Neighborhood Terrors

These creatures are masked, they are predators of the night, they feed on anything they can get their paws on, and they could be terrorizing your local suburbs.  Elizabeth Fitzpatrick of Cherry Hills, Colo. has been a victim of such creatures, formally referred to as raccoons.

            Following their family Thanksgiving celebration, Fitzpatrick noticed her dog, Chelsea, had been acting a bit abnormal.   

“Our fire place is down stairs and she was constantly running down there freaking out and peeing everywhere like she was trying to mark her territory,” Fitzpatrick said.

As the dogs abnormal behavior continued, the Fitzpatrick’s decided to call someone to investigate the underlying issues between Chelsea and the fireplace.  A professional from Enviropest Wildlife Removal reported to the house.  After examining the situation he proceeded to call for back up. 

“He looked at me and my friend who was over and said, ‘you’re going to want to see this,” Said Fitzpatrick.

            The two women moved to the back yard and waited for something to happen.  They watched as a raccoon made its way out of the top of their chimney, scurried to the edge of the roof and without second thought did an Olympic dive straight to the ground.

“We thought that was all, but then right after that a second raccoon came popping out ran to the edge, wasn’t quite sure how he wanted to jump, aimed for the tree and sort of shimmied down and followed the other into the brush,” she said.

            After the realization that they had been unknowingly running an ‘inn for raccoons’ they began to make their way inside, only to be grazed by another raccoon jumping to the ground. 

“We went inside and heard a cry from the basement and when we went to check it out we found one of the pest guys with a raccoon attached to his arm,” Fitzpatrick said, “so we hurriedly got out of the way as he ran outside with the thing and let it go, to top it all off with a grand total of four raccoons in our chimney. It was absolutely unreal.”

             Enviropest Wildlife Removal representative Eric Arundel emphasized the importance of prevention regarding pests.

“It’s common sense really, secure your trash cans and lids, keep your pet food inside, lock pet doors, and make sure your house is secure.” Arundel said. 

            Raccoons average 2-3 feet long and 8-22 pounds and are more commonly found in urban areas than rural. They ordinarily reside throughout North America, and are found more in the northern United States and Canada. Northern raccoons can reach up to 50 pounds, where as raccoons found in the south are considered large at 20 pounds. 

 Arundel also said that it is quite common to find raccoons burrowed in a chimney because to them it is like a big hollow tree. Enviropest recommended that individuals who have experienced prior issues with raccoons or other pest animals should install a cap of some sort into their chimney.  Aside from prevention it is usually best not to try to deal with pest problems on your own, professionals with rabies shots are probably you’re best bet.

These animals cause many unwanted problems including damage to households, frightening family pets, eating any edible substances on the property and a variety of unwanted noises of scratching and barking.

Raccoons pose more problems than just nuisance alone; they can also be threatening health wise, as they carry a number of diseases and parasites.  According to the Wildlife Damage Management Program raccoons are the number one carrier of rabies.  Wild animals should be handled with caution, even though they can be fluffy and cute, with their masks and considerably in style tail stripes, they are not domesticated pets for a reason.