What Enemies Do Raccoons Have?
Raccoons live in a wide range of habitats, and they are most recognizable for their black masks. They are predators and scavengers, and their grizzled gray, black or brown fur allows them to blend in with their environments. They are active primarily at night, and they have to deal with a wide variety of enemies.
Coyotes
While coyotes are largely eaters of carrion, they are also skilled predators. They will often eat raccoons, both adults and juveniles. Coyotes do hunt in packs, but one coyote is capable of killing a lone raccoon. The raccoon’s natural aversion to coyotes makes it possible to use coyote urine as a raccoon repellent.
Great Horned Owl
According to the Michigan Natural History website, great horned owls are large birds that are between 18 and 25 inches long and feature wingspans between 48 and 60 inches. Though their prey typically consists of small rats and mice, they will eat larger animals, including raccoons, opossums and skunks. While they will usually content themselves with juvenile raccoons, they have been known to kill and eat adults.
Foxes
Though foxes share the same ecological niche as raccoons—both are predators and scavengers—foxes will also devour small, young raccoons if given the chance. Foxes are high-level predators that hunt a wide variety of animals, including raccoons, rabbits and snakes. Fox urine can even be used as raccoon repellent.
Wolves
Wolves are carnivores, and though they do a fair amount of scavenging, they are also excellent hunters. Wolves will hunt in packs to bring down a large prey animal, but a lone wolf can easily dispatch a raccoon. Not only do wolves prey upon raccoons, they will also devour shrews, hares, beavers, voles and fish.
Large Cats
Bobcats, mountain lions and pumas will all hunt raccoons if they are given the chance. These large predators help keep the raccoon population in check, and they can eat both juvenile raccoons and adult raccoons.
Humans
People will hunt raccoons for their pelts and also because they are considered pests. Raccoons will prey on chickens and they can carry rabies, which can be deadly to dogs and humans. People will use dogs to tree raccoons, and they will also shoot raccoons, trap them or poison them. While some people hunt raccoons for necessity, other people will hunt them for sport, in competitions.
Raccoon Control
Here are some tips on raccoon control to prevent them from identifying your home as a place to nest or frequently visit.
- Raccoons hate the smell of apple cider vinegar (and so do some humans!). Soak a cloth in apple cider vinegar and place it in an aerated container near the den. The smell will deter them!
- Install a “scare light.” Having motion sensor lights that automatically turn on will scare away wandering raccoons.
- Don’t feed them. This may seem simple but many people who think they’re helping the raccoons by leaving food for them or dangerously trying to feed them directly by hand might end up harming these creatures. Neighbourhood raccoons will not starve – they are expert foragers – and they are actually worse off receiving food from humans, as they are not meant to eat our processed, fatty foods. Additionally, encouraging them to be closer to our homes increases their danger of being hit by cars.
- If you have an outdoor cat, do not leave food outside for your feline. Raccoons will find and remember these freebies. Only feed your cats and other pets indoors. Plus, you’ll be keeping your pets safer by doing so.
- Play a talk radio channel near their den to frighten them away from human voices.
- Give them time. Once you’ve implemented some of these tips, remember that the mother raccoons may take a little while to move babies one by one to another den.
Mothball Warnings
Mothballs contain pesticides, usually paradichlorobenzene or naphthalene, that slowly vaporize over time. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states that exposure to these chemicals can cause nasal cancer, and other studies link them to liver damage and other serious illnesses. If mothballs are left in an attic or crawlspace to repel raccoons or other creatures, these chemicals can seep into the rest of the house, exposing anyone living there. If left as a repellent outside, mothballs can be ingested by animals such as dogs or cats — or even small children — which could prove fatal.
Mothball Alternatives
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, natural plant oils like mustard oil have been proven to deter raccoons from rummaging through trash cans and gardens. Specialized live traps can also humanely remove raccoons from houses without injuring the animal or spreading dangerous pesticides such as mothballs around. The best prevention against unwanted raccoons is to remove the attractions that draw them in. Keep trash cleaned and confined where raccoons can’t reach it, and cover chimney openings and similar entrances to prevent raccoons entering.
What to do if a raccoon is living in the attic
Be patient with a mother raccoon in the attic
Your first option is to do nothing at all. Raccoons typically live in attic dens for short periods. Raccoon babies are independent by the end of summer, when they leave the den and disperse from their family groups. Raccoon mothers commonly move their babies between den sites during the nesting season, so she may leave on her own. If you wait until the babies are grown and/or have left, then you can close off the access point to prevent other raccoons from using the attic as a den in the future.
Humane harassment
The mother raccoon is living in the attic because it’s a dark, quiet, safe place for her and her babies. If you make the attic not dark, not quiet, and not safe (using light, sound, and smell) the raccoon can usually be convinced to leave your attic and take her babies with her. All harassment techniques should be placed as close as possible to the den entrance, so the mother raccoon can’t ignore them when she comes and goes.
Light
Place a bright light at the den entrance, either inside or outside. Make sure it’s fire-safe. Raccoons are nocturnal, and don’t like bright lights in their homes. An outdoor spotlight or a mechanic’s light should do the trick.
Sound
Tune a radio to a talk station and place it near the den entrance. Music doesn’t mean anything to raccoons, but the sound of human voices is threatening to them. The radio should be turned up as loud as you can stand it without annoying your human neighbours.
Smell
Soak some rags in Apple Cider Vinegar or ammonia, and put them in a plastic bag. Poke holes in the bag to let the smell escape, and hang it next to the den entrance. You can us dirty kitty litter in a plastic bag the same way. Scent deterrents are least effective with raccoons, but can help when used in combination with light and sound methods.
Patience and persistence
Keep all of the above going for at least 3 days and 3 nights. You’ve got to be persistent to convince the raccoon to leave.
Paper Test
When you think the raccoon is gone, before closing the hole, make sure with a paper test. Either stuff the entrance with balled up newspaper, or tape a double sheet of newspaper over the hole. Wait another 3 days and nights. If the paper is still in place, and you don’t hear anything in the attic, the raccoons are probably gone! Temporarily patch the hole with ¼” wire mesh or hardware cloth until you can do a more permanent repair.
What NOT to do
Live trapping
Trapping and relocating a raccoon might seem like the “humane” option, but it isn’t. Relocated raccoons don’t tend to survive when they’re moved off of their home territory. Relocated mother raccoons leave behind babies who will die without a mother to care for them. A mother raccoon relocated with her babies will be so frightened she will abandon them when faced with a new, unknown territory. In Ontario, it is illegal to relocate any wild animal more than 1km from where it was found.
Every year, Toronto Wildlife Centre receives hundreds of calls about baby raccoons orphaned because well-meaning people trapped and relocated their mother. Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources to care for them all.
One-way doors
Many humane removal companies will recommend putting up one-way doors so the raccoon can get out but not get back in. One-way doors are a good option between October and December, when tiny baby raccoons are unlikely. Between January and September, one-way doors can exclude the mother raccoon and leave tiny baby raccoons trapped inside. If they are too young to follow their mother, the babies will starve inside without her care. Separated from her babies, a mother raccoon will cause major damage to property as she tries desperately to get back to them. Make sure the baby raccoons are old enough to be mobile and following their mother before installing a one-way door.