Why Raccoons Are NOT Your Friends!
Everyone loves raccoons. Well, maybe not everyone, but they are hard to resist. Their prehensile paws and their bandito masks and their big, fluffy bodies make them appear cute and charming. However, raccoons are anything but. If you spot a raccoon in your neighborhood, you should be on the phone with residential pest control services right away. Here is why.
Raccoons Are Known Rabies Carriers
Raccoons can carry rabies, just like many other wild critters. The problem is, raccoons have no qualms about biting or attacking a human, unlike mice or members of the rodent family. That almost makes raccoons doubly dangerous, since a rabid raccoon will run around and attack at random and spread rabies like wildfire. It is best not to approach a raccoon if you see one. Just try to watch where it goes to hide out during the day, and then get pest control to track it down and trap it.
Raccoons Are Far Too Clever to Outsmart
Raccoons are notoriously clever. They can problem-solve their way around just about anything you throw at them. They tip over your garbage cans, you put lids on the cans. They figure out how to remove the lids, you attempt to lock up the cans. They wait for opportunity to knock, such as when someone forgets to lock up the cans again, and you are back to square one. The only way to outsmart a raccoon is to trap it and remove it miles and miles away from your yard. You should not attempt that on your own. A pest control service should manage it for you.
Raccoons Will Scavenge Wherever
Raccoons are typically not very picky. With their prehensile hands, they can unscrew jar lids and scoop out traces of stuff inside. They will eat rotten hard-boiled eggs and dine on your old head of lettuce. If they can find a way into your house, they will eat bugs and mice and forage the brown bananas right out of your fruit bowl (doggy doors are their favorite way in). Along the way they will leave traces that they have been there, like urine and feces, both of which present their own health hazards. With a raccoon in your neighborhood, it means that the critter will search for food anywhere and everywhere it can go. If you have a mother raccoon, she will scavenge for herself and her babies back in the nest, so you should address this problem sooner rather than later.
