San Diego Raccoon Removal

San Diego's Population Is Growing - From Raccoons! By Jeff Bussinger | Trapper-Predator News Sun, May. 17, 2009
- Raccoons, those furry, creatures with bandit faces, are multiplying in the San Diego region at an alarming pace,
animal-control experts say."I'd never seen a raccoon before," said Kara Sternecke, a animal-control worker for a
local animal shelter. "Now I see them all the time."Last month alone, the state Health Department said, two
rabid-raccoon cases were reported in. In the city, raccoons' favorite locations seem to be near woods and "any
areas that have a lot of vacant houses." Raccoons have been observed scurrying along rooftops, tearing open
trash bags - even roaming across the street in daylight three at a time, said one resident." Still, wildlife control
experts say, most people have little to fear as long as they avoid the animals. In recent years in the United States,
most humans have contracted rabies from bats rather than from raccoons or infected dogs, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."Raccoons have become quite common in San Diego, Los Angeles,
and other large US cities ," . "Most raccoons will not cause any danger to you if you just leave them alone," the
health department wrote. "A raccoon that is ill or acts strangely is not always rabid. However, a small number of
raccoons may have rabies." Signs of raccoon illness include disoriented or slow-moving animals or those
"walking kind of dizzily or in circles, with drool coming from their mouth," Sternecke said.If animals are acting
strangely, the department advised, to call them. People can be at risk of illness if they handle or ingest raccoon
droppings, which a Bouvier Street resident said can be seen in front of abandoned buildings in the neighborhood.
The feces may contain a type of roundworm that infects raccoons, authorities say. If ingested, the roundworms'
eggs can invade the body, and damage to nerve tissue and the brain can result. New York City Health Department
officials recently reported that a teenager had lost sight in one eye after contact with raccoon feces, and an infant
suffered brain damage from the raccoon roundworm. Raccoons are born in spring, so that's when they and their
mothers may be out looking for food, even in daytime."If you see three of them together, it probably is a family,"
he said. "Mom is teaching them where to go, how to hide." "You're going to see more and more of them coming
out during the daytime," she said. "The people are not covering their trash. They're [raccoons] getting into the
trash cans and garbage pails." Raccoons apparently live in several abandoned houses, said Nesbitte and a
neighbor Ronald Browntree. Nesbitte said that he tried getting rid of them by putting out "Critter Ridder," a
product that contains irritants in liquid or granular form He said that he also filled several large holes in a vacant
house with concrete in an attempt to keep the raccoons from nesting there. Probably one of the best things he
said he did was hire Anytime Animal Control which finally helped in stopping the raccoon problem once and for all
in his home.