Patent Application
20090255434
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an animal and rodent control system and to a method of use of the subject system. In particular, it relates to an animal and rodent control system that is capable of delivering a unique liquid control agent to a targeted area which is considered to be a hazardous area because it is being defended or occupied by a small wild animal such as a raccoon or a rodent such as a possum. More particularly, the invention relates to a system that comprises a portable kit that includes a plurality of hollow, frangible projectiles; a gas or compressed air projectile launching device; a means for filling the projectiles; and a supply of select, natural liquids and/or oils that will be dispensed into the projectiles, said select, natural liquids uniquely capable of permanently repelling the small animal or rodent without the need to maim, kill or harm the animal and/or rodent.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Community expansion and suburban growth has led to the destruction of the natural habitats for many of our small-to-medium sized animals, birds and reptiles. As a result, it is not uncommon to find deer, raccoons, opossums, skunks, badgers, rats, mice and other small animals or rodents resorting to foraging of restaurant or home garbage cans. Furthermore, it is common for some small animals like raccoons, opossums, weasels, squirrels and skunks, to take up residency inside the attic and crawl space areas of homes or in the sheds and pole barns located on the property. Once inside, these small animals are extremely difficult to remove and many of them have been known to carry the rabies virus. The raccoon is also known to be one of the most vicious and tenacious animals out of this group when defending its young or when it feels trapped or cornered.
Along those lines, many forms of traps have been invented to deal with this problem. Early forms of such traps included snares that are designed to choke to death the animal that is snared. Others use clamping jaws or arms to maim the animal to the point it dies or outright kills the animal. The public outcry and lobbying efforts of the PETA organization has led to the development of more humane traps that restrain the animal, thereby allowing the return of the still-alive animal back into the wild. However, a problem with those types of traps is that they require a human to remove the trap and enclosed animal from the area in which it was caught. Many times, a handler of such traps is bitten or scratched by the animal, which leads to the possibility and fear of contracting rabies. Due to the rabies potential, many animal control experts would prefer to outright kill the animal rather than worry about its safety. However, traps that are designed to kill the animal have been outlawed in many areas of the country. Furthermore, whatever type of trap, it must be placed in the same area where the animal is habitating and/or controlling in order for it to be effective. Placing and setting a trap can be extremely dangerous to the animal control expert as most of these animals will fight rather than vacate the area while a trap is being set. Moreover, once the trap is set, many animals will suspiciously avoid going near the trap, making it useless.
In rural areas, farmers take the most expedient and effective means for removing the animal; they simply shoot and kill it. However, that means to an end is not practical in suburban settings for several reasons. First and foremost, are the laws that prevent such measures. Discharging a firearm within city limits is a criminal misdemeanor, as is carrying a gun without a permit. Furthermore, firing live ammunition in a suburban setting could lead to catastrophic results. Moreover, the public outcry against shooting and killing the animals, even if they are considered to be known pests or varmints, would be unending. Furthermore, shooting live ammunition inside a house would likely destroy the area surrounding the target.
Another methodology that has been used with limited success is the use of chemicals and poisons that are designed for digestion by the animal. However, some small animals and rodents have become tolerant to the chemicals and/or poisons. For example, rats have become especially tolerant to certain poisons, while raccoons have been found to be immune to chemical repellents such as benzaldehydes, cinnamic aldehydes, and methyl salicylate, among others. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,686,255, a chemical methodology for repelling small animals is disclosed. There, the inventor claims that certain cyclohexyl compounds and cyclohexyl isocyanates and thiocyanates, when applied to an animal or to its habitat, can act as an effective animal repellent. However, applying these chemicals requires the administrator to directly touch the animal itself or enter the zone being occupied by the animal. In either situation, the administrator is placing himself in an unsafe and compromised position. The inventor is not aware of a commercially available chemical product that has been found to be effective over a broad range of applications with different types of small animals and rodents.
One of the biggest drawbacks of using chemicals and/or poisons for animal control is that these chemicals and poisons are very heavily regulated by the EPA since they are considered hazardous materials. Materials regulated by the EPA require special permits to purchase and use such materials along with extensive training, reporting and inspections. Furthermore, the costs for obtaining the permits, the costs to train, and the special carriers needed to transport and/or dispense such materials create an onerous burden. Many small animal and pest control companies cannot adequately deal with these burdens, let alone afford the licensing fees and other related costs to even consider use of most chemical and/or poisons and methods.
