Well, it was about a year ago when I got the call about a man with raccoons under his deck, it was nothing I hadn’t dealt with before in fact it was common, but the client was not.  He was a big ol’ southern man, and let me tell you he was a big ol’ wimp!  I work with Allstate Animal Control and so it was really one of them who called me about the case.  Since I didn’t have anything more to do, I scheduled a time to come out a few days later with his wife.  Pulling up to the house the first thing I noticed was a big ‘BEWARE OF DOG’ sign hanging on the fence to the backyard.  I couldn’t help but shudder, I’d been attacked by a client’s dog on one of my first jobs and I’ve been wary of them ever since.

Grabbing my bag with my flashlight and other various tools I got out of my van and made my way to the front door.  I knocked and hesitantly waited for the inevitable barking from their dog, but surprisingly none came.  With a small breath of relief I waited for an answer, but instead of a welcome face I got a rough “who is it” and, after introducing myself, what sounded like twenty locks being undone.  The man that opened the door was just as odd as he sounds, about six feet tall with a beard the boys from Duck Dynasty would have been jealous of, this guy was not who I was picturing.  As he led me to the backyard we were joined by his wife, I quietly asked her if they had put the dog away, her answer surprised me.  “Oh we don’t really have a dog, my husband’s afraid of them.”

I brushed all of this off, did my inspection, came back the next day with traps, and again the next week to pick up two raccoons.  As I pulled out the cage from under the deck I was met by the usual hissing and spitting from the coon, but it was coupled with an unexpected scream from the husband!  I turned to watch him run and cower behind some deck furniture, laughing silently to myself I went to retrieve the other trap, this one was closer to the man than the last.  As I pulled it out I got an even weirder response, another scream, the pounding of running feet, and the smash of a grown man passing out and falling on the ground.  I was a little bewildered but the wife told me not to worry and thanked me for my help (I wanted to ask if her wife would be okay but I didn’t know how she’d take it).  Needless to say that was my favorite job with raccoons under a deck by far.

About a month ago, I started hearing an animal in the chimney. At first I assumed it was just the old fireplace making noise, you know how things like that like to creak and groan; but after a while it started to become more frequent. Now, instead of just a clang and a whisper here and there, I hear constant movement and tiny mews. I think there might be baby raccoons in there, but to tell you the truth I didn’t know there were raccoons anywhere near my house! Living in the city does have its perks when it comes to wild animals; unlike my dearest country-goer friends who constantly deal with things like this, I only have the occasional issue.
Well it seems like my years of luck with critters has come to a draw, because I am almost positive there’s a nest sitting right on the inside of my chimney, I assume the animal is a raccoon because I’m not sure what more it could be! Birds can’t just fly out of a space like that and I haven’t smelled anything that would suggest it’s a skunk, can they even climb into a chimney? Not to mention I haven’t heard any crazy banging and clanging that might say a squirrel or something is in there. What other animal could it be than the great, ring-tailed bandit?
So now the question is, how do I get them out? I live in Utah and the winters here can get unbelievably cold, and I’m going to have to start a fire eventually. I don’t want to light them on fire (especially if there are babies!) or do anything that would harm the little family, but I can’t let them stay! I want to call a trapper but I don’t even know how much that would cost, but really it looks like my best option. I have no idea how else to take care of the wild animals in my chimney!

I never thought I would see raccoons in church, but last Sunday that is exactly what I found. Our pastor was reading from the bible, sharing some incredible thoughts, when all of a sudden we heard scratching and clawing from above us! It was a ghastly sound, and it didn’t seem like something that we could get rid of, I looked at Mary Lou who was seated right beside me and we were both thinking the same thing. Some boisterous teenager must be upstairs trying to disturb the congregation!
Politely trying to continue the service, Pastor Allen spoke up and continued right on reading, but it was no use. If disturbing church was what the person had come to do than he had succeeded! All eyes were off of the front and pointed toward the ceiling and the grim sound echoing from it, nervous chatter could be heard from all corners of the church. A man sitting just a few rows in front of me stood and quietly made his way out the back and up toward the attic. I didn’t know him personally, but I had seen him in a patrol car once or twice and his uniform was unmistakably that of a policeman. Everyone seemed pleased that the officer had risen to the occasion and went to deal with the intruder.
Not long after he had left, however, we heard the creak of a door, a yelp of surprise, and itty bitty footsteps sprinting down the stairs. We all turned quickly to the back to see what this disruption could be, but instead of a person like many of us expected, we sat looking into the eyes of two, black masked raccoons! Several woman cried out in disgust and horror, but I just laughed. In all my 82 years of life, I have never, nor will I ever again see raccoons in church; and truthfully, I’m alright with the once-in-a-lifetime feel of it all.

