Raccoon (Procyon lotor) is a medium-sized mammal native to North America. Raccoons have a body length of around 20 inches and weigh
15-20 lbs. Three of the raccoon’s most distinctive features are its extremely dexterous front paws, its facial mask, and its ringed tail. Studies showing that they are able to remember the solution to tasks for at least three years making them difficult pests to deal with.
Due to their adaptability they have extended their range to inhabit just about everywhere. They are very good at surviving and natural deaths are rare often making them a call for nuisance animal removal
Nuisance Raccoon Damage
Raccoon Damage to Your Roof
Raccoons love to enter homes by breaking into your attic vent fans, but that is not their only way in. Raccoons can rip straight through wood shingles, wood shakes, asphalt shingles, soffits, chimney flashing, vent pipe flashing, regular roof vents…pretty much anything that could allow them to get into your homes. This is why exclusion is not the best method as they will return and find a way in. Lethal Raccoon removal is recommended.
Raccoon Damage in Your Attic
The biggest problem with raccoons breaking into your attic is the feces left behind. This waste can cause disease and lead to health problems. Another potential problem of raccoons in your attic is chewing on wires. This can lead to shorts in your electricity and could be a potential fire hazard.
Raccoon Damage to Your Lawn
Raccoons are known for grubbing, digging up areas of your lawn in search of beetle larvae (grubs). Grubbing raccoons can roll up new sod as perfectly as it was laid out. They can cause thousands of dollars of damage to your lawn by digging up large patches of grass in a relatively short amount of time.
Raccoon Damage Under Your Deck
Raccoons that live under the deck might not appear to cause a lot of damage, but raccoons can break into basements by entering around windows, vents and even through the wood siding underneath decks. Having a raccoon take up residence under your deck can also be damaging to your health, as raccoon feces often plays host to many serious diseases. The raccoon could also die underneath the deck.
Raccoon Damage to Your Chimney
This is one of the most popular spots for a female raccoon to hide and give birth to her kits. The droppings left by the raccoon family can leave behind terrible odors as well as disease. Raccoons can also damage the outer frame of the chimney by the constant climbing and scratching when they come and go each day. Also, chimneys that have had animals living and nesting in them are often at greater risk for a chimney fire. Having a raccoon family removed from your chimney is important in preserving your fireplace from unnecessary damage.
Raccoon Damage in Your Garage
Raccoons always need an entry and exit, and if they become trapped in the garage and can’t find an exit, they will make one. This usually results in severe damage to your garage door. Some customers try and leave the garage door open at night to allow the raccoon out, but typically the raccoon will look for a place to hide – it may even find a way into your attic.
Disease from Raccoons
Raccoons are susceptible to a large number of different infectious agents including bacteria, viruses, and parasites.
Leptospirosis is a common bacterial disease in raccoons caused by a number of different species of Leptospira. Transmission is thought to occur via urine contamination of feed and water. Other natural bacterial infections reported in raccoons are listeriosis,yersiniosis,pasteurellosis, and tularemia.
Viral diseases of raccoons include rabies, canine distemper (can be passed to dogs), raccoon parvoviralenteritis, infectious canine hepatitis, and pseudorabies. Rabies is a zoonotic disease that is endemic in raccoon populations in the north eastern US. An important parasitic disease of raccoons is toxoplasmosis, which is a protozoal disease caused by Toxoplasmagondii. Felids are the definitive host for T. gondii, and they excrete potentially infective oocysts in their feces. Another parasite of importance in raccoons is Baylisascarisprocyonis, which is an intestinal roundworm of raccoons.
It is important to note that the diseases raccoons can carry are harmful to humans and domestic animals as well as non domestic animals and live stock.
Raccoon hurting farm production
Fowel/Poultry farm damage
A raccoon that gets into your coop or run will normally kill multiple birds if they can get to them, and the bodies will usually be left where they were killed, rather than carried away. Raccoons won’t eat the whole bird or even most of it; they will often just eat the contents of your birds’ crops and occasionally some of the chest. They are awfully destructive of your flocks’ lives without bothering to eat much of their victims.
They can climb walls and over fencing, and they can reach their hands through wire mesh that is too small for their whole bodies to fit. In that last case, they will pull out parts of your birds if that is all they can reach. Raccoons have great manual dexterity and can open complex latches and closures and can dig under fences and into runs.
Raccoon Crop Damage
Raccoon damage to corn begins just prior to the milk stage of development (R3) and will continue untill plant maturity. Prior to the milk stage, raccoons may visit fields during the evening to “test” a few ears. Once the plants in a corn field reach the milk stage, raccoons will dramatically increase their rate of feeding for extended periods in that field each evening. Even though the milk stage for individual plants lasts only 7-10 days (the number will depend on environmental influences), the corn plants in an entire field may not progress through development simultaneously. Thus, the availability of ears in the milk stage of development in a particular field may extend longer than 7-10 days.
Raccoon damage often is associated with portions of fields bordered by woodlots. Competition for nutrients and sunlight from nearby trees can delay corn development along the edges of fields that border woodlots, so raccoons may initially feed on ears many rows into the field from the wooded edge. The raccoons will then follow the progression of corn development into the milk stage from the inner rows out towards the edge of the field. Some raccoon damage is characterized by downed stalks along a 2- to 3-row band
Depending on the size of individual raccoons and the height of the ear above ground level, raccoons will either stand on their hind legs and feed on the lower hanging ears on the stalk, or climb the stalk to reach the ear. In either case, the corn stalk will usually break. This method of feeding by raccoons results in a haphazard array of broken corn stalks, often lying in different directions. Some may describe this pattern as a very chaotic picture. Damage of this type often results in yield losses of 90-100% for the damaged area. Grain remaining on ears lying on the ground that is not consumed will rot or be eaten by other wildlife and cannot be harvested by the combine. With the exception of beaver, no other species of wildlife will cause damage to corn that consistently approaches as complete a loss in yield as will raccoons.