Due to the longstanding nature of the varmint problem, one might expect that an effective and safe solution would be in common use, but this is not the case. There is still a long-felt need to provide an effective means of controlling such small animals without killing or maiming them and doing so in a manner that complies with municipal codes and state laws and regulations that pertain to discharging a firearm within city limits or pertain to the perceived inhumane treatment of these animals or rodents. One such methodology invented by the present applicant, involves the new use of a compressed gas/air launching device to deliver a control agent to an area defended or controlled by a small wild animal or a rodent or even a family of the same. Dispersion of the pre-selected control agent in or about the nesting area of the animal or rodent will permanently rid the area of that animal, and it does so in a manner that does not violate any laws and is completely safe, as will be explained later herein. To date, the inventor is not aware of any system that provides a safe means for an animal control professional to permanently and safely rid an area of an unwanted small wild animal or rodent without the use of chemicals or poisons and which demands no special permits to operate said system.
As mentioned above, the present invention involves the use of a compressed air/gas launching device that fires non-lethal projectiles which are an integral component in controlling the small animals and rodents. Prior to consideration as an animal control system and methodology, the introduction and popularity of compressed air/gas launching devices and their associated projectiles grew out of a new type of interactive game where the participants engaged in pretend, combative war games. In that gaming application, teams of players were provided with a compressed gas launching device, known as a paintball gun, and a number of spherically shaped projectiles, known as paintballs, which function as the ammunition. The paintballs were filled with a non-toxic, water-soluble paint or dye, and when a competitor was struck by a paintball, it would rupture and mark the participant as being “killed,” all without injury to the participant. As an outgrowth of the game, the paintball gun was later adapted by police departments and the U.S. military, where similar, but more advanced systems were developed as an effective means for conducting training exercises without the use of live ammunitions.
Police departments have especially embraced paintball systems because steadily-rising crime rates have led to an increased need for technologically-enhanced, non-lethal crime fighting devices in response to the proliferation of excessive use of force claims against law enforcement agencies. Such claims have significantly increased as the public has become more aware of and made more sensitive to the use of lethal force. This has been found to be especially true in situations where lethal force may not be required, such as where suspects are armed with dangerous, but non-lethal objects like sticks, rocks, screwdrivers, chairs, etc. Non-lethal paintball systems were found to be a perfect fit for temporarily incapacitating, slowing, repelling or inhibiting a suspected criminal and/or for marking such individuals for later identification. Moreover, the risk that a criminal will surround himself with or be in close proximity to innocent people when officers are trying to subdue him/her, thereby increases the complexity of subduing a suspect without applying lethal force. In those specific situations, it was common to use non-lethal devices such as stun guns, mace, tear gas, and liquid pepper spray devices that impair the vision, breathing or other physical or mental capabilities of the target. However, those types of non-lethal devices are designed for use when operating in close range to a subject, where the safety of the user may be at risk. The adaptation of paintball gun systems in the implementation of vision and breathing impairing pepper powders and liquids has proven to be very successful and especially beneficial since a paintball can be launched from a safe distance away. However successful these systems were in impairing or incapacitating a human being with the pepper powders, they were never used for animal control purposes or ever tested to determine if they would cause the same reactions in wild animals.