This, as you probably guessed, is the story of a mangy raccoon that was found at a job site. Now, if you’ve met L.L. Trapster, you know that she is an animal trapping prodigy (and I’d been keeping her behind a desk for months), but a few weeks ago, out on a gopher/mice/vole job, she used her trapping skills and discovered something much bigger. A very mangy raccoon that had taken refuge underneath a trampoline. I know what you’re thinking, it probably wasn’t that sick, but just affected by the huge, black, sun disk that was baking it alive, but sir it most definitely was VERY SICK.
When you picture mange, you probably picture something like a drunken man; well, you wouldn’t be far off. Animals with mange can be identified by the typical patchy, red, exposed skin you can see on their neck, ears, face, and body; a slow, zombie like movement, and extreme tiredness and dehydration. Luckily for us, this coon had stumbled right into a trap so no one came in contact with it, but it did need to be taken care of, and L.L. Trapster was the perfect woman for the job. Without a moment’s hesitation, she had killed herself her first raccoon and was playing a real-life claw machine, trying to pick it up from the giant hole in the ground underneath the trampoline.
After we finally pulled it out, it was all up to her. I like to say that working with L.L. Trapster is a point-and-click job; we get to a site, I point at what needs to be done, and she does it (it’s really lightened my load!). Back to the story, I pointed out some trash bags and she knew exactly what needed to be done; before I knew it she had the diseased raccoon stuffed in a black bag ready to go. Finishing up the job we were originally there to do, Lauralee and I got ready to dispose of the dead animal sitting in the back of the pickup. First things first, we had to freeze it, this kills the smell and some of the disease, then haul it off to the burn pit and fry whatever was left to stop the spread of disease. Short and sweet, just like L.L. Trapster, that’s the story of the mangy raccoon.

My dog isn’t little, she’s a 110 pound black lab, so imagine my surprise when I woke up to find two raccoons attacking her! I’ve lived in Utah for about two years now and I’m no stranger to wildlife, from deer in my backyard to woodpeckers in my trees, they’re everywhere all the time, but this wasn’t just a sighting; it was an attack! The day had truly started just like any other day, sending my kids off to school and dropping Jason (my husband) off at work before departing for work myself. After my 9-5 I came home to enjoy an evening of TV watching and games with my family, around 10 we all slowly made our way to bed, Raven (my dog) joined Jason and me in our room. Somewhere around 2 a.m., I woke up and realized that my usual foot warmer had left her spot at the end of the bed vacant and cold; however, I shook it off and snuggled deeper into the comforter and slowly drifted back to sleep until… BANG! A loud crash blasted up the stairs and was promptly followed by yelping and barking, and an odd screeching I had never heard before. I knew immediately something unwanted was downstairs and rushed to the aid of my sweet dog, Jason followed quickly behind me.
We busted into what had been our living room, but now more accurately resembled a war zone, only to find Raven entangled with not just one, but two raccoons! All the animals were bloody and snarling, but my dog seemed to have the worst of it. Her ear was missing the tip, her eye was swollen and cut, her sides were raked and bleeding, and she had one of the coons attached to her underbelly, the other biting at her neck. Of course, we instantly joined the fight, tearing the animals away and doing our best to chase them outside. After what seemed like hours we finally got the striped bandits out of our house and away from our dog.
Luckily, Raven only needed a few stitches and a rabies shot, the worst of the damage was done to our house itself! There was raccoon pee on the couches and the piano, the cupboards in our kitchen were open and their contents spilled, muddy footprints decorated the walls and floors like wallpaper, and, probably the worst of all, they had practically eaten my two year old son’s favorite stuffed animal. Soon enough we tracked all the mess back to the start of it all, the doggy door. The sneaky buggers had seen our pets go in and out and done the same, needless to say we boarded it up the next morning and Raven has been very wary of all catlike creatures; after all, she doesn’t need ANOTHER raccoon attack.

