them my card. That got things started, and I never did any advertising, except for my truck. Q: Have you always been an animal lover? A: I've always liked animals and had pets and that type of thing. It just kind of evolved over time. When I was a kid we used to spend time at our camp up on Sebago Lake and my brother and I used to trap chipmunks and mice, keep them for the summer and let them go. Q: Are you making lots of money doing this? A: I don't get rich, but make an all right living. I'm busy enough that I finally left the police department a couple of years ago. Q: How much do you charge? A: If somebody needs something trapped, basically in the Portland area, I charge $45 to come set the trap, $45 to go back and move what's caught. If I'm taking a raccoon family out of a chimney in the Portland area, it's $85 for that. On a Sunday afternnon I might tack on another $5 or $10. Or if it's going to be an involved job, like getting under a house to remove a porcupine. Q: How far do you go on the job? A: I've been as far as Eastport, but that job I vastly underpriced, a 5 1/2 hour drive. I had to find a dead skunk underneath a crawl space, like 10-12 inches. Q: Have you ever been scared on the job? A: I don't know as I've been scared. I trapped a bear once, in Westbrook, and that went fairly well. Sometimes I don't care for heights, going up on two roofs or way up in trees. It can be scary when you're dealing with something bigger than you are, a cow or a moose. Q: And then there was that bear in South Portland recently. A: There's been bears in Westbrook two or three times . . . people are moving more and more into rural areas, and animals have to learn to survive. I think they can get through towns a lot more than people realize. My brother worked on a wolf program over in Romania last year, and one of the things he said was, Romania is many times more populated than Maine, but large wolves could go into town and raid the trash and people would never see them. I think bears can do the same type of thing. Q: Have you been injured? A: I've been bitten a few times, maybe once every couple of years. By raccoons, by a possum last year, taking it out of a garage. Q: How many programs do you do a year? A: Last year I did between 250 and 300 programs. Q: What percentage of your business does that represent? A: I'd never planned on its being a large part, but it's probably close to half of what I do now. Some days I'm too busy to do any trapping. The last couple days I've had people calling me about woodchucks, but it's been raining so much they don't come out. I did a bit of trapping last week, including taking some raccoons out of a chimney and an attic, that sort of thing. Last week, I had to rip out a section of wall and take a mother raccoon and five babies out. You actually see more raccoons in the middle of Portland than out in the country. They adapt well. There's plenty of food and trash,and worms on lawns, and almost every yard has its crawl spaces. Plus, out in the country people are more apt to deal with problems on their own, with a shotgun. Q: Ever deal with exotic animals? A: Occasionally I get something exotic, like in a place where people might move and leave something behind, liie a snake. One time I had to take a water monitor lizard that had crawled out of a wall, and one time in a drain I found an anaconda - a small one. But it's rare. Q: Any drawbacks to the job? A: It's sometimes hard to shut this business off. If somebody calls you at 3 on a Saturday afternoon because they've got a squirrel in their living room, you can't tell them you'll come on Monday morning . . . Last year, I took off a weekend, and a week. Q: Is there less work in the winter? A: It's a lot quieter, but one thing that's helped me out is doing the programs, a lot of birthday parties and schools. Q: Do you have a favorite animal? A: People ask me that a lot. I always say skunks are my favorite, because people don't want to deal with them - they will always hire me. . . . I used to charge $35 to remove a skunk, and when my daughter was younger and we'd be riding in the car, she'd say, 'Dad, I smell $35!' I probably move a couple of hundred skunks a year. I've been sprayed four times. I really like the fallow deer and the emu I have, and the goats. I like everything for one thing or another, you know. Especially when you have a little baby goat or deer you're raising on a bottle, and it will follow you everywhere, just like a little puppy dog. Kinda neat. DAVID SPARKS Business Sparks' Ark, Animal Emergency Services Occupation Owner Address 7 Rousseau Road, Windham 892-8905 Web site "No. I'm not a computer person." "I don't even turn a computer on." Age 53. How long in this business Full-time, for about 10 years. Previous jobs Worked 26 years at Bradlees in Westbrook. Dream job "I like doing what I'm doing. Maybe traveling around the world doing TV programs like Steve Irwin might be better." "I don't even turn a computer on." Web site "No. I'm not a computer person." David Sparks, owner Sparks' Ark, Animal Emergency Services 7 Rousseau Road, Windham 892-8905 How long in this job: Full-time, for about 10 years Previous job: Worked 26 years at Bradlees in Westbrook, Age: 53 Dream job: " I like doing what I'm doing. Maybe traveling around the world doing TV programs like Steve Irwin might be better" Web site: "No. I'm not a computer person" E-mail: "I don't even turn a computer on" Quote"I used to charge $35 to remove a skunk, and when my daughter was younger and we'd be riding in the car, she'd say, 'Dad, I smell $35!' " David Sparks JumpPlease seeSHOPTALK, Page11B JumpFromSHOPTALK Continued from Page 9B David Sparks JumpPlease seeSHOPTALK, Page11B JumpFromSHOPTALKContinued from Page 9B --> |
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