• Lock pet doors at night to keep raccoons from
coming into the house.
• Fasten garbage can lids tightly, or keep your
garbage can in the garage to keep raccoons
from toppling the can and spreading garbage
LIVING WITH
around the yard.
RACCOONS
Lindsay Wildlife Museum exhibits live,
• To protect fish in a pond, submerge a wire
mesh horizontally around the edge, leaving
non-releasable native wildlife. Founded
in 1955, the museum is the oldest and
the center open. The raccoon can’t reach past
one of the largest wildlife rehabilitation
the wire and won’t stand on it because it is
unstable. Provide rocks for fish to hide in.
centers in the United States, treating
more than 6,000 injured or orphaned
• Keep ripe fruit picked; don’t leave fruit lying
on the ground.
animals each year.
At our natural history center, visitors can
IF YOU FIND A YOUNG watch a bald eagle eat lunch and listen to
RACCOON ALONE the cry of a red-tailed hawk. Children
If it is under the house or in a nest area, leave it learn about wildlife that may be found in
alone so the mother will return. If it is in the open,
their backyards and listen to storytellers
wait until evening to see if the mother returns.
weave their tales. Rotating exhibits, daily
Do not handle the raccoon with your bare hands.
If the mother doesn’t return, bring it to Lindsay programs and hands-on activities focus
Wildlife Museum for care. on living with nature.
IF YOU FIND AN INJURED RACCOON 1931 First Avenue
Walnut Creek, CA 94597
If it can safely be placed in a secure container
(925) 935-1978
without touching it, bring it to Lindsay Wildlife
www.wildlife-museum.org
Museum. Otherwise, call your county animal
services department.
Printing paid for in part by Contra Costa County Fish and Wildlife Committee.
L I V I N G with R A C C O O N S
Raccoons (Procyon lotor) are very common Raccoons are omnivorous, eating fruits, nuts, through a pet door.
in Bay Area cities and suburbs. They are easily insects, frogs, crayfish, bird eggs and nestlings and A raccoon usually has one litter per year,
identified by their black-masked face and ringed just about anything else available. They sometimes between February and October, with two to
tail. They are excellent climbers and are very dunk their food in water. Raccoons can become seven babies. Their home range is normally less
dexterous. Raccoons are active mostly at night unpopular with home owners when they nest than one mile, but the young can disperse up to
and need a quiet and dark place during the under the home or in the attic, roll back sod to 30 miles. Adult raccoons are often solitary, but
day to sleep. They are intelligent, curious and look for grubs in the lawn, eat fish out of ponds, young raccoons stay with their mother during
have adapted well to living in suburbs and cities. raid the garbage can or even come into the home the winter, either in the same den or nearby.
TO DISCOURAGE RACCOONS FROM VISITING YOUR YARD
• Close entrances to attics and crawl spaces so
raccoons cannot use those areas to sleep. Make
• Treat your lawn for grubs (insect larvae that eat
grass roots) at the beginning of the summer so
sure the animals are out of the space before there will be no food available in late summer
sealing the entrance. If there are no babies, wait and fall when raccoons are most likely to dig in
until the raccoon leaves for the night. If there are lawns. Beneficial nematodes are a good non-toxic
babies, wait until the babies are old enough to way to kill the grubs; see your nursery for advice.
join their mother on her nightly forays before Use black or cayenne pepper on the lawn to
closing the entrance or you can put lights and a discourage raccoons from even trying to find
loud radio in the attic or crawl space to encourage grubs. Dog and cat repellent may work to keep
the mother to find another den site for her young. raccoons away.
This may take several days. Be sure to check for
babies before closing entrance. • Don’t leave pet food outside at night. Feed pets
indoors or outside only during the daytime. Pet
• Wrap metal guards, 18 inches or wider, around tree food can attract large numbers of raccoons and
Karen McClymonds
trunks five or six feet above the ground to keep is not good for the raccoons. Raccoons should
raccoons from climbing trees to get to roof tops. not be given food of any kind.