Instead, early improvements related to paintball systems involved the development of an improved, non-lethal projectile for delivering a marking substance to its target. That improvement was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,379, issued to Kotsiopoulos, et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. That disclosure was directed primarily to a paint ball gun and improved projectile that delivered a non-pressurized payload of a paint or dye to a human target and expelled the paint or dye onto the target upon impact so as to “mark” the target. Prior to development of the Kotsiopoulos paintball, a traditional paintball was formed from a pair of hemispheres made of a gelatinous material similar to that used to encase oral medicines. As with the casing of oral medicines, the gelatin paintballs were soluble in water. Water soluble vegetable dyes are often used as the coloring agent added to increase the opacity of the mark left by the breaking paint ball. The vegetable dye colorants, usually being dissolved in water, cause the gelatin based shell of the traditional paintball to dissolve. The same problem occurs with other liquid components, such as chemical mixtures, thereby limiting the applications where a gelatin shell can be used. To combat the difficulties presented by the low water tolerance of a gelatin paintball, the water soluble colorant solutions were commonly mixed with ethylene glycol and polyethylene glycol, or in propylene glycol. However, those mixtures were found to be especially troublesome as they were generally considered to be toxic substances and contact with human skin was found to be problematic. While glycol-based marking colorants prevented the internal destruction of the paintball shell, a gelatin shell paintball nonetheless remained exceedingly vulnerable to the vagaries of the external environment. For instance, rain, sweat from a user's body, and even high humidity were found to alter or damage the gelatin shell on its outside surface, thereby rendering the paintball inaccurate or in many cases unusable. The Kotsiopoulos paint ball on the other hand, was formed of two semi-rigid, plastic shell portions that were joined together to form a rigid paintball shell that was impervious to water. By design, that paintball would entirely fracture upon impact with the target and locally disperse the internal pay load. One drawback of the Kotsiopoulos paintball is that it is a smaller projectile compared to typical gelatin paintballs, such that the volume of the agent carried therein is limited by the smaller, internal volume of the paint ball shell. Subsequently, various other developments were made to improve the gelatin type of paintball projectile so as to improve its range, path of delivery, and effectiveness in dispersing the control agent to specific areas surrounding the target. Such developments are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,546,874, 6,393,992, and 5,965,839, all to Vasel, et al.
In a totally different application, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,694 to Pierce, III, et al., a paintball gun and projectile were found to be especially useful in the delivery of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other biocides to areas that are very difficult to reach or involve hazards in reaching those areas. In that disclosure, a typical paintball gun was used to launch a capsule-like projectile to disperse biocides to the tops of tall trees and for the use in dispensing pesticides to hard-to-reach nests, or nests that were especially dangerous, like hornet or wasp nests. One drawback of the Pierce system was that it had a relatively short effective range of about 30 feet due to the type of projectile being fired.
Other than the above aforementioned applications, the present inventor is unaware of any system that is capable of controlling a small, wild animals or rodents using the methodology and the kit components that are disclosed and described herein.
It is the primary object of the invention to provide a new use for a typical paintball gun and paintball projectiles, where those components are utilized within a new type of animal control system and a new method of use of the subject system in controlling small wild animals and/or rodents. That primary object is met by providing an animal control system in the form of a portable animal control kit. The kit includes a launching device in the form of a paintball gun; a supply of spherically-shaped, hollow projectiles that are preferably identical paintballs which are made from a thermoplastic linear polymer shell, each shell having a fill port that communicates with an internal cavity therein; a supply of a unique animal and rodent control agent in the form of a urine, marking gland oil, or a combination thereof, that is supplied from an animal that is known to be a natural predator of the small animal or rodent that is to be controlled; and a means for transferring and storing the control agent. The transfer and storage means is used to fill each paintball with the control agent, whereby the paintballs are loaded into and then discharged from the gun so as to impact and spread the control agent about the area occupied by the small animal or rodent. In one version of the kit, an ammunition magazine clip may also be provided, as well as a supply of solid balls that are comprised of nylon or rubber. The balls are extremely hard and they are to be exclusively loaded into the magazine clip. The magazine clip and the hard balls may be required for use in protecting the animal control professional from attack should an animal or rodent be present in its nest, prior to dispersing the control agent.
The transfer and storage means of the invention is preferably comprised of a hypodermic needle that has a storage reservoir for holding the control liquid therein, prior to it being communicated into the cavity of the paintball via the needle. Other embodiments of the transfer and storage means include a bulb diffuser and a baister.
According to another aspect of the invention, a first method is disclosed for exercising control over a small, wild animal and/or rodent. The method comprises the steps of filling a plurality of hollow projectiles with a control agent using a portable transfer and storage means for filling where the control agent comprises of a urine or glandular oil from a known predator of the animal or rodent being controlled; loading the filled projectiles into a launching device; directing the launching device towards a desired target area; and then consecutively actuating the launching device so as to propel the plurality of projectiles to the target, whereby the projectiles explode upon reaching the target to distribute the control agent locally about the target area.
