Downes Pest & Wildlife

Downes Pest & Wildlife works out of Duxbury, handling pest and wildlife control across the South Shore and the rest of Eastern Massachusetts. It's a small, family-run outfit — Mike and Tara Downes both hold ownership on record with the Better Business Bureau — and BBB's profile puts a start date on the business back in 1979. Mike Downes carries a stack of state and industry certifications: a Massachusetts Pesticide Commercial license for general pest and termite work, a state trapper certification, and standing as a state-designated Problem Animal Control Agent. On the wildlife side he's also certified through the National Wildlife Control Operators Association for bat exclusion, general wildlife control, and bird barrier installation, plus training specific to coyotes, Canada geese, and termite inspection. The written reviews are few — just a handful scraped across several years — but every one lands positive, and Google's broader tally backs that up with a 5-star average across 17 ratings. The most recent, from this spring, calls the team "spot on every time," naming both Mike and Tara directly. Older reviews echo the same general note of thorough, prompt work. Nothing negative turned up on Google or on the BBB profile, which shows a clean A+ despite the business never having sought BBB accreditation. With only a small pool of written reviews on record, it's worth confirming current availability and getting a clear scope in writing for any larger wildlife job before booking — the review volume here doesn't run as deep as some bigger South Shore competitors. For a targeted pest or wildlife problem — ants, ticks, or an animal that's moved into the attic — the certifications and the consistent word-of-mouth make this a reasonable call, especially for anyone who'd rather deal with a small, owner-operated shop than a franchise.