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When necessary, if there's no way to get the mother raccoon to move the young raccoons out on her own, I remove them by hand. Most oftentimes, a homeowner has trapped and relocated
the mother raccoon themselves, and now the babies are stuck in the attic, and I get called out because the homeowner hears them crying and scratching. Or a lazy
critter trapping company has removed
the female, and they won't bother to go in the attic (I deal with this a lot). So I have no choice but to go up and get the babies. But it's important to lay out all the information,
and I got this email from a rehabber:
David,
I only had a little time to look at the site and have one serious
suggestion. I would never recommend that someone go and remove raccoon
babies by hand. You are aware of raccoon roundworm and the other potential
diseases they may carry.
I know there are many different alternatives with pros and cons but
[our facility] only suggests arming the space with ammonia soaked rags, loud
music and bright lights to deter raccoons from dwelling there. This gives
them the opportunity to move any babies on their own to a safe site.
Yes you could move them yourself, but at what cost? Animals are territorial
plus there is the risk of moving a healthy looking but actually sick animal
into an otherwise healthy population of animals. This is why trapping and
moving animals is illegal in many states.
That is a personal and professional suggestion for
you. Thank you for making an effort to help wildlife.
So to this I would say that if they must be removed by hand, that the proper precautions are taken. You can see in the above photograph that I'm wearing gloves, a HEPA mask, and even a disposable Tyvek suit.
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