Wasps, wildlife and Michigan rules: which agency covers your pest

Two rulebooks, and the first question to ask

A hornet nest in a soffit and a raccoon in an attic can look like the same call to a pest control company. In Michigan they sit under different agencies with different licenses. Insects are pesticide work, regulated by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD). Listed wildlife is regulated by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) through nuisance animal control permits. Knowing which one applies tells you what to ask a company for, who to call if it goes wrong and which advertised promises to distrust.

Which agency covers what

What you have	Rulebook	What to ask the company for
Wasps, hornets, bees, ants, roaches	MDARD pesticide law	Business license number and a certified or registered applicator
Termites, carpenter ants	MDARD, category 7B	Business license covering 7B and a certified applicator
Mice and rats	MDARD, category 7D or 7A	Business license and the applicator’s category
Raccoons, skunks, squirrels, opossums, bats	DNR nuisance permit	DNR permit number, and an MDARD license if pesticides are used
Feral pigeons, starlings, English sparrows	Both	DNR permit, and a 7A or 7D applicator for restricted use pesticides
Mosquitoes	MDARD, category 7F	Business license and a 7F applicator

The table is built from MDARD’s category list and DNR’s permittee circular. Where MDARD does not name a pest, as with wasps, we say to ask rather than assigning a category. MDARD’s list has no category 7C.

Insects: the MDARD side

Under MCL 324.8314, a person applying a pesticide for a commercial purpose or in the course of employment must be a certified or registered applicator, and each applicator may work only in the category for which they hold a credential. The business also needs a Pesticide Application Business License, renewed each December 31. A certified applicator can use restricted use products, a registered applicator cannot. MCL 324.8313(12) adds the honesty rule: a licensed applicator may not say a treatment is necessary for a pest that is not present or likely to occur.

For wasps specifically we found no Michigan government page. We could not confirm MSU’s page on wasps, so we give no step-by-step removal advice and no season. What applies is general: a nest near a door or play area, a nest in a wall or anyone with a known sting reaction is a reason to call a company, and a reaction in progress is a 911 call. The EPA says to follow the label, and that a product made for outdoors is not for use indoors. The wasp and bee page covers what to ask.

Wildlife: the DNR side

A business doing nuisance wildlife control for hire needs a DNR Wildlife Damage and Nuisance Control Permit, free of charge, which takes about 60 days to process and expires on the third March 31 after it is issued. Permittees may control a listed set of species: non-threatened bats, coyote, fox, weasels, mink, raccoon, skunk, opossum, woodchuck, badger, muskrat, squirrels, ground squirrels, rabbits, English sparrows, feral pigeons, starlings and crows. Animals not on the list are not eligible. House mice and Norway rats are not named on it either, and MDARD’s category 7D names rats and mice, so rodent work with pesticides sits on the MDARD side.

DNR says live capture and release of raccoons, skunks, squirrels and opossums is neither authorized nor conducted by the department, apart from permitted research, and a separate circular gives limits on relocating some animals. A company advertising humane wildlife removal as a standard service is advertising something to ask about, not something DNR has endorsed. The wildlife removal page and the attic guide give the details.

Where the two overlap

A permittee in DNR’s General classification must hold an MDARD pesticide applicator license in category 7A or 7D to use pesticides, and a Restricted permittee may not use them. Only MDARD-licensed 7A or 7D applicators may use restricted use pesticides on nuisance animals, which DNR says are typically outdoor feral pigeons, starlings and English sparrows. So if a wildlife company proposes poison, ask for both the DNR permit and the MDARD license, and ask what will happen to other animals that might eat it.

Claims that show which rulebook the company is working from

Three phrases show up in advertising for both kinds of work. “Humane relocation” suggests release of the animal, which DNR says it does not authorize for the common nuisance species. “Licensed and insured” says nothing about which license, so ask for the number and the agency. “One visit and it is gone” is a promise about results. Michigan’s MCL 324.8313(11) bars an applicator from misrepresenting a treatment’s characteristics, uses or benefits, which is the footing for asking a pesticide company to put its promise in writing. For wildlife, ask what the company will do with the animal and who repairs the entry point.

Who to call

For pesticide questions and complaints, MDARD answers at 800-292-3939; ask for the local pesticide inspector. For permits and the business directory, DNR’s Permit Specialist is at 517-284-6210, and DNR says the directory is updated once a year, may be incomplete and does not endorse any business on it. For a bat that may have touched someone, call the local health department, because DNR’s circular treats that as a potential rabies exposure. Do not count on city animal control: Ann Arbor says it does not remove skunks or bats, and Sterling Heights Animal Control does not take skunk removal calls.

A one-minute test

Ask what the thing is, and then ask whose permit the company is working under. If it is an insect or a rodent, the answer should be an MDARD business license and an applicator in the right category. If it is a raccoon or a bat, the answer should be a DNR permit. If the company cannot say which, it has not told you who is responsible for how the work is done.