A wasp nest near the house
Keep children and pets well back, and don't touch the nest. Call 000 if a sting leaves someone struggling to breathe, or their face or throat starts to swell.
What's different in Canterbury
Wasp nests: whose job?
On private land, the City of Canterbury Bankstown says the owner, occupier or tenant is responsible, and it advises a qualified pest controller rather than doing it yourself. On council land, report the nest and the council arranges removal.
Possums and roof cavities
The council counts brush-tailed possums among the animals well known to get inside houses. It says they rely on hollows, or the humble roof cavity, and it has put up more than 400 habitat boxes since 2003, including at Albert Park in Canterbury.
Along the Cooks River
The river's industrial past still shows in the Canterbury Sugarworks and the historic dam. The council's fox control now reaches parks along the river, and it warns that loose chicken feed attracts rats, which then draw foxes into the yard.
Possum removal in Canterbury, done lawfully
People search for possum removal, but in NSW that can't mean taking a possum away. It's illegal to relocate or kill one, or to trap or catch and release one, without a licence.
Anyone who catches one must let it go at dusk, no more than 150 metres from where it was caught, near something it can climb straight away. The lasting fix is proofing: find the gap, make sure the possum's out for the night, then close it. Our guide to possums and the law has the detail.
Wasp nest removal: which wasp is it?
European wasps are yellow and black and hide their nests, about 80% of them in the ground and most of the rest in roofs and wall cavities. Paper wasps build an open grey comb under eaves. Tell the pest business which you've got, and where. Our Sydney wasp page has more.
Not this Canterbury?
Melbourne has a Canterbury too, postcode 3126, and Victorian rules differ, so start at pest control in Melbourne. Canterbury in New Zealand is another country with its own rules, and nothing on this page applies there.
Our take on pests in Canterbury
For a nest, stay back and tap A wasp nest with where it is. For a possum, listen at dusk to find where it gets out, then ask for proofing rather than removal. Either way, add your postcode and we'll pass it on.
Want someone to look at it?
Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.