As much as I love to chase balls, playing with the raccoon on the roof was much more fun. Hi, my name is Trigger. I’m a four year old yellow lab and I love, love, love chasing animals, almost as much as playing with my human, Carson. Ever since my family moved to Huntsville, Utah, I’ve had all the animals you could dream of chasing. Mice, deer, cats, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, and even cars (but I don’t know if those count as animals), my mom always yells at me to leave them alone, but I know she really appreciates when I keep them far away from Carson and our house. Dad sometimes takes me on special trips where all I do is chase ducks and bring them to him, those are my favorite days, but the day I chased the raccoon on the roof was one of my favorites.
It was just a regular night, mom and dad were asleep and I was laying at the bottom of the bed keeping watch, that’s when I heard the black-masked bandit sneaking around. I warned my parent’s with a loud ‘WOOF’ and ran outside to investigate further. What I found was unbelievable! The raccoon was trying to get off of the roof! No way was I going to let that happen, dad would be very disappointed if I let it get away without paying its penance for disturbing my watch. I jumped up on the wall and barked as loud as I could at it, he tried to escape to the other side of the house but I met him there, still howling and snarling. As he ran from one side to the other, I followed close behind, running laps around the house. I could have been Usain Bolt I was moving so fast!
Eventually mom and dad came to make sure I was okay, they told me I was a good boy and brought me inside, dad took care of the raccoon on the roof while I was rewarded for my bravery. Although it wasn’t chasing ducks with dad or mice with Carson, it was the best day because I protected my family and saved them from disaster. Never again will any creature mess with Trigger, they know how tough I am, but secretly I’ll miss the little guy, I’ve never done something quite as bold as rescuing my family from the raccoon on the roof, yet.

A few years back I responded to a home invasion turned raccoon break-in. I’ve worked for the Salt Lake Police Department for 10 years now, and this was definitely one of the better cases I’ve worked. During the summer of 2006, we received several calls from a woman who was hearing sounds in her basement and feared it was an intruder. We checked it out the first time but to no avail, no one was breaking into her house, of course we hadn’t considered that it wasn’t a person. A few weeks after that first call she called again, this time in hysterics that there was definitely someone in her basement and she was no longer in her home. We responded quickly, searching the perimeter first and then entering the home. There was no evidence of forced entry on any doors or windows so we proceeded quietly inside, guns and lights drawn. As we stepped into the foyer the silence was broken by the creaks on the old wood floors, and the loud sounds from the kitchen.
We slowly made our way toward the noise, only to find that the intruder had a black mask, a striped tail, and big, eyes that were fixed on us. As we put our guns away and turned on the light, the culprit was revealed, a large, angry, mother raccoon who had been stripping the cupboards of their food. We laughed at the incident and moved to shoo her from the house, but our actions were hasty and she quickly stood on her back legs and let out a growl like none I’d heard before. If you took a cougar and mixed its roar with the scratchy sound of a record player, you’d have just about what we heard. As embarrassing as it is, my partner and I were out of there faster than lightning.
Later we checked in to find that she had called in professionals to take care of the problem, turns out she had a nest in the basement with 4 kits, no wonder she was so aggressive. Besides all the food the woman had to replace, she also spent $2,200 in reparations! Even if the bandit didn’t steal anything, that was one expensive raccoon break-in.

Frequently while working with wild animals, we receive calls about dead animals. One lady called us from Salt Lake City, UT, particularly about a dead raccoon.
The raccoon was wandering around by the end of her driveway. The first time she walked by the raccoon, it was walking normally, but she walked by later on and found the raccoon lying on its side. It appeared that the raccoon was not breathing, but she was not sure if it was dead or not. She did not want to get too close and she definitely did not want to leave it there for the rats, owls, birds, flies, etc.
Taking care of dead animals is one of the aspects of our job, and we remove many dead wild animals. You can either remove the dead animal or you can let nature take its course and slowly have the animal disappear a little each day. If you leave a dead animal (in this case a raccoon) on your property there will be maggots, rats, and all sorts of unwanted insects/animals that will eventually remove the animal from your property.  This process could take months depending on the size of the animal.
Animal removal for us is routine and we have completed this task many times.  Some property owners choose to remove the animal themselves. Removing the dead animal is usually the best method, unless you have a large piece of property at let it rot, but if you do be prepared for a terrible stink.