We live in a small nieghborhood in a small city, our nighborhood is a mile circle in lengh. we are located on the inner part of the circle and our backyards are small so our neighbors are very close.

The house to our right is the problem(it was my bestfriends house about 6 years go) there was a raccoon problem at one point then once my best friend left the house went empty for 2 years, then was taken over by a owner who rented it out to drug dealers (or so we suspect, only activity at night and the people were very shady) then when they lost the house to forclosure the house was stripped of all lighting, fixtures, appliences.... now a family has bought it and somewhat fixed it up. From the outside it looks decent.

So you ask whats the problem? Well for the past month mom has had to go outside every night before she lets cuddles our 10 year old cocker spaniel and shine fashlights and bang pans to scare the raccoons out of our yard. Everyday this infestation has been getting worse. Just now she went out and there were three raccoons, one on our deck one hanging off the side of our house (its brick) and one in the tree( this one was massive, i;ve never seen a raccoon so big). When they are scared away they all run up the fence and into the problem houses yard. We can even see where they are entering this house.

We were told by the relator a few houses down that this house is MAJORLY infested with raccoons, in the walls, floors and ceilings.

 So i ask:::

Moms going to talk to them and confront these nieghbors about this problem, OR should she just contact the authorities (animal control) about the situation. how its bothering the nieghbors, not sanitary and not safe.

Please i need advise soon.

Pennsylvania Coon Soup Recipe

A belated Halloween thought.

My mother swears baked coon is wonderful.  I haven't ever had any, but...

Seriously, racoons can be a horrible nuisance and they don't need much encouragement to move in.  I had to alter my feeding schedule for my outdoor cats, because they were eating more than the cats.  One of my cats whooped a coon that was trying to take her food during broad daylight.  I had some den up under my front porch and raise a litter!  I finally said enough is enough when I came home one night and eight of the furry beggars scattered off the porch and across the yard.

I started wacking them with the broom everytime I came out and found one on the porch.  I feed the cats mid morning after the coons have gone to bed and before they start roaming around for the night.  Underpenned the porch and other accessible denning areas.  And I started keeping the dog on the porch at night.  They finally got the idea that they weren't welcome and moved on.

I can't imagine that your new neighbors are happy about their investation.  I would guess that the raccoons moved in while the house was empty and just made themselves at home.  Raccoons are cute and furry, but they are wild animals.  They can, also, carry rabies.  It will probably take some work to get them to move out, but it can be done.

Be sure to cut off any human provided food source (trash, scraps, pet food, etc.).  They will have to start looking further abroad for food and may find it easier to move.  Same with a water source.  Coons are rather fond of fresh water and like to wash themselves and their food when available.

You want to block their access to denning in the home, but don't do it while they have young in the nest.  The adults will try to get back in and may cause more damage.  The young will die without care.  And you or your neighbors don't want to deal with the stink of a dead, decaying animal in or under the house.  Think dead mouse, but 10X + bigger.

Killing them or relocating them will only leave a hole in the local ecosystem.  Something else will move in.  Discouraging them from having human contact is better for them and better for you and your neighbors.

 Raccoons are often a reservoir of rabies. I would take whatever action needs to be done immediately. 

Call animal control and report it.  And tell everyone to be very careful, baby mama raccoons can and will definitely attack!  their teeth are like razors and can rip skin and muscle/tendons easily.  Especially ones that have settled in and claimed a territory like these have.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/10/05/Woman-recovers-from-raccoon-gang-attack/UPI-45481254758895/

What Vic said x2.

More of the story as of today:::

The dog behind our house is a small poodle mutt. He had a large cut, and bump on his head. Mom went over to the dogs house last night to inform them there are tons of raccoons and they should watch their small dog when they let it out. They go " oh thats probably how he got that wound on his head" they had no idea there are raccoons living within 30 feet of their house.

So I took it into my own hands today and called animal control. They said we can sent out a trap and its $2.00 for every raccoon they take away for us. They also gave us another number of another local guy who also does this. Mom's going to call him tonight and get his info.

Then we will talk to the problem neighbor and give them this information and hopefully they will take action. If not i dont know what we will do.

As for making sure our yard is food free and un-inviting. We dont have any open trashcans (ours are city provided and are large rectangle) so they are secure. BUT the problem neighbor has a man built pond in the backyard so i'm guessing the coons will stay as long as they have that water supply. We feed the wild bird seed every other day. Would they eat this? should we stop doing so while the coons are a problem?

Sigh....

Miss_Versatility :

More of the story as of today:::

 

They said we can sent out a trap and its $2.00 for every raccoon they take away for us. They also gave us another number of another local guy who also does this. Mom's going to call him tonight and get his info.

The city CHARGES YOU to protect public health? What the *(*^% are taxes for?

Exactly what i thought! i've got a fellow boarder and the BO both have traps, maybe i'll set traps up in our yard then have the Boarders son take care of them one by one

Yes, raccoons will eat the bird seed, mine do.  I don't mind having them around, mine are quite wild and don't cause any problems, so I let them be.

Trapping and removal will likely just open up a niche for more to move in, unfortunately, that is how ecology works, so the devil you know, and all that.  They are simply living where they can.  If there is a pond there, they have ample food and water supply.  The best bet is a dog that loves to wreak raccoon havoc.  All of your animals should have rabies shots anyways, so you should not have a concern there, and unless you are aware of an active rabies outbreak in your area, chances are low that the animals you see are rabid.

If you do choose to trap, be prepared to keep trapping, it will take a steady effort to eradicate wildlife.

txspots:

teeth are like razors

Due to their scavenger's diet of junk food and candy, The City of Chicago's older urban coons suffer from tooth decay.  Many have missing teeth or are totally toothless.  Of course, they still hiss and give rabies.  Although it's kind of funny to see the leader of a pack hiss at you and see that he/she is totally toothless.  

City folks leave out hard candy or taffy for the coons as a means of long-term population control.  I'm not sure that the candy trick works.

flakemusic:

Hmm, I've never heard of this

This was in the 80's when we lived in north Chicago around Foster and Pulaski where there are some large cemeteries and greenspace.  We had a three-flat and fought garbage rummaging coons all the time.  I don't think there was ever a convenient garbage can that the coons couldn't break into.  The only ones that seemed to work were the 55 gallon drums with locking lids.

Without any natural predators, the urban coons got very big!