How to Identify Raccoons

Raccoons are as common on city streets in all five boroughs as they are in the Long Island suburbs. Raccoons are nocturnal wild animals with grey fur and distinctive markings of alternating light and dark rings around its tail and a dark mask-like area over its eyes.

raccoon
Raccoon

THE SIGNS OF RACCOONS

Raccoons are active all year round but make take cover or den over periods of severe cold or snowy winter weather. 

Raccoons are omnivores. They eat both plants and smaller animals like crayfish, fish, frogs, and sometimes grown nesting birds and rabbits.

Raccoons make dens in hollow trees, ground burrows, and brush piles. Although generally thought of as a rural woodland animal, the population of raccoons has grown tremendously in suburban and urban areas of New York in recent years, due to the easy access to garbage. People leave food out for raccoons to feed upon, making the once shy raccoon comfortable around people and their surroundings.

THE RISKS OF RACCOONS

People in suburban areas are familiar with the damage raccoons can do to their vegetable gardens, and the damage that can be done to a structure can be extremely formidable. Due to the raccoon’s size, strength, paw structure, and grip, raccoons can and have ripped shingles and fascia boards off of building facades, torn vents off to access attics spaces, and destroyed interior walls. Once inside, raccoons can further destroy interior spaces with urine and fecal matter. Besides the noises they make and the objectionable odors, raccoons are host to a wide range of parasites such as fleas, mites, and ticks that are vectors of health problems in their own right. Raccoons are also known carriers of other diseases including roundworm and rabies and are known to bite.

Health Risks

Raccoons can carry rabies, which is a life-threatening illness for humans and pets.

Contamination

Raccoon droppings are known to transit salmonella, leptospirosis, and raccoon roundworm.

May Be Aggressive

If you have pets, it's possible raccoons will start a fight with them if they feel threatened. Raccoons often eat cat food left outdoors, so altercations do occur.

Raided Trash Cans

Raccoons are clever and great with their hands; if they want to get inside your trash can and raid it for a snack, they will.

How WE KNOCK OUT RACCOONS

Raccoons are a formidable pest for an untrained individual to deal with. Raccoons are powerful and can be dangerous. A sickly raccoon may have Rrabies which can make the animal vicious and extremely aggressive.

A Knockout Pest Control Technician knows the biology and habits of raccoons. They are highly trained in their removal, whether it is one or an entire den of many. We can properly identify the pest, how to evacuate their hiding places, and when and how to catch/trap them. Once removed, our Certified Technicians can discuss all the means necessary to prevent re-entry into your residential commercial space, which could include dealing with trash, clearing brush, trimming tree overhangs near structures, and rethinking arbors/trellises against buildings.

Get Rid of Raccoons Fast
Call 1-800-244-PEST (1-800-244-7378)

We respond like every pest problem is an emergency with fast, 24 hour service seven days a week.

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