CLEVELAND — It's been less than a week since we showed you the havoc groundhogs are wreaking on a Cleveland neighborhood. Since then, you've flooded the station with emails and phone calls about all of the trouble the critters are causing you. News 5 is following through, keeping our promise to tell the stories that matter to you and to get answers.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
Nothing — not bricks, poison, or even groundhog traps — is working for Cleveland resident Kathy Thompkins.
“They are tearing up my foundation,” said Thompkins. “The more I fix, the more they find another hole and barrel in and another spot. It’s really frustrating.”
Another resident, Cassy Allen, is at her limit too. Allen catches the groundhogs on her security camera sneaking around almost daily.
“They are burrowing in my backyard; they’re burrowing under my neighbor's driveway,” said Allen. “They’re tearing it up.”
The groundhogs are even munching their way through plastic gutters on Allen’s home and dug into her neighbor Rickey Harrison’s garage.
“They taken over, they’ve officially taken over,” Harrison added.
Harrison said the groundhogs carried in old cans to shove into their nests of dirt. Traps aren’t working for him, either.
“They look at it and keep going,” said Harrison. "They run around it. You can’t go into the garage at night, you can’t get out, they get under your car, and they’re just a nuisance.”
The City of Cleveland said it is working to help those who’ve come forward after News 5’s previous reporting. Cleveland Animal Care and Control (CACC) offers rentable traps for residents that require a $20 cash deposit, which is refunded when the trap is returned. Residents can also request full-service trapping from the city’s partner agency, Critter Control.
Click here to view CACC's document on wildlife trapping rules.
“I have called the city, they came out and trapped for a week, but they’re still here, ” said Thompkins.
Since the start of trapping season May 1, CACC has taken a total of 596 wildlife animals on site, and 71% were groundhogs, but residents want to see other solutions available besides trapping.
Click here to read CACC's document with tips on coexisting with wildlife.
“There’s too many of them, too many of them,” Harrison added.
If you need further assistance with nuisance wildlife, you can call CACC’s hotline at 216-664-3069, which is monitored regularly. CACC cannot assist with wildlife issues in vacant properties or within residences. Such issues should be referred to the Department of Building and Housing at 216-664-2007.
