There is a raccoon in the crawlspace under my living room floor. It must have access to it by crawling down under my deck, but I definitely do not want to go under there and inspect it myself. That’s just not something I would ever do, crawl around on my stomach in some dirty, dark, spider-infested area where I know there’s at least one raccoon, just so I can see if a raccoon has torn a hole into the crawl space under my living room.
I moved in about a month ago, and my neighbor says that raccoon, or a family of raccoons, has been there for as long as she can remember. It’s probably not the same one, but a descendant of whichever was the first raccoon to get into the crawlspace. Whatever. I’m not interested so much in its genealogy. I just want it gone. I want the hole patched up. And, I don’t want it coming back.
The problem is, I haven’t been able to get anyone to come out to my house to get rid of the raccoon in my crawlspace. I called the police, and, while the female cop who answered the phone was polite enough, I got the feeling they got these kinds of calls all the time and were kind of annoyed. There is nothing they can do about a raccoon in the crawlspace, and we don’t have any kind of wild animal service in the area. I even called pest control, but they told me they only take care of bugs or rodents, nothing big like raccoons. So, they’ll come out and treat my house if the raccoon infests my house with mites or lice, or if mice or rats come in through the same hole the raccoon made, but they won’t get rid of the raccoon itself.
Obviously, the previous owner of the house gave up trying to get rid of the raccoon from the crawlspace. I’ve set out traps, but I’ve only succeeded in trapping another neighbor’s cat. That was an awkward conversation.
But, I refuse to give up. Because I can’t stand the idea of a raccoon in the crawlspace, causing damage to my house and attracting more bugs or what not to the space under my living room. No, I’m not going to become a trapper myself. Fortunately, I heard about this national service. They have a network of trappers, and they can send someone out to my house to get rid of the raccoon from the crawlspace, clean the area up, and repair any damage the raccoon caused. Thank goodness there are some people in the world who are willing to brave the dark, spider infested areas under the deck and get rid of raccoons, because I’m certainly not going to do it. I just need that raccoon in the crawlspace gone.