CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE RACCOON KIND
(Who Wear Their Masks All Year)
By Bunny Stamler
With their bandit-like masks, raccoons are probably our most
recognizable wild animal. Plus they easily make themselves at home in
our suburbs and inner-city areas. Most residents will have some type of
raccoon encounter even if it is only a late night sighting at a garbage
can.
With their dexterous “fingers” raccoons can screw off lids, open
latches, unzip zippers, and even untwist wire ties. I know this from my
own raccoon encounters. They are Nature’s little tricksters.
Early one morning I opened the outside walk-through door to
my garage and saw a huge raccoon in the rafters staring back at me.
Unknowingly I had shut him in overnight. I closed the door and went
to get my husband.
“Wait till you see the size of this raccoon!” I told him. Opening the
door again slowly, we saw the coon still in the rafters. “I’m going to
press the button for the overhead door and that should scare him out
of the garage.”
But instead of running out under the larger rising door, the raccoon
dashed out through OUR door, almost running over our slippers. Then
in a flash, he was up the fence and over the roof, never to be seen
again.
Most residential encounters involve a raccoon family in the chimney
or attic. Trapping and releasing raccoons is not recommended because
babies might be left behind to starve. Also the released adult will likely
die defending itself outside its own territory or from trying to get back
to its family and familiar surroundings. Trapping and relocating should
be used only as a last resort.
The best solution to raccoon encounters in the home is to not
have them. The Pocket Guide to the Humane Control of Wildlife in Cities
& Towns, published by the US Humane Society, offers these helpful
suggestions:
- Try repelling raccoons from raiding garbage cans by coating the
garbage with pepper or vinegar, and securing the can with a tightfitting
lid.
- Raccoons will use chimneys as dens to give birth and raise their
young. If you don’t have a chimney cap and this problem occurs, the
goal is to make the raccoon family leave, and then prevent further access to the chimney. Raccoons always have alternate den sites
where they will move their young if disturbed. Make the chimney
undesirable as a den by putting mothballs or ammonia (soaked in
rags or in a dish) in the fireplace (if you have glass doors) or by
hanging them in the chimney from the top. Once you’re certain
the raccoon has gone and there are no babies left behind, cap your
chimney. Chimney caps safely keep out coons, birds and other
animals.
- If you have raccoons in the attic, first find out where they are coming
in. Then expel the raccoon family before sealing the opening. Odor
repellents might not work in a large space, so keep lights and a radio
on in the attic for a couple of days. When you think the raccoons
are gone, leave a small amount of food and water in the attic to see
if it’s eaten. Once you’re certain the coons have left, remove the
uneaten food and seal the opening. A tree limb overhanging the
roof could be serving has a coon corridor, so trim these limbs back.
Check soffit vents to see if screening is in place.
Aside from the occasional close encounters around our homes, we
like our popular masked critters. But in Europe, the American raccoon
has become an invasive species and a nuisance.
According to the Washington Post, raccoons were imported into
Germany in the 1930s to give sportsmen something new to hunt.
There they were called waschbaeren (“wash bears”) because of their
habit of dousing their food in water. World War II called away the
hunters and the waschbaeren proliferated. Today it is estimated there
are over a million raccoons in central Europe.
Now Europeans are learning how to cope with our little masked
trickster, the clever raccoon.
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