It's an age-old profession but the practice of mole removal is one of the most sought after skills in the pest control industry. The British...
The origin of the traditional molecatcher goes back hundreds of years when they ravelled the length and breath of the British countryside, visiting farm after farm or state after estate. They usually stayed with their host whilst they plyed their craft, which could be for days or weeks depending on the size of land they were trapping.
They were paid according to the amount of moles caught which were produced for the farmer or land owner as proof of their skill. Supplementary to this, they cured and sold the mole skins as they were much in demand at the time. So not only were they paid to get rid of the moles, they also made a tidy sum from the sale of the skins.
Today's people should take note that in the olden days (some say golden days) everybody recycled everything that they could. They could not survive without doing so. Many of today's molecatchers follow in their traditional skills, in that no poisons are used. And it is their skill that produces the mole for the customer to see, although many do not want to see the mole.
Although the demand for moleskins now is minuscule, the old molecatchers are still very secretive in passing on their skills. Only immediate family or friends that are implicitly trusted will learn the age-old techniques of successful mole removal.
In times of old most parishes had their own molecatcher or shared one with adjoining parishes, as molecatcher were extremely well paid in relation to the peasants and farm labourers.
The British Traditional Molecatchers Register has been set up to promote the transfer of knowledge down through the generations so that these skills are passed on to people who wish to carry on this time-old occupation. Even now some of the traditional molecatchers are reluctant to share their knowledge and expertise with anybody who might represent a threat to their livelihood.
But, how many moles are there in a square mile? Defra quotes 10 moles per square acre, which is a lot of moles if you consider the size of the British Isles. Others suggest a mole population of around 33 million for the UK. With the cessation of Strychnine in August last year, many of the pest control companies and people who had access to strychnine either legally or illegally have disappeared.
The pest control companies who used to do mole control work have in many cases given up doing moles – many because they did not have the necessary skills to trap the moles. Operators had to change to using Aluminium phosphate, which is fine if used by a skilled operator, but fails to produce the mole as evidence.
The abolishen of Strychnine has meant that successful mole control can only be achieved through alternative methods, which are inevitably more expensive. A successful mole removal scheme incurs the highest costs in year 1 and then it is simply a regular maintenance job as and when moles appear around the boundary areas of your property.
Moles are very territorial and will defend their territory to the death. Moles are quite willing to share the main runs, just like a modern day motorist will share a main road with other motorists, but park your car on their drive and your asking for trouble.
The British Traditional Molecatchers Register has been set up to promote molecatchers and train people to be molecatchers, who so often are lost in the vast ocean of pest control. Molecatchers are specialist people who are experts in their field (and anyone else's field for that matter). To call a molecatcher a pest controller, is alike to labelling a traditional Thatcher as a roofing contractor.