According to another aspect of the invention, a second method is disclosed for exercising control over a small, wild animal and/or rodent. This method comprises the steps of filling a plurality of hollow projectiles with a control agent using a portable means for filling, where the control agent comprises of a urine or glandular oil from a known predator of the animal or rodent being controlled; filling a magazine ammunition clip with a plurality of solid nylon spherical balls; attaching the magazine ammunition clip to the launching device; directing the launching device towards an animal occupying the target area, said animal representing an animal to be controlled; consecutively actuating the launching device so as to propel a plurality of said solid nylon balls at said animal to be controlled so as to strike and disable said animal; removing the ammunition clip from the launching device; loading the filled projectiles into said launching device; directing the launching device towards a desired target area; and then consecutively actuating the launching device so as to propel the plurality of projectiles to the target, whereby the projectiles explode upon reaching the target to distribute the control agent locally about the target area while the animal or rodent is incapacitated.
The invention will be better understood if reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring generally to the above figures wherein like numerals indicate like parts, a new method and a new system in the form of a kit has been discovered for effectively controlling small animals and rodents and this system and method is unlike anything previously practiced. This new methodology exhibits characteristics that constitute great improvements over known approaches to small animal and rodent control methods. The individual components that have been assembled into the new system that will be described herein, form an animal control kit that comprises a unique combination of elements that have never been presented and used strictly for the purpose of controlling small animals and/rodents.
Turning attention now to
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After much experimentation with various other types of paintball projectiles, the paintball shell 60 that was found to be ideal for use when practicing the invention should be fabricated from thermoplastic linear polymers. The thermoplastic linear polymers are preferred because they are brittle, linear polymers, such as polystyrene, which are easily moldable, relatively inexpensive, and commercially available. This preferred type of paintball is commercially sold by Perfect Circle Paintball, Inc., whose website is www.pcpaintball.com. More importantly, it was discovered that with this preferred paintball, various advantages could be realized when practicing the invention if the construction of the paintball shell 60 was made from a linear polymer. First and foremost, a linear polymer shell 60 is impervious to liquids and does not dissolve when externally contacted by sweat or when placed in a warm, humid environment. Being impervious to sweat and humidity is an especially important factor when choosing a projectile for use within the kit of the invention. The methodology in practicing the invention of controlling small animals and rodents, will usually take place in the attic of a house where the small animal or rodent nests. The animal control professional who will be using the system of the invention will be handling and loading the paintball projectiles while maneuvering within an extremely hot attic environment, meaning that he will usually be sweating profusely. For that reason alone, it was discovered that the typical gelatin type of paintball would literally “melt” in the user's hands prior to being loaded and used.
Furthermore, the water impervious nature of a linear polymer shell allows the projectile to be used with a variety of liquids and other items that are normally unsuitable for placement in known gelatin paintball shells. For instance, it was discovered that when the paintball shells were made from thermoplastic linear polymers, they could be filled with and retain the predator urines and predator oils for an indefinite amount of time without melting, even though these liquids have an acidic PH balance. With gelatin paintball shells on the otherhand, it was discovered that the liquid predator urines and/or oils would melt the paintball shells in a relatively short period of time, sometimes instantaneously, even when glycols were added to the liquids to prevent the decay of the shell. For example, the applicant found that when a gelatin paintball projectile was filled with the predator urine, it would melt even before it could be loaded into the paintball. Advantageously, paintball shells that are constructed of linear polymers allow the paintballs to be pre-loaded within the gun feed tube prior to use and/or stored within a storage container for several days prior to use.
Moreover, it was also discovered that linear polymer paintballs are structurally stiffer, meaning they can be more roughly handled and provide for rapid loading and launching of the paintball. Being structurally stiffer is another important feature of the projectile used within the kit as some applications require the user to carry the paintballs inside his pocket when he is crawling across beams or crawlspace floors to reach an area where he can obtain a clear shot at the target area. Furthermore, it was found that in the present application, such paintballs exhibit greater launch distances and superior breakage properties. For instance, the linear polymer paintball is typically aimed at a target area 50 feet or further away and it cracks into a plurality of small pieces upon impact with the target area, thereby exhibiting a tight, localized spread that produces an area drenching of the predator liquid contained within the paintball when compared to the more widely dispersed spread that one experiences with gelatin shell paintballs. It is highly desirable that the predator liquid saturate the point of impact because over time, the odor from the impact point will remain strong and concentrated, thereby prolonging its effectiveness to intimidate and scare-off the small animal or rodent.
