DISCOURAGING UNWELCOME RACCOONS FROM YOUR BACKYARD

Here are tips to discourage raccoons from making a home in your backyard.

With their distinctive black “bandit” mask and ringed, bushy tail, raccoons are rarely mistaken for any other animal. Most active at night, the only evidence of visits may be damaged plants, scattered garbage, and droppings. Although raccoons prefer wooded areas near water, they thrive in urban areas with gardens, trash and bird feeders. The raccoon is an omnivore and can find food in nearly any habitat.
 
If you have raccoons living where you don’t want them, the solution is to remove attractants. Try to determine why the raccoons are in your yard or attic. Are they finding food, water and shelter? Whatever is attracting them must be removed or cleaned up.
 
Raccoons often spend daylight hours hidden under decks, in hollow trees, and even in attics or drainpipes, and spend nights searching for food. Raccoons’ diet can include fruits, nuts, grains, insects, rodents, rabbits, birds, eggs, turtles, fish, carrion, garbage and crops such as corn. They'll sample gardens, bird feeders and pet food. Garbage cans and dumpsters can be a banquet for raccoons and other wildlife. Store trash in a secure building before pickup, use cans with secure lids. Rinse cans with ammonia to remove food smells.
 
Even worse is when people intentionally feed wildlife. “We’ve had a number of recent calls complaining that people have ‘adopted’ a raccoon in a certain neighborhood,” said Michael Wedermyer, Colorado wildlife officer for Westminster. “When people begin feeding wildlife, the animal’s behavior changes. They can’t tell one person from another, and may become aggressive seeking handouts from anyone they encounter. Habituating wildlife -- making them dependent on people for food – is not beneficial to the animal.”
 
Wedermyer recalled many times when well-intentioned people began feeding wildlife with predictable results. “Wildlife can be easily led into bad habits. Squirrels who are fed by the back door can enter a house, foxes who get used to a regular taste of pet food may challenge a housecat for the bowl, and animals who have been hand fed by others may aggressively approach unsuspecting people who are out picnicking. It’s not the wildlife’s fault: it’s the fault of people who have taught them that humans are a source of snacks,” Wedermyer said. “But the end result can be that we have wildlife with bad, even dangerous, habits.”
 
Sometimes landscaping can create unexpected wildlife enticements. Raccoons love wading in shallow backyard ponds to catch goldfish. Ponds with steep sides have fewer raccoon problems than ponds with a gentle slope. If the water is deep -- at least 3 feet -- add cinder blocks or large rocks at the bottom so fish have a place to hide.
 
Raccoons can create dens under decks, porches and crawl spaces. With their long, finger-like digits, they can pry into small entrances. Using smells, noises and lighting, you can make your location less desirable. To be certain that raccoons are using a den site, you can sprinkle flour at a suspected entrance at night. Check for tracks leading away, and then use multiple methods to discourage: place ammonia-soaked rags inside the entrance; place a loud portable radio inside the den; use bright flashing lights or motion sensors near the entrance; cover every possible entrance with woven fencing, such as chicken wire, to prevent return. Stuff newspaper inside the hole to make it harder to enter, and evidence of ripped paper will tell if the persistent raccoon has returned.
 
Raccoons can climb trees, downspouts, or vines to get into an attic. To prevent raccoons from entering houses, roofs and chimneys should be well maintained. Check for holes, replace loose shingles, and place a chimney cap over the chimney.
 
Some people ask why wildlife officers won’t move an unwanted animal to another location. Moving problem wildlife won’t solve the problem: If a raccoon, or any other wildlife, has established a home in your neighborhood, it has found the food, shelter and water it needs to survive. Moving an animal, but leaving the attractants in place, will allow new wildlife to find the attractants and move right in. Unless you change the habitat to discourage animals you don’t want, they will keep moving back in the same places. “Unfortunately, once an animal has been taught to associate people with food, that’s a habit nearly impossible to break,” Wedermyer said.
 
For more information, visit our web pages at http://wildlife.state.co.us/Education/mammalsguide/racoon.asp .
 
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