Behind the scenes with Humane Wildlife Solutions
As vegans, we are looking for a better balance between ourselves and the animals we live alongside. But what does that mean when some of those animals take up residence in your home or business?
Lisa speaks with Kevin Newell, founder of Humane Wildlife Solutions, about how he created a business that is a vegan alternative to ‘pest control’.
How did your vegan journey lead you to set up Humane Wildlife Solutions?
The biggest impact on how my business has been shaped has always been my vegan values. I had been vegan for over 12 years and had been made redundant, and I decided I wanted to do work that I was passionate about and to help wildlife. I watched a TV programme explaining that thousands of urban foxes are killed by pest controllers each year, and I saw an opportunity to offer a new service which would focus on not harming them. I thought that if I could help people understand foxes and offer them non-lethal solutions then I would be helping to save a few of the thousands. This quickly extended to many animals from mice, rats, deer, moles, wasps, ants and lately even skunks and monkeys in other countries.
How did you identify there would be a market for a more humane solution to ‘pest control’, and more importantly, how did you know you could make a living from it?
To be honest I took a massive gamble and I truly believed that if people had a choice that they would mostly opt for a non-lethal one, as who wants to kill other living beings when there is another way? Funnily enough the large majority of my first customers were not vegans or vegan businesses. I took to building a profile on Facebook and growing it and sharing my vision. I never set out to make a living from it and in fact it built up a lot of debt in the first years of the business, but I truly believed in the business and what I was doing. I recently cleared all those debts and for the first time in the last couple of years have actually started to make a living from the business. It’s been a long hard journey, but I persisted as I believed in it and it has worked out well.
How do your services differ from traditional solutions open to homeowners and businesses?
Traditionally, businesses and people have the option of using poisons and snap traps for rodents and these are ineffective ways of solving any wildlife problem. Why? They simply treat the symptoms rather than looking at the larger problem and ways to solve it. Poison bait is made to attract rodents in, therefore attracting rodents into areas they are meant to be protecting, whilst snap traps are also working on the same basis. Both are cruel, inhumane and outdated. Our service starts with a full assessment – what I call my ‘CSI investigation’ to understand what’s happening and how it’s happening. From there, I work to protect the property from rodents. This protecting then stops the rodents and other wildlife from returning repeatedly, unlike traditional pest control measures.
You advocate ‘living alongside’ solutions rather than removing wildlife. How do your customers react to this approach?
The reaction depends on the person and business. If they are vegan they usually understand, but many do not. The reason people do not want to live alongside wildlife is because they don’t really understand the wildlife they encounter. But when we start to educate them about the animal, what’s happening and usually dispelling the many myths attached to our wildlife, people can see that there are usually no risks or threats in most cases.
I have talked myself out of many jobs by encouraging people to live alongside wildlife. The most common occurrence of this would be educating families about the foxes that arrive in their garden and encouraging them to enjoy the foxes and the cubs, and then do work after the fox family has moved on. Hearing clients talk about inviting their grandchildren or friends over for an evening of fox watching is magical as they go from fear to excitement, and I know that I have got the best result for both the client and the wildlife. That’s what it’s all about for me – I would happily lose out on the money from a job if it means the animals get to continue calling a place their home.
You also volunteer with your local animal rescue. Would there be less of a need for animal rescues if our relationship with wildlife was fairer?
When it comes to wildlife rescue as opposed to domestic animal rescue, in fact there would be even more need for it. This is because more people would bring animals in rather than leave them to die, as is sometimes the case. The majority of wildlife arriving in these centres are there because of humans and the way we live our lives, and these rescues are not funded; so, in a fairer world they would have funding. Wildlife rescues would then be able to do a lot more due to the increase in resources.
Some of the biggest issues we see all year round are people’s cats catching and injuring wildlife. Usually the owners bring the animal in and walk away without making a donation to cover our costs of time and supplies to try and help the animal recover. As long as there are people, regardless of whether they care or not, there will always be a need for rescues due to human activity.
How have you marketed your company, and what’s been the best way of finding new customers?
I rarely do any marketing as the business concept sells itself. If I have to do marketing, it is usually in a reactive state where someone posts on social media about a wildlife problem and I ask them to get in touch. This approach has worked great for the business with lots of work coming in, and our Facebook page has just burst through the 6,000 likes mark! I was excited when it got the first 10 likes!
What’s been the biggest business skills you’ve had to learn to run your own vegan business?
It’s been a combination of skills I learnt from my college days. I did a GNVQ in business studies in a pilot course in East Anglia and came away with some of the best results in the region. This was led by my Tutor, a guy called Jim Aurthur. I didn’t know it then but what he taught me has been so valuable in every aspect of the business. I’ve also had to learn how to price my services – I used to massively undercharge because I didn’t have the confidence to charge more in the early days of the business. A lot of people didn’t believe in my idea, so it took a while to see that the businesses around me were charging more for doing a lot less work and people were happy to pay. The business offers unique solutions to people’s problems, and time has helped me to understand the value of that.
You’ve also been working with your partner on producing a number of wildlife documentaries. To what extent is education part of the mission of Humane Wildlife Solutions?
The filmmaking my partner has been doing is amazing and it’s a new aspect of education we are working on. It helps that she is super talented in every aspect of presenting and filmmaking. Education is key in my line of work as usually people are scared, so education can literally save lives – and Flo will be presenting an up and coming series for HWS in the near future. As I said before, if educating someone keeps an animal or animals safe then that’s the most important thing.
If somebody wanted to get more involved with helping our glorious British wildlife, how would you suggest they find out more?
I would say to volunteer at your local wildlife rescue and other local wildlife charities. It’s vital to give support and help these organisations. Starting there is the best way to learn about and help our wildlife.
Visit Humane Wildlife Solutions at www.humanewildlifesolutions.co.uk and follow them on Facebook here: www.facebook.com/HumaneWildlifeSolutions
Lisa Fox says:
Humane Wildlife Solutions is a brilliant example of what happens when you bring together your passion with how you make a living. If you truly believe in the reason that you get out of bed every morning, there is far more chance your vegan business will be a success.
