Pests

Inquiries about rats should be directed to Vej og Park on tel. 88 72 41 48.

You may be bothered by a variety of pests. Certain pests are controlled by the municipality (such as rats and raccoon dogs), while others are protected or controlled by the individual citizen.

How do I get rid of rats?

If you see rats or signs of rats, you must either report rats online or contact the rat catcher at +45 88 72 41 48.

If you report rats or signs of rats:

• on a weekday, the rat catcher comes the same day or the next weekday at the latest
• in the open, it can take up to seven days before the rat catcher inspects the property
• at the weekend, the rat catcher comes to visit next Monday.

Outside of normal opening hours, you can contact the call center on telephone no +45 88 72 47 87.

A visit to the rat trap is free, but it is your responsibility to report rats or signs of rats.

Get good advice for rat control at rotteangreb.dk

What do I do if I see a feral cat?

Sonderborg Municipality has a cooperation agreement with Cat Protection, which ensures that feral cats are captured according to the rules.

If you want feral cats captured and possibly re-released, contact Cat Protection at +45 38 88 12 00 in the period Monday to Thursday from 10 am to 15.00 pm or Friday from 10 am to 14.00 pm.

Can I put something up against rooks?

If you are bothered by rooks on your property, you can apply to the Danish Nature Agency Sønderjylland for permission to regulate the stock. The application should preferably be made around 1 April.

The municipality's regulation hunters assess each year where there is a need to regulate the number of roe deer on the municipal properties. This is done to limit the nuisance from the rook colonies to the surrounding residents.

How do I get rid of a marten?

If you experience unusual noise from / on your ceiling in the house, it can be a marten. However, it can also live in a rocky outcrop, a stone setting, dense shrubbery, sheds, outbuildings or the like. Although the marten is not harmful to health, it can do great damage, even if it keeps your rat population down.

When you need to have the marten removed, you can start by examining the house for holes (must not be larger than a chicken egg) where the marten can enter. Make sure that the marten is out and that it does not have young in the attic (usually from March to July) and close all holes at windshields or shoe troughs, along the ridge or at twigs with the most suitable material. Also a single roof tile that sits skewed, or a missing wire mesh in a ventilation duct can allow the marten to slip into the ceiling.

You can also catch the marten in a trap that you can buy in hunting shops. The trap is set up outdoors, preferably by a shrubbery or along a hedge. The bait that is placed in the trap can be a chicken egg with a small hole in it. Lay some eggs in different places near the house, so the marten can be more easily lured by the egg in the trap. If you catch the marten, you can drive it out into the woods, preferably by a rocky slope, and release it. You can also have it killed by the vet or by a hunter.

If you want to find out if you have a resident marten on site before acquiring a trap, you can start by laying the eggs. If the marten starts with the decoy feed and gets used to finding eggs in this particular place, it usually goes into the trap quite quickly when you set it up.

What should I do if I see a raccoon dog?

The raccoon dog is an invasive animal from Asia, which threatens parts of Danish nature.

In Sonderborg Municipality, raccoon dogs are regulated by volunteer hunters, and the effort is coordinated by Sonderborg Hunters Council by Jens Hangaard Nielsen, who is responsible for lending equipment for the regulation. If you see a raccoon dog, you can contact jens@hangaard.dk - mobile phone: +45 40 58 64 58

Can I do anything about seagulls?

Seagulls can be noisy and aggressive. Sonderborg Municipality does not regulate seagulls. Private landowners can regulate in several ways, and there is a big difference in the effect.

What can I do myself without permission?

• Make sure your ground is not attractive for the gull to settle on. You can do this by putting up kites, scarecrows, fake foxes and making horizontal surfaces difficult to breed on. Avoid scaring agents with sound, as the gulls quickly get used to the sound.
• Make sure there is no food for the gulls on your property. Close waste containers, do not place waste on the ground and do not feed the birds.

What permits from the Danish Nature Agency can I get to regulate the gulls?

You must apply for a permit for harmful game from the Danish Nature Agency.

• Remove eggs and nests
  If the gulls have already settled, then you can remove their eggs and nest and regulate the population for next year. 
• Oiling / paraffining of eggs
  If you have easy access to the nest / nests, you can brush, spray or dip the eggs in paraffin oil. It is also possible to agree with a control company that they will do the work for you. The oil closes the pores in the eggs and they go to. The gull will continue to incubate for the next 4-6 weeks until the eggs decay and they will then be expelled from the nest and replaced by new eggs. The treatment must be repeated when the new batch of eggs has been laid, but in the 4-6 weeks the birds are relatively quiet, and when there are no chicks in the nest, they are not aggressive either.
• Dummy eggs
  Dummy eggs are plastic eggs filled with sand and decorated like a gull egg. Dummy eggs have proven successful when these are replaced with the natural eggs in the nest. Since dummy eggs do not deteriorate, there are good chances that the gull will not lay a new litter. In addition to reducing the noise from the gulls, dummy eggs (also applies to oiling) may cause the colony to dissolve and spread.
• Shooting of seagulls and / or young
  One can apply for permission to shoot the gulls. Subsequently, the result of the adjustment must be reported by the owner who has received the permit. Typically, the permit is limited to a specific period, but the gulls that are not shot will soon return.

What should I do if I have problems with other pests?

If you have problems with eg insects, including bees and wasps, ants, silverfish, birds, moles, mice, boars, etc., you can contact a pest control company that can help you fight the pests. See which pests you need a permit to regulate / control.