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local raccoon removal expert in your home town. Updated
2018. But read the below advice first!
The best way to deal with a raccoon that got stuck in your
dumpster is by calling animal control. A wildlife removal
professional will know how to handle the extraction without
harming the animal, without making a mess, and without giving
the animal an opportunity to attack or escape. They will also
remove the critter and relocate it somewhere safe.
This being said, if you want to give it a go yourself, here are
some tips on how to go about removing a raccoon that’s stuck in
the dumpster:
Use a professional snare pole. You can pick the raccoon up with
a snare pole and transfer it in a secure container or cage. You
can then go and release the animal away from any residential
areas. You can do this, but I really don’t recommend it. First
of all, chances are that these types of activities may be
illegal in your state. And second of all, if you’re not a
wildlife rehabber, you won’t know where it’s safe to release the
animal, and you’ll just end up doing more harm.
You can also use the snare pole to extract the raccoon and
release it in that very spot or nearby. I don’t recommend this
either, as the raccoon will probably be frightened and
desperate, and it can easily attack (as it can with the first
snare pole method). And unless you are an experienced trapper,
chances that you will actually hurt the animal during extraction
and release are pretty high. Another con with this method: you
haven’t solved the problem – the raccoon will come back, as they
almost always do once they’ve found a food source.
Put more garbage in the dumpster. Garbage food is the main food
source for urban raccoons, so they’re pretty efficient in
getting in and out of trash cans. They make use of their really
low center of gravity and of their extremely dexterous front
paws to knock over garbage cans or to climb into them. They then
can make use of the actual trash inside to get out of the
garbage can. But dumpsters are too big for raccoons to knock
down. The animal will often go in the dumpster attracted just by
smells, and won’t have anything to climb on in order to get out.
So, if a raccoon got stuck in your dumpster, and the dumpster is
rather empty, you can throw in a couple of bags of trash. It
will help the raccoon have something to grab onto and make its
escape.
Put a long branch in the dumpster. As excellent a climber as it
is, if it doesn’t have something that it can grab with its front
feet in order to go up, it’s almost impossible for a raccoon to
get out of a large dumpster. So, if you want to help a raccoon
get out of a dumpster, you can carefully insert a long branch in
there. You can then watch from a distance as in a matter of
seconds the raccoon will emerge from the pit. You could also use
a cardboard or a wooden plank, even a plastic or a metal pole,
basically anything the raccoon can grab onto and climb on.
The inserting things in the dumpster tactic is the safest method
for homeowners to remove raccoons that are trapped in a
dumpster, but again, once the animal is released, it will most
likely come back. And even if the coon in question is smart
enough to never go into the dumpster again, it will find another
feeding station on your property or on your neighbors’ property.
Even if only for this reason, I always advise calling a wildlife
removal pro to handle the situation.
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