Racoon invasion into my apartment last night

[TomL]

I sent this email to our town's animal control officer this morning:

Dear Animal Control;

There is a menacing large racoon at the Parish apartments, lower section. It has been aggressively rummaging through the open dumpster at night. The office at Parish is well aware of the problem as it has been going on for a long time now.

Last night it broke through a screen window by some steps that go up to a neighboring apartment and killed one of my two canary birds. I did not know what the unexpected noise was but put on the lights and it was rummaging around the cage when I forced it out of the broken screen window.

This situation should not be allowed to continue, the racoon should be eliminated somehow.

The response:

Good morning,



Management would need to hire a Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator to trap and euthanize the raccoon, unfortunately it would be hard to know that the menacing raccoon was the one caught.

You can place some vinegar soaked rags around the screen window to deter the animal from returning. The screen should be fixed as soon as possible.



Animal Control


My question here is how to proceed as I did not get a response from the housing management company?

Pictures included of the two canaries I owned together and now:

The screen the racoon broke through:

What was left of my yellow canary on the steps leading away:

What would you do with the housing company which is federal?

 

[Noahs_Birds]

Get yourself a trap and trap it yourself is probably the best option if the wildlife control doesn't organize something soon enough. One of those cage traps should work, and once caught take it as far away as possible from your home. I'm from Australia so I'm not exactly sure of the rules and reg's but if its anything like the big Brush-tailed possums here in Australia that do become problematic at times, trapping them in a cage style trap which is baited with something they like eating and once caught, transporting them as far as possible, thats the easiest and most humane way to do it.

 

[saxguy64]

I'm so sorry. So many people see racoons as "cute" or "adorable." I used to be one of them. Not any more. Yeah, they have a right to live, like any wild animal, but I hate them with a passion. Miserable scavenging predators that kill for sport. We lost three of our chickens to one. Didn't eat them, just got in the coop, killed them, and left them for me to find. I can't offer solutions for you, but I truly hope you do find a way to rid yourself of them quickly. As mentioned above, trapping and relocating is probably a good option if the powers that be won't do anything.

 

[texsize]

Look at the haveaheart