If you live from Canada, through the U.S. and even down to South America and if you hear rustling or rummaging near your trash at night, the North American raccoon has probably made its home.
Raccoons are nocturnal, searching for anything to eat after the sun goes down. They highly intelligent mammals. They have a black colored mask across their eyes and five or more black bands ringed around their shaggy, coarse tail.
In addition to scattering trash about and creating a mess of your garbage can, raccoons can ruin crops and gardens and make their home in buildings’ roofs, damaging your home or your business’s insulation, shingles, electrical wiring and more.
When people think of raccoons, they likely don’t consider them to be highly dangerous animals. Although they are nocturnal, it’s not rare for raccoons to make an appearance during the day.
It is rare, however, for raccoons to show unprovoked aggression toward people. While some female raccoons may defend their babies, it’s highly unlikely for raccoons to chase someone. If a raccoon is exhibiting hostile behavior for no apparent reason, it is likely diseased. Since raccoons are known to carry various types of diseases, they potentially pose severe dangers to other animals and even humans.
Rabies is one of the primary diseases raccoons are known to carry. Although the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that only one person has died from the raccoon rabies strain, rabies is still a very serious disease that can affect all mammals and attack the central nervous system. There’s currently no successful form of medical treatment for humans infected with rabies. Since raccoon populations are growing in the eastern part of the U.S., so is the rabies disease.
Raccoons also carry roundworm, found in raccoon feces. Roundworm can affect other animals and humans, so it’s crucial to keep an eye on children and pets outside to ensure they don’t get in contact with infected feces.
If you notice an area near your home or business building up in raccoon excrements, make sure you clean it up correctly so you don’t come in contact with any potential disease. Since raccoons can also make a home in your attic or crawl space, check these areas to ensure they are raccoon-free and, thus, disease-free.
Raccoons are hard to get rid of because they are smart, extremely adaptable and fast-growing in population. A raccoon’s brain is the same size as a cat’s, but it has as many neurons as a dog’s.
- Regularly Inspect Your Home or Business and Make Necessary Repairs
- Keep Trash Somewhere Safe
- Clean Your Yard
- Protect Your Pets
- Give us a call to handle these hard to manage pests for you.
