My neighbors have stopped sitting on their front porch. Their lovely wicker furniture goes unused. Their porch swing sits stationary in the sunshine. I’ve seen them crack the front door open and dart a hand out to grab the mail. They’ve taken to using the side door to come and go. Afraid to step onto their front porch, they’ve become prisoners in their own home. The raccoon is nesting in their hollow porch columns again.

Last year they tried covering the openings with boards; she shoved them aside. This year they tacked screening over the openings; with a swipe of her claws she ripped right through it. She’s a big raccoon and when she’s not in the nest with her babies, she sits on top of the columns watching them and growling. On a few occasions she’s charged them which is why they’ve abandoned their porch for the duration. Of course, the noise is a factor, too. When the mama raccoon leaves to hunt for food in the evening, her babies set up a raucous caterwauling that’s not exactly conducive to a pleasant and relaxing evening. Sometimes my neighbors have had to close their front windows just to get some peace. It may be a great way to discourage solicitors, but it seems a tad extreme. It’s past time they called Stern Environmental Group and reclaimed their porch!

Wildlife experts say there are twice as many raccoons living in urban and suburban areas today as in traditional rural and woodland settings. Recent research in Chicago and its suburbs found 40 raccoons per 0.39 square mile, twice the number found in rural Illinois. It’s no longer uncommon to find raccoons setting up housekeeping in the city. Highly adaptable, raccoons find shelter in attics, crawl spaces, porch eaves, under decks and in chimneys.

“They do really well in urban areas, “said Suzie Prange, a wildlife biologist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife. “They’re able to utilize human refuse as food and buildings as shelter. They can live almost anywhere.”

Raccoons are attracted by outdoor pet food, birdfeeders, dirty grills and unsecured garbage cans, Prange said. They’ll even enter homes through pet doors to feast on Rover’s kibble. To prevent raccoons from moving in, homeowners should cap chimneys and inspect their homes for possible entry points, securely sealing any found.

Raccoons typically nest and have a single litter in mid-April but may invade your home at any time. Raccoons can carry fleas, mites and diseases that may infect your household pets. They are the leading carrier of rabies and canine parvovirus (distemper). Raccoon feces may contain a roundworm that can pass to humans so it’s important to have nesting sites professionally cleaned and disinfected or wear gloves and a mask if you do it yourself.

Stern Environmental Group provides safe, fast, humane removal of raccoons and their kits (babies) from your home. We remove nests and feces, disinfect the area to remove parasites and disease organisms, and deodorize the site. (Raccoons have a distinctive musky scent that’s not particularly pleasant and can linger for months after they abandon a nest.) For more information about our wildlife removal services, click the post title. At Stern Environmental Group we specialize in 24-hour emergency raccoon removal services in the New York City metropolitan region servicing New York City, parts of New Jersey and parts of Long Island. If you have a wildlife problem, call us today. You’ll sleep well tonight when you get “Stern” with your pests.