Bats in your belfry? Call Jeremy Bailey
| Monday, Oct 05 2009 09:06 PM
Last Updated Monday, Oct 05 2009 09:06 PM
Shafter animal capturer Jeremy Bailey will be on "Larry King Live" at 6 p.m. Tuesday on CNN.
Jeremy Bailey has no respect for opossums, calling them slow, dumb and lazy. "I'll pick them up by the tail and throw them in the cage," said Bailey, who owns Animal Capture Wildlife Control. "Now, a mama raccoon will fight you to the death. Especially when her babies are involved."
Bailey, 28, is appearing on "Larry King Live" on CNN at 6 p.m today, along with Mike Rowe from "Dirty Jobs," the show on Discovery Channel. Bailey, who roots out skunks, possums, raccoons, bats, rattlesnakes and bobcats from panicked homeowners, will be appearing on "Dirty Jobs" this season.
Dirty jobs? Bailey thinks it's a hoot. Every day is different for the Dixon, Calif., native who moved to Shafter two years ago with his wife, Jennifer, and two children, Yolanda and Mia.
Bailey is like a mountain lion. He ranges all over California. Monday he was at a house in Glendale where he trapped two skunks and then a single skunk in West Hollywood. Tomorrow, it could be bats in Fresno (he's taken more than 200 from a single house) or raccoons in Bakersfield.
His tensest moment? It had to be a bobcat at a chicken farm up north in Vacaville.
"The bobcat had killed about 30 chickens," Bailey said. "We went into the chicken coop with the bobcat and before we could get it into the trap, the gate locked behind us," Bailey said. "Then, the lady disappeared for 10 minutes and forgot about us."
Call it extra incentive. Bailey wanted to trap the bobcat so he could both get paid and not end up with a faceful of claws.
Bailey worked with his dad for 10 years in Dixon in the same business before moving south. Bakersfield is good, but in order to make the money he makes, he has to travel more than 80,000 miles a year and work six days a week. He charges $100 per animal.
One hundred bucks is cheap, especially if the skunk is driving you nuts and spraying your dogs. Where it gets more expensive is that sometimes one skunk becomes four skunks and four even more than that.
"I've trapped more than 10 skunks at one house," Bailey said. "Sometimes there are families, sometimes more than one."
One hundred bucks is cheap when you consider how many times Bailey has been sprayed by skunks. It was particularly messy recently at a house in Seven Oaks when Bailey was sprayed multiple times by three skunks.
"I was sprayed in the face and in the eyes while the customer was laughing hysterically," Bailey said. "I don't mind it. To me, it's the smell of money."
Bailey uses scalding water and a product called Skunk-Off to wash away the smell. Even then, a faint smell remains.
Tools of the trade include snake tongs for rattlesnakes, the ketch-all pole with a noose for the animals, three different kinds of traps, throw nets, ladders and a mask with a HEPA filter so as not inhale any hazardous material, especially raccoon round worm eggs.
Bailey doesn't kill the animals he traps. All are released about three miles away, preferably in fields or forests.
In Bakersfield, Seven Oaks is busy, as is RiverLakes and much of south and northwest Bakersfield. East Bakersfield can be bad for rattlesnakes.
Out-of-town clients have included N.Y. Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia, NBA player Mike Bibby, and former baseball great Willie Mays (raccoons). Skunks are the biggest nuisance, raccoons the most dangerous, but opossums are a snap.
Those, Bailey can do in his sleep.