Particularly preferred control agents for use in practicing the invention include urines from animals that are known to be the common, natural predators of the small animals or rodents that are to be controlled. These control agents have the power to naturally rebuff the small animal or rodent. However, in order for the control agents to effectively function as a natural repellant, the control agent must be locally dispersed about the nesting area. When speaking herein about an animal or rodent that is to be “controlled”, it is meant that the animal or rodent will be tricked into believing that one of its natural predators is or has been present within the nesting area. This act of trickery is accomplished through an innate biological reaction occurring within the brain of the animal or rodent when the scent of the predator urine or marking oil is detected. The biological reaction causes a fear and intimidation response in the brain of the animal or rodent, such that it will voluntarily and permanently vacate the nest out of fear for its own life and the life of its young. For example, one natural predator of the female raccoon and her young is another male raccoon. Male raccoons, in their innate quest to rule the nest, are known to attack the young. That is why female raccoons will isolate her young from all contact with the world outside the nest until they are old enough to fend for themselves. An effective control agent in the form of male raccoon urine, when dispersed about the nest, will control a family of nesting raccoons such that the entire family will uproot itself within hours of the application whereby they will never return again. In the specific application of removing raccoons, only male raccoon urine is effective; female raccoon urine will not work. In all other applications mentioned hereinafter, male or female urine can be used. A container of male raccoon urine is shown at 200 in
These natural control agents do not require a carrier substance to successfully deliver and disperse them about the desired target area. In fact, when producing the paintball projectiles of the invention, the weight of the volume of the predator liquids inside the projectile are sufficient to create a flight path that is straight and capable of reaching the desired target at a velocity necessary to impact the target with enough energy so to completely destroy the shell of the paintball projectile. As should be appreciated, an effective, safe and natural animal control method is realized without experiencing any of the previously mentioned drawbacks that are present with the animal control methods that are currently being used.
It has been discovered through experimentation that the effectiveness in delivering the natural control agents to a target are maximized by filling the capsules to at least 50%, preferably 75% to less than 100%, and more preferably to 85% to 95% of their maximum volume. It was found that it is not desirable to attempt a 100% fill because the predator liquids spill from the projectile, many times on the hands and clothes of the user. The stench of urine-soaked clothing is unacceptable for daily use by an animal control professional. Thus, the present inventor has discovered that the optimum fill range is between 90-95% to avoid spillage and to ensure urine dispersion in a sufficient transverse direction to produce a saturated, localized soaking of the target. When the paintball projectiles are filled in the 50% to 85% range, the path or trajectory of the paintball is effected at distances over 50 feet and several paintballs have to be used in order to leave a satisfactory volume of liquid at the target.
A storage and transfer means for transferring the control liquid out of its container, 200 or 210, is shown in
A third embodiment of the storage and transfer means is shown in
In another embodiment, the gun 10 may be provided with an ammunition magazine clip 30 like the type shown in
The ammunition magazine clip 30 generally comprises an enclosed chamber 32 having an upper opening 34 and a lower opening 36. The first opening 34 is intended for loading a plurality of paintball projectiles into the chamber, therefore, this opening is rather large when compared to the diameter of a paintball. The exact positioning of the first opening 34 in the ammunition magazine clip 30 may be anywhere around the periphery of the magazine, but it is preferred to place the first opening 34 on the upper portion thereof so that paintball projectiles 60 already loaded into the magazine will not spill out when the opening 34 is used for inserting additional projectiles. Typically, this first opening is fitted with a spring-loaded, frictionally retained cap 38 so that the chamber 32 is essentially closed when the chamber is not actually being filled. The second opening 36 is on the lowermost portion at the point of connection between an externally connected vertical dispensing tube 40 and the gun barrel feed tube 20. The vertical dispensing tube 40 is used to provide the queue of paintball projectiles 50 to the firing chamber 13 of the gun 10. It will typically have an internal diameter slightly larger than the paintball projectile diameter but if the diameter of feed tube 20 is too large, bridging of the projectile queue can occur in the dispensing tube 40 itself. It is preferred that the dispensing tube 40 be attached tangentially to both the magazine 30 and the gun 10. In some applications the dispensing tube 40 may be oriented at an angle between the ammunition magazine 30 and the gun 10. A removable cover or lid (not shown) may be used to cover opening 36 in order to prevent loaded paintballs from spilling out of chamber 32 when the ammunition magazine clip 30 is not attached to gun 10.
