kingdomanimalia

          OK, so I think that raccoons are really cute and cuddly looking.  However, I know from personal experience the havoc they can wreak when the enter suburbia.  While house sitting for my parent, a raccoon fell through the attic door.  She terrorize myself and the pets to the point where I had to pack up the dog and cat at 3 AM and take them back to my apartment.  When I got back to my parents house, it was destroyed and there were giant raccoon droppings everywhere.  Now, raccoon droppings can transmit several diseases such as canine distemper, rabies, and a type of roundworm that while not harmful to the raccoon, it can cause serious illness in people and pets. 

          In order to safeguard yourself, your family, and your pets, there are some things you should know.  First, raccoons are solitary animals except during breeding season.  They use their dens for shelter and raising young.  Every few days they will usually find a new den site unless holed up during a cold spell or raising young.  You can recognize a den entrace because it is at least 4 inches tall and 6 inches wide.  Make sure your home is raccoon proof by eliminating all ways for them to get onto the roof including trimming tree branches and landscape that climbs up the side of the house.  Cover any holes with 1/4 inch chicken wire, boards, or sheet metal to bar them from entering.  Remember, raccoons ahve 5 very nimble toes on each of their front paws so conventional locks, clips, and clasps can easily be undone by them.  Get creative!  Make sure that you feed your pets indoors.  If you must feed them outside, make sure you do it in the morning or midday, and have all the pet bowls, mess, and spilled food brought inside well before sundown.  Keep your pets indoors at night to avoid conflict, and lock your pet doors if you have them.  NOTE: a motion detector light is not a long-term solution to keeping raccoons away, so do not use it in place of locking pet doors!  Make sure your garbage cans cannot be opened or turned over.  The best thing to do is to keep them in a garage or shed over night and put them out in the morning.  Raccoons will eat anything almost, so the smell of garbage can be irresistable to them.  Most importantly, NEVER FEED THE RACCOONS!  This is not to be mean.  If a raccoon is not fed when he expects it, he may become aggressive towards you, your children, or your pets.  Feeding raccoons also attracts other raccoons which not only increases the nuisance, it increases the chance of conflict, infectious feces being dropped in you yard, as well as parasite and disease transmission.  Besides, your neighbors will not like you very much if you perpetuate the problem. 

          Raccons can weigh 15 - 40 pounds, but have reached weights of 60 pounds.  In the wild, the life span of a raccon is only 2 - 3 years.  Captive raccoons have lived to the ripe old age of 13 though!  While these guys are ever so cute with their little bandit masks and creative expressions and poses, they can be dangerous.  Do not ever approach a raccoon, and whatever you do, NEVER corner one.  A cornered raccoon forced to defend itself can rip you or your pet to shreds.  If a raccoon is loose in your house, I recommend calling a professional wildlife removal service to trap it and take it away.  After they removed the raccoon from my parent’s house, my parents had to have the entire house raccoon proofed since more were trying to invade.  It is a constant battle, but if you stay on top of it, you can keep your home raccoon free. 

***Thank you to the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife for the factual information***

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