Raccoons are a messy infestation. They are very lazy and can often be seen simply resting, hanging off a fence or lying on a roof. They are nothing like the overly hyper squirrels or the hedonistic rats. They are normally calm and reserved and tend to ignore humans, even when they show aggression. They only act strange when they have rabies, which is a very common event in the wild but not likely to occur on your property. Rabies raccoons are most often found wandering public property like parks. A raccoon who is sound of mind will be found in your garbage can looking for food. Having one, or more, on your property can be a nightmare. They are a serious threat to pets as they will attack them and can pass on rabies to dogs very easily. Raccoons will break into your attic and destroy it with defecation and urine, giving birth in the insulation and dragging carcasses of other animals like birds rats and other small animals into the attic to feed their young. The smell created by a raccoon is painfully obvious and the noise they make, a thumping sound like a human is walking around your attic can scare the daylights out of someone woken up from their sleep. Raccoons will also live on other people’s property while defecating on yours. You know that nice new summer deck you had installed. Well, now you have to shovel raccoon feces off it every day, risking raccoon roundworm which is a parasite that can infect your brain and cause incurable Alzheimer like symptoms that progress to total brain death.
Prevention is the best way to deal with raccoons on your property. If you take away the things they want they will likely leave. If you take care to do all the preventative methods you can you will be happy to know the only thing they can do is defecate on your property. They will not be able to get into your attic and they will have no access to food or water because you took that access away. There are three main rules when dealing with raccoons. Food, water and nesting. Food on your property will attract more than just raccoons. Having bird feeders, feeding pets outside or even just having dinners and barbeques outside will bring animals rushing to your property for the leftovers. Children are often put outside with messy foods, would it not be easier to clean up after them than clean up after a raccoon? Do not make a mess outside with food because you will regret it. Garbage is also something that can bring animals to your property. If the food garbage is in any way accessible then you will have raccoons all over your property. So seal that garbage uptight and store it in the garage.
Water is the second thing raccoons come to a property for. They love fish so if you have a pond with coy or some other small fish you will be host to a raccoon party as small fish are their favourite food. The best option when dealing with outdoor water sources is to drain them and fill them. If the water is not chlorinated then it is a trough for animals. Get rid of everything that could give an animal a drink of water.
The final step in dealing with raccoons on your property is trapping. If they will not leave you alone, they are not getting into the attic they are just defecating everywhere and driving your family crazy then it is time to buy a trap or hire a professional trapper. Trapping is complicated and restrictive. The government of Ontario lists raccoons as protected wildlife and without a license, you cannot relocate them more than one kilometre away and that is not very far. You can also risk killing the raccoon by moving it to an area it does not know. It will not be able to find food and will likely starve. Trapping is something you should leave to the professionals.
