What You Should Know About Raccoons

When you notice a raccoon in your neighborhood, it can be easy to assume they are the cute, furry creatures you see in cartoons. However, raccoons in real life are anything but friendly. They can often be found nosing around backyards and garbage cans in any urban neighborhood at night. In fact, you may have several raccoon families living in your neighborhood, but you never even realized it.

If you do find yourself facing a striped furry bandit in an unexpected encounter, what should you do? Do you take matters into your own hands or call a professional? Here are some things you should know about raccoons before you decide to chase Bandit away on your own:

• Raccoons can be mean. They are used to defending their territory and the food they find. They will most likely view you and your pets as trespassers.
• They can carry serious diseases such as rabies and parasites like ticks and fleas. You don’t want to get close.
• Raccoons can and will destroy your property to get at what they want. This includes knocking over garbage cans, pulling shingles off the roof and chewing on your siding.
• These guys are nocturnal, which may explain why you don’t often see them. In fact, the middle-of-the-night crashing that you blame on the neighbor’s cat might just be your neighborhood raccoon foraging for food.
• They are also brave; some have been known to enter homes through pet doors and steal cat or dog food right out from under pets’ noses.

You don’t have to put up with raccoon invaders on your street, but you should call a pest control service for the safety of you, your family, your pets and the raccoons themselves. For more information on raccoon trapping in Raleigh, visit this website.