When it comes to living with wildlife in cities, raccoons are often the unwanted guests who can make a quiet night into a fun adventure. With their unique mask-like faces and ringed tails, these animals have made themselves at home in many cities and suburbs. Here, we’ll look at real stories from people who have had raccoons come into their homes.
The Midnight Marauders: A Story of Trash Can Chaos
Rattling through trash cans is often the first thing people notice when they think they have a raccoon problem. Joe, who lives in a quiet suburb, talks about what happened: “One night, I heard noise coming from the backyard.” When I went outside, I saw a group of raccoons having a party near our trash cans. It was a feast, and they had tipped them over. It looked like something from an animal feast!”
Scavenging is something that raccoons are known for, and they’re always on the lookout for easy-to-reach food sources. Many homes go on these adventures at night to look for trashed food, which can keep them up all night and require a lot of cleaning up in the morning.
An Unwanted Tenant in the Attic: Raccoons’ Secret Homes
Raccoons like to get into tight spaces and build nests in quiet places, which is why they often end up in attics. Susie, who lives in the woods, tells her story: “At night, we started hearing strange noises in our attic.” We thought at first that it might be squirrels, but then we saw damage around the opening to the attic. We called a professional, and they confirmed that there was a family of raccoons living up there.
Susie’s story shows how clever raccoons are when they need to find a place to live and raise their young. For raccoons, attics are appealing because they are safe and warm, especially when it’s time to breed.
The Garden Heist: Raccoons Like to Get into Mischief
Raccoons don’t just look for food; they can also destroy fields. Lisa, who loves gardening, learned this the hard way. She says, “My garden was my pride and joy.” “When I went outside in the morning, my vegetables were gone and my flowerbeds were turned over.” Raccoons had left their paw prints all over the ground, which was easy to spot. It broke my heart.”
With their sharp claws, raccoons can do a lot of damage to fields, especially when plants are growing. They will often dig up plants, look for bugs, and eat your ripe fruits and veggies.
Raccoons that nest in chimneys and crawl spaces are a nuisance.
Raccoons don’t just live in attics when they live there. People may also be interested in chimneys and crawl areas because they provide shelter from the weather and safety from possible predators. Harry, who lives in a suburban area, remembers the rats that got into his chimney: “One night, I heard scratching and chittering coming from our chimney.” The next morning, we found that a family of raccoons had moved in.
Raccoons living in chimneys or crawl spaces can cause a lot of problems, from clogged flues to possible fire risks. Professional help is needed to get rid of them in a safe and gentle way.
While raccoons’ antics may be funny or entertaining from a distance, it can be hard to deal with a real raccoon invasion. These real stories from homes show how important it is to take action to avoid running into raccoons and make sure that people who live in cities can live peacefully with their wild neighbours. If you share your space with raccoons, hiring professional raccoon removal services can help solve your problems and make sure the safety and well-being of both you and these cute but sometimes annoying animals.
At Raccoon Control Barrie, we love helping out the communities we are a part of. We are local technicians who want to make a difference in people’s lives by doing what we do and know best. Our line of work is risky, yet rewarding after seeing clear results and seeing smiles return on people’s faces. We believe in the safe and ethical treatment of all raccoons and make sure that their well-being is never compromised during or after the raccoon removal process. Raccoons are very unpredictable animals that can act very friendly or very aggressive.