The closed chamber 32 of the ammunition magazine clip 30 is sized so that a significant number of paintball projectiles can be placed inside the chamber. The magazine clip 30 is provided with internal bottom surface 48A and 48B that are both sloped downward towards the second opening 36 so that gravity flow of paintballs will occur and prevent projectiles from getting isolated in the corners. To prevent bridging problems, the ammunition magazine clip 30 of the type shown is typically provided with a dam 52. As seen in
In practicing the invention, a method will now be disclosed on how to accomplish exercising control over a small, wild animal and/or rodent. The method presumes that the animal control professional has already transported the kit to the jobsite area where the small, wild animal or rodent is known to be nesting; this nesting area will be referred to hereinafter as the target area. The first step involves filling a plurality of the hollow projectiles with the predator control agent using the portable means for storing and transporting. As should be realized, the kit will contain a supply of several types of a urines or glandular oils from several known predators of the most common type of small animal or rodent being controlled. The control professional will either rely on information provided to him or personally verify the type of animal or rodent that is occupying the target area and he will then choose the most appropriate control liquid from the kit based on that information. In the preferred embodiment, the storage and transportation means comprises a hypodermic needle in which the tip will be lowered into the container of the control liquid and then the handle will be manipulated to draw the control agent liquid into the storage area of the needle. The needle tip is then inserted into the fill port 66 of the paintball 60, as shown in
According to another aspect of the invention, a second embodiment of the method is disclosed for exercising control over a small, wild animal and/or rodent. This method is to be used when the animal control professional arrives at the job site to discover that the wild animal or rodent is actually present within the target area (nest). In those situations, the control professional is potentially subjecting himself to grave danger of attack once he physically enters an area that the animal or rodent is protecting. Therefore, it has been determined that it is best to incapacitate the animal or rodent before attempting to launch the paintballs that will saturate the target area. Otherwise, if the control professional did not take this precaution, the animal or rodent could become extremely angered and attack the control professional. Therefore, once it has been determined what kind of animal or rodent is in the nest, the control professional must first fill a plurality of hollow projectile paintballs with the correct predator control agent. Filling is performed exactly as described in the control method mentioned immediately above. The next step in this method is to fill the magazine clip with the solid nylon paintballs or hard compressed rubber paintballs, which are well known. When finished, the clip is attached to the paintball gun and the control professional is then ready to incapacitate the animal or rodent. This step is accomplished by first directing the paintball gun directly at the animal and/or rodent. Because the paintball gun has excellent distance launching capabilities, the control professional will not have to draw closer towards the target area. The next step is to then consecutively pull the trigger of the gun and activate it so that a successive plurality of hard nylon paintballs or compressed rubber paintballs are launched directly at the animal or rodent, thereby striking it in succession. The force of each blow will be large enough to temporarily incapacitate the animal or rodent without killing it; in some cases, the small animal or rodent may be rendered unconscious. The next step is to then remove the ammunition clip 30 from the gun 10 and then to perform the step of loading the paintballs that are filled with the control agent into the feed tube 22 of the gun 10. The gun 10 is then directed at the target area and once properly aimed, the trigger of the gun is successively activated so as to launch a successive plurality of filled paintballs to the target area, where they explode upon impact to distribute the predator urines, oils or a combination thereof. When the animal or rodent regains its full capacities and/or consciousness, it will smell the scent of its predator, thereby triggering the biological reaction within its brain, causing it to become extremely fearful and intimidated, such that it will immediately leave the nesting area, never to return.
Although the invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the application of the principals of the invention. Numerous modifications may be made therein and other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention which is described in the following claims.
