Is it legal to trap and relocate wildlife in Virginia?

Mostly no. The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources states plainly that it is illegal in Virginia to trap and relocate an animal to another area.^[1] What you can do with a live-trapped animal is narrow: release it where it was caught, take it to a rehabilitator if it is hurt, or have it humanely killed. Squirrels, snakes and bats each have their own rules, and local ordinances can add more.

What you can do with a live-trapped animal

Virginia Cooperative Extension's 2026 pest management guide sums up the current rules: a landowner who live-traps an animal has three options: release it at the point of capture, elsewhere on land that person owns; take it to a licensed wildlife rehabilitation facility if it is injured or needs care, but only after the facility agrees to accept it; or have it humanely euthanized.^[3] Wild animals cannot be held in possession, transported off the property, or released on land not owned by the person who trapped them.^[3]

Euthanasia is lawful. It is lawful to kill wild animals legally captured in live traps by any humane method not specifically prohibited by law.^[7] In practice, most homeowners hand that part, and the trapping itself, to a permitted wildlife control operator.

Why relocation is banned

Moving an animal feels kind, but the evidence says otherwise. Extension notes that for many species, survival after relocation is often less than 25%,^[3] because the animal is dropped into unfamiliar ground already claimed by others of its kind. DWR adds that moving mammals could add to the spread of rabies, distemper, parvovirus and sarcoptic mange, and that relocated animals usually do not stay at the release site and could become a problem for others.^[2]

Fairfax County's animal services division points out another cost: animals trapped may have dependent young that are left behind and orphaned.^[11] Fairfax County Park Authority rules also prohibit releasing wildlife onto county parkland.^[11]

And the problem at the house is still there. If the gap in the soffit stays open, the next raccoon or squirrel moves in.

What the law says

The base rule is in the Code. The Code of Virginia makes it unlawful to trap, possess or transport any wild animal except as specifically permitted by law, and a violation is a Class 3 misdemeanor.^[4] A Department regulation lists who is permitted to move wildlife. Department employees, federal wildlife staff, local animal control officers, and people operating under a commercial nuisance animal permit may capture, hold, transport, release and humanely dispatch wildlife under the Department's rules.^[5]

The same regulation gives everyone two narrow routes: any person may carry an injured, sick or orphaned wild animal directly to a permitted wildlife rehabilitator, and may take most wildlife to an authorized local animal shelter, but only after contacting the facility to confirm it will accept the animal.^[5] A shelter that takes in wildlife is authorized to receive, temporarily confine and humanely euthanize it.^[5]

If you trap, the trap rules apply too. Traps must be checked once each day, and a trap on someone else's land must carry the trapper's name and address or a Department identification number.^[4]

What a wildlife control company may do

Hiring a professional does not unlock relocation for most animals. Under DWR's Commercial Nuisance Animal Permit, captured wildlife removed from the inside of a building may be released on the curtilage of that property with the landowner's permission, and may not be translocated for release off site.^[8] Snakes and, in some places, squirrels are the exceptions, covered below. What the permit adds is the ability to trap certain wildlife outside the trapping season and to transport live captured animals to a euthanasia site.^[3] How the work itself is done is covered in how wildlife removal companies get animals out of an attic.

Species with their own rules

Squirrels. Virginia law says a landowner or his agent may trap and dispose of, except by sale, squirrels creating a nuisance on his property at any time in any area where the use of firearms for such purpose is prohibited.^[6] DWR's permit conditions read that squirrel rule as including release on other property, with permission of the landowner at the release site.^[8] Where firearms are legal, the general rules apply.

Bats. DWR says it is illegal to transport, release or relocate a bat anywhere other than the property it was caught on, and illegal to poison any animal on your property other than rats and mice.^[9] Three bat species in Virginia are federally endangered (the gray, Indiana and Virginia big-eared bats), the northern long-eared bat is federally threatened, and three are state endangered: Rafinesque's big-eared bat, the little brown bat and the tri-colored bat.^[9] Bats in a building are an exclusion job, not a trapping job.

Snakes. It is illegal to kill any snake in Virginia unless it poses an imminent health or safety threat, and a captured snake must be released alive at the point of capture within 30 days.^[3] A permit holder may move a snake to suitable habitat in the same city or county, or in an adjacent one where the species has been documented, with the written permission of the landowner at the release site.^[8]

Raccoons and other furbearers. There is a continuous open season to trap raccoons, opossums, beaver and muskrat inside any city or town, and in Arlington, Chesterfield, Fairfax, Henrico, James City, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Roanoke and York counties.^[3] An open season is about when trapping is allowed; it does not make relocation legal.

Your locality may be stricter

State law is the floor. Local ordinances are usually more restrictive than state laws, and DWR tells homeowners to contact the Commonwealth Attorney's office in their county or city about legal methods of animal removal.^[10] Rules on discharging firearms, setting traps in town, and releasing animals in parks all vary by place, and this page is not legal advice for your property.

When to call a licensed pro

Call a permitted wildlife control operator when an animal is inside the house, when you suspect young, when the species is a bat or might be protected, or when you would rather not handle a trapped animal at all. DWR's Trapper Finder Tool lists licensed trappers and permit holders by species and location, and DWR does not attest to the character or expertise of anyone on the list, so checking references is up to you.^[12]

When you talk to a company, ask:

• for its Commercial Nuisance Animal Permit and the species it is willing to handle;
• exactly what it will do with each animal it catches;
• how it checks for young before sealing anything;
• whether the repairs are done by a licensed contractor; see how to check if a contractor is licensed in Virginia.

For prices, see what wildlife removal costs in Virginia. Browse wildlife removal businesses, find pest control businesses in Blacksburg, or read more pest control answers.

Tell us what animal you are dealing with and local wildlife control businesses can quote a removal that follows Virginia's rules.