Raccoons are one of the most common uninvited animal intruders in your household. They can cause significant damage to your house and many insurance policies exclude damage done by common pests. Once you realize you have these unwanted visitors you can feel completely overwhelmed and unable to deal with them yourself. It’s not ethical to set mechanical traps and try to catch them yourself because it’s a violent method and you lack proper training in dealing with wildlife. Trying to use poison, weapons, fire or some improvised method will just put you and your family at unnecessary risk.
The raccoons like to be in trees and make their habitats there so they can stay high enough to be protected from predators. That’s why it’s not at all unusual to see them drawn to the high areas of your house, such as attics or lofts. The problem is that they will not be in plain sight because they can use small spaces like the places where roof boards meet, chimneys or your ventilation ducts. It’s especially likely that it will be a female raccoon expecting younglings because they’re in pursuit of a safe and secluded space to have their babies in. It will be next to impossible to catch the female first and you should absolutely never try to do that. If you catch only her you’re basically condemning the babies to stay helpless in your house, creating an additional mess for you too while they suffer.
In case you can find your way to the litter of babies, and you’re certain the mother is not nearby to attack you, you can try to safely and gently collect all babies using only your bare hands. You need to prepare a cage to leave them in until the animal welfare service that you’ve called arrives. You can try to catch the mother too, by leaving one of the babies as a bait for her, but we don’t advise that because every animal is a potential carrier of infectious diseases and the mother might attack you when she sees you handling her babies. If you get a chance to trap them all the only advisable option is to drive them immediately to the closest animal welfare office or call them to come collect them.
In Ottawa-Gatineau, the professionals at Capital Wildlife Control will take care of your raccoon removal issue for you. You can be sure that they will be in compliance with all the laws because they have many years of experience and proper training to deal with animals. The animals will be treated kindly and your house will be free from them.
