Critter Control opens franchise in Fort Collins

FORT COLLINS — An 18-year Colorado resident who spent decades in the wine industry is now putting a stopper in pesky critters’ access to Northern Colorado homes.

Michael Burton purchased a franchise of Critter Control Inc. in December and began work March 1, specializing in the humane removal of nuisance wildlife such as raccoons, squirrels, skunks and snakes, animals that he said can do serious damage to a home.

“This is a busy time of year for wildlife,” Burton said. “As the weather continues to warm, we see much more critter activity, especially now, during raccoon mating and birthing season. No one wants to end up having their attic become a raccoon birthing center. We aim to bring wildlife removal solutions that keep everyone safe while treating the local animals with respect.”

Founded in 1983 in Traverse City, Michigan, Critter Control has more than 100 franchise locations in 40 states and two Canadian provinces. It was acquired in 2015 by Atlanta-based Rollins Inc. (NYSE: ROL), a global consumer and commercial service company. Burton’s service area covers Larimer and Weld counties and extends north into Wyoming, while another office serves the Boulder area.

“It’s been a strange season,” Burton said. “There’s a lot of skunks this year; I don’t know what’s going on with that. And I’ve never seen so many squirrels in my life as there are up here.”

Burton had been totally immersed in the wine culture, working as beverage manager and sommelier at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas and then holding management roles at such vineyards as Rose and Arrow Estate in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Walla Walla Vintners in Washington and Emeritus Vineyards in Sebastopol, California.

“But I had a love for the outdoors,” Burton said, adding that when his wife spotted an advertisement seeking a Critter Control franchise holder for Northern Colorado, “she said ‘This would be great for you,’ so at 52 I decided to change my whole career and get out of the wine business.”

New Critter Control franchise holders get an intensive, hands-on training session in Atlanta, with simulated environments that prepare teams for any wildlife scenario. In Fort Collins, however, Burton said so far he is a team of one.

Northern Colorado is populated with raccoons who are looking to mate and give birth over the next few weeks, and local homes often become the ideal, safe place for that to happen. Many other animals, including snakes, bats, squirrels, other rodents and more become more active in spring, often finding their way inside local homes.

“With the local landscape spanning mountains, plains and dense forests, the Northern Colorado area is home to countless animal species that find their way into people’s homes,” Joe Felegi, general manager of Critter Control, said in a prepared statement. “Thankfully, Michael knows the area and its native wildlife very well, thanks to his long history living there. We have full confidence in his ability to serve the area and its community.”

Burton said he’s less focused “on doing things where we’d have to euthanize or use pesticides. Those are (used) more as a last option. I try not to trap. I just want to get them out of the house.

“What we do,” he said, “is if a raccoon gets into a house, a chimney or attic, we find a way to coax that animal out, and use one-way doors. We help fix that roof if we can. We help the homeowner get the animal out of their house, get the house clean again and send the animal on its way.”

He said he might add some pheromones that animals don’t like to keep them from returning.

“The apex predator is people,” he said. “We screw up the natural order of what’s going on. If we just let the animals not get near people, not feed them, they’ll probably stay away.”

Burton said animals have crafty ways of entering a home.

“The difference between someone like myself and a building contractor is the attention to detail on keeping them out,” Burton said. “Contractors have a tendency to do a great job on the roof but they’ll forget to do all the aluminum flashing, and that’s how an animal gets in. We’ll use specific products from our industry like high-end stainless steel so they can never get back in.

“That’s our whole motto: Get ‘em out, keep ‘em out,” he said.

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