Originally Posted by
mel_la_fee
Can you find out who this person is and maybe someone can try talking to them?
We had an older man in my mom's neighborhood that was luring squirrels into his garage and then gassing them. Several neighbors complained to each other but never confronted him directly.
Then my sister went over and informed him that multiple neighbors had him on camera via their home security systems (this was not true) and she was going to report him for animal cruelty if he didn't stop.
He explained that he thought they were pests and were ruining his attic, etc. She offered to proof his attic and home against rats and squirrels free of charge (she was then running my father's home improvement company) but he stopped gassing squirrels without taking her up on the offer. He lost his home and was moved into a facility for the elderly the next year, so the problem was effectively solved.
Looking back on it though, it's possible this man wasn't intentionally being cruel. He was older, alone, lonely, and had this weird idea that 'pests' were going to ruin the house he was already on the verge of losing. If neighbors had spent time with him, it's possible he might've felt differently. It's also possible he was a sociopath and would've wanted to gas animals anyway.
Since no one really engaged with him on a regular basis it's hard to say...
But I think talking to this person to find out what their deal is might be a place to start. If nothing else, anything they say about what they do can be effective leverage to get local wildlife authorities involved (maybe- idk how Canadian wildlife laws work). I may be way off-base, so this is just a thought.