The wildlife company started by the guy who kept getting the second-opinion calls.

How we got here

The wildlife trade has a quiet problem. A lot of companies run it like pest control - show up, set traps, collect a check, leave. That works fine if the only goal is to remove the animal that's there right now. It doesn't work at all if the goal is to keep wildlife out of the house for good. Because the animal isn't really the problem. The hole is.

James started his own outfit in 2019 to do the work end-to-end. Trap-and-fix instead of trap-and-go. That means a full inspection of the roofline, the soffits, the vents, the foundation, the chimney chase, and anywhere two building materials meet at an angle. It means identifying every entry point - usually three or four on a typical job, sometimes a dozen on an older home - and sealing them with materials that match the house and won't get chewed back open in six months.

In November 2025 the company picked up the DBA "The Wildlife Guys." Same owner, same crew, same warranty. The new name was a rebrand to something that sounded less like a generic franchise and more like what we actually are - the guys you call when an animal is in your house and you want it handled right the first time.

What we believe

Exclusion is the actual work. Removing the animal takes an afternoon. Sealing the building so the next one doesn't move in - that's the job. Companies that skip the exclusion are selling you a revolving door.

Humane by default. We use one-way doors and live traps whenever the species and the situation allow. Lethal control is a last resort and only when Indiana law and the calendar permit it. We don't use poison for wildlife. Poison kills the animal somewhere you can't reach it, and then you have a different problem on your hands two weeks later.

DNR-aware. Indiana has rules about which species can be relocated, when bats can be touched, and which birds are federally protected. We know the rules because we work inside them every week. That's why we sometimes tell a customer to wait three weeks before we can do the eviction - the calendar is the calendar.

Repairs should look like the house. If we close up a soffit return, the patch should match the soffit. If we sleeve a chimney, the cap should look like it belongs on the chimney. You shouldn't be able to spot our work from the curb.

Owner-operator. our team answers the phone. James does most of the inspections. James writes the bids. When the work runs into something unexpected - and on older homes, it does - the person making the call is the person who owns the warranty.

The two-year warranty

Every exclusion job carries a two-year warranty on the seals we install. If an animal of the same type gets back in through any opening we closed, we come back and re-seal it at no charge. That's not a marketing line. It's a contract. The reason we can offer it is the reason we exist - we do the inspection thoroughly enough the first time that we rarely have to honor a callback.

What the warranty doesn't cover: a new opening that wasn't there when we worked on the house (storm damage, a tree dropping a branch on the roof, contractor work that opens a new gap). We'll tell you that on the phone if a callback turns out to be a new entry rather than a missed one. That conversation has happened maybe twice in six years.

Who we serve

We work central Indiana - Indianapolis and the donut counties (Hamilton, Boone, Madison, Hancock), plus Muncie east of the metro. Most of our work is owner-occupied homes. A growing share is property managers and small commercial properties (restaurants with rooftop equipment that attracts roosting starlings, warehouses with overhead door gaps, churches with bell-tower bat colonies). We don't work farms or large industrial sites - that's a different trade.

The team is small on purpose. Big enough to handle the volume across central Indiana, small enough that every job is run by people James trained and stands behind. Spring fills up fast - if you call in April and we can't get to you until the following week, that's why.