advice please -- getting rid of a raccoon

[Grumpy's Gal]

;-( We have a raccoon on our patio all afternoon.

Before you go any farther, no I don't have a gun nor would I use it if I had one.

We live in the city. I don't have a dog to chase it away. I have banged things and yelled and it just looks at me so sweetly.

I can't tell if it's a girl or boy. I haven't seen it before so it's new to our area as far as I know.

I don't have food outside -- human or dog food. We don't have a water feature. I don't know what attracted it to our yard. I don't know where it came from. I don't know why it's here. Any ideas how to get it to go away?

 

[freckles and boo]

We had one in the attic of our garage. The animal control guy told us to soak rags in ammonia and toss them up there, turn on all the lights and blast a radio. It worked. They like dark, quiet places. You could try the radio and the ammonia.

 

[Jennasis]

Call animal control or a pest removal company.

We live in the country and there is a raccoon that has taken up residence in one of my barns. I think he's rather adorable. He waits until I turn my horses out and then he goes into the barn to snack on the feed the horses dropped while eating. If I come into the barn, he scurries up into the rafters and watches me.

I may set a humane trap and then relocate him to the forest.

 

[MineMail]

I wouldn't approach it because they can do some serious damage to people. I wouldn't even recommend a have-a-heart trap - they're such strong animals that it could tip the cage as you were trying to move it to a different location and attack you. (Sounds like the soft-hearted prior poster has experience dealing with wild animals.)

I hope it just turned up today. While you said there's no food, is there a spot to snuggle some baby raccoons? That wouldn't be a good thing because it could be more aggressive.

Try turning on some lights (set up a lamp if you have to) and turn on a radio to discourage it from sticking around.

If it's not gone by tomorrow, call animal control and ask for their assistance.

Good luck.

 

[itsheresomewhere]

Call animal control. Typically, if it is out in the daylight or acting funny, it is sick.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

Call animal control. Typically, if it is out in the daylight or acting funny, it is sick.

it wasn't acting funny at ll. It slept most of the afternoon in the shade. It gave itself a bath and yawned a lot and stretched like a cat. I had never seen one before and it took me a moment to figure out what it was ....yes, I'm a city girl. When I googled, it said female ones are often out in the daylight looking for food.

Yes, I am sure today was the first day. I work from home and I'm out on the patio quite a lot and I never saw it before. It is cute but........it cannot stay.

 

[minkydog]

Here in GA we don't touch raccoons or foxes. Both are highly likely to carry rabies. Raccoons don't usually go hang out at people's houses unless there is a ready food source. If it's still out there tomorrow, call animal control and have them remove it. It may not even look sick, but it could still have rabies or other nasties.

 

[kacaju]

Here in GA we don't touch raccoons or foxes. Both are highly likely to carry rabies. Raccoons don't usually go hang out at people's houses unless there is a ready food source. If it's still out there tomorrow, call animal control and have them remove it. It may not even look sick, but it could still have rabies or other nasties.

ditto

 

[mousey]

I know its strange, but perhaps this is one of your neighbors pets?? It sounds like its not afraid of humans and maybe they have been feeding it.
We have a pond in our back yard and my husband was finding his containers of fish food all over the lawn, chewed on, etc......One night sitting on my window ledge was the culprit--a racoon. It was 11pm at night and as soon as he saw me he ran away. Good Luck!

 

[pumba]

another thing to think about is......Raccoons are not day time animals ...the usually are active and awake at night........call the animal control officer right now. rabies even at the beginning of the disease is not noticeable