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Who Do You Call to Remove a Wild Animal in Shreveport?

Checked against City of Shreveport, Caddo Parish, Bossier, LDWF and Louisiana Department of Health pages on November 4, 2026. How we research this site.

Three public bodies get these calls in Shreveport, and none of them removes a wild animal from a house. The city sends animal calls to Caddo Parish. Caddo handles dogs, cats and dangerous animals. LDWF licenses the private operators who do the actual work.

Who to call, by situation

The City of Shreveport

The city is unusually direct about this. It says it does not pick up stray animals, does not spray for mosquitoes and does not provide rat poison, and it sends all three to Caddo Parish Animal Control. Strays go to (318) 226-6624. The one animal job the city does do is collecting small dead animals from the street or the curb through its Solid Waste Division, and its crews will not go onto private property.

Caddo Parish Animal Services

Caddo runs an open-admission shelter for dogs and cats and enforces the parish and city animal ordinances. It describes its responsibility as protecting residents from dangerous, nuisance and uncontrollable animals and protecting the welfare of domestic animals. The traps it describes lending are for stray cats, with a refundable $50 deposit, and you have to bring a trapped cat to the shelter yourself. Nothing on its page covers removing a wild animal from a building.

Call Caddo for a stray dog or cat, or for an animal that is acting dangerously out in the open. Caddo says that because of the volume of calls it cannot give a response time, and calls are handled by priority.

LDWF and the operators it permits

Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries does not remove nuisance wildlife. It permits private Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators to do the work for a fee. They may handle most species, but not deer, bears, migratory birds or alligators. LDWF says there are more than 100 of them across the state, and that they are not state employees.

Louisiana issues these permits to individuals, not companies. Each person doing the work needs one in their own name, along with a Louisiana trapping licence and a basic hunting licence, and permits are renewed every year. LDWF publishes the list of permitted operators online, and you can filter it by species. Ask anyone who comes out to show you a current permit.

For Caddo and Bossier, LDWF’s Region 1 office is in Minden, at 9961 Hwy 80. It will not send someone to your attic, but it handles alligator reports and questions about what the rules allow.

Four calls people get wrong

The bat in the bedroom. The Louisiana Office of Public Health warns that bats in living areas, especially where people sleep, can be extremely dangerous, because rabies is common in bats. CDC’s advice is to contact your health department to have the bat captured for testing and not to release it until you have spoken to a public health expert. A bat bite can be too small to notice. More on what to do.

The snake in the house. Louisiana lists native snakes that may not be killed or taken without a state permit, among them the eastern hog-nosed snake and the harlequin coralsnake. Killing a snake you have not identified can be illegal as well as risky. A suspected venomous bite is a 911 call.

The raccoon in the attic. Under Louisiana’s operator rules a permitted operator may not relocate a raccoon. It has to be euthanized within 12 hours of capture. A homeowner can legally do more than most people expect, but only in daylight, with a hunting licence, and when the animal is proven to be causing damage. Our Louisiana wildlife law page covers the detail.

The smell with no animal in sight. That is a dead animal, and in a wall or under the floor it is a private job. Who collects what explains what the city will and will not take.

Questions people ask

Does animal control remove wildlife in Shreveport?

No. The City of Shreveport says it does not pick up stray animals and refers callers to Caddo Parish Animal Control, and Caddo Parish Animal Services describes its work as dogs, cats and dangerous animals. A wild animal in or under a house is a private job.

Will LDWF come and remove an animal from my house?

No. LDWF says it does not remove nuisance wildlife. It permits private Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators to do the work for a fee, and those operators are not LDWF employees.

Who do I call for a snake in the house?

If anyone has been bitten, call 911. Otherwise, keep people and pets out of the room and call a private operator. Louisiana lets permitted operators handle reptiles that are not federally protected, and several native snakes may not be killed without a state permit.

Who do I call about an alligator?

LDWF. Call its Minden office on 318-371-3050, or Operation Game Thief on 800-442-2511 after hours and at weekends. LDWF passes the report to a licensed nuisance alligator hunter. It says an alligator under four feet is generally not considered a nuisance.