Stern Environmental Group would like to take this opportunity to apologize to our faithful customers and readers.  We were recently notified by some of our customers that they had received some very strange email messages which initially looked like they were coming from our company.  Once investigated, we realized that our Stern Twitter account had been hacked by some unscrupulous people on November 4th and November 9th!  Hacking into someone’s online business sources is completely shameful and unethical!

We would like all of our customers and readers to know that Stern never participates in spaming or phishing schemes.  We will never contact you to ask you for any password or credit card information either. Stern strives to provide our readers with the most updated information about bed bugs, bed bug products, bed bug services, and other important pest and urban wildlife information.  Through our extensive research and experience, we are able to bring you interesting and sometimes even funny stories that are directly linked to the industry that we are so passionate about.

If you ever receive any communication from Stern Environmental Group that seems to be out of the ordinary or meets any of the above criteria; we ask that you please contact us immediately so that we can take measures to stop this deceitful practice of others.

We do encourage you all to stop by our Twitter page and view some of our interesting topics and links.

As suburbia continues to spread outwards, more and more residents are encountering raccoons and other dangerous wildlife in their every day life.  Raccoons, along with opossums, rats, mice and other rodents are responsible for transmitting dangerous diseases to humans.  Eight residents in Long Beach, California with ages ranging from 1 to 59 years old have recently been diagnosed with typhus.  Typhus is not transmitted from human to human contact; rather it is spread by fleas that have hosted on various animals like the ones mentioned above.  Luckily for these folks in California, although typhus is unpleasant to contract, it rarely causes death and can be treated with antibiotics.

When dealing with wildlife, rabies should always be a top concern.  Rabies is most commonly found in raccoons, skunks, bats, foxes and coyotes, but any warm blooded animal can pass rabies onto people.

You should always try to avoid direct contact with wildlife; but if they do happen to enter you home or business, you should not try to remove them yourself.  Contacting a nuisance pest control removal specialist is the key to a humane and safe removal of wildlife instead.  Stern Environmental Group offers expert wildlife removal services to most of New Jersey, all of NYC, parts of CT and most of Long Island, NY.

If you have been out and about enjoying the delightful fall climate in Manhattan or the surrounding areas, you might notice something this year that was not readily seen in previous years.  If you haven’t noticed yet, you should be warned though, that you might want to bring along a good set of nose plugs and your running shoes on your next jaunt out on the town.

Skunks have been showing up more than ever before and raising quite a stink for joggers, bikers, park goers, and homeowners alike.  For reasons unknown, the skunk population is on the rise.  With no natural predators, like the coyotes in the Bronx to munch on these creatures, they are left to their own reproductive devices and their numbers are flourishing.

The good news is that Animal Care and Control of New York City will pick up skunks.  The bad news is that they will only pick them up if they are acting strange because they might have Rabies.  Personally, I think anything that squirts a green acid as a defense mechanism which will stay on your skin for over a week is an animal that acts strange, but that’s just my opinion. 

Don’t risk having to live with nauseous stench by trying to remove skunks on your own.  Always call a pest control specialist instead!

A family of skunks has caused concern among residents in the Laurence Harbor area of Old Bridge, New Jersey after they moved into an abandoned house. Other than emitting a foul smell, the skunks also pose a threat to the safety of pets and residents in the neighborhood.

Ashley Mulcahy, who is living next door to the skunk-infested house, said that she has seen a large number of skunks going in and out of the house, and her nine-year-old American Eskimo dog was sprayed and bitten by one of them. Neighbors are worried that the skunks may spread rabies, and efforts have been made to contact the owner of the house, but she has not responded to the calls.

Director of Middlesex County Public Health Department, David A. Papi, advised residents to avoid contact with skunks or other wild animals and report immediately to their local health departments if they are bitten by wild animals.

If you need professional help to get rid of skunks, you can call pest control experts in NY, NYC, and NJ.

For NJ and NYC residents concerned about their families and pets getting rabies by wildlife, especially raccoons, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service signed the first North American Rabies Management Plan with Canada and Mexico. The goal is to improve the cooperation and the communication among the three nations.

In the United States an oral rabies vaccination program is utilized to prevent rabies spreading in wildlife including raccoons, and coyotes. NJ and NYC residents should be aware that rabies from wild animals can be transmitted to dogs and other types of pets. Raccoons, skunks and other wildlife often live in urban settings such as NYC. Urban raccoons often live in sewer systems.

CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding mentioned that although tremendous improvements have been made in combating rabies, especially canine rabies,  it’s still found in wildlife which puts people at risk.

Canine to canine rabies has been almost eliminated in the United States. Human cases of rabies mostly happens due to exposure to wildlife inflicted with rabies.

NJ and NYC residents that are having problems with raccoons and other wildlife can contact a NJ, NYC wild animal control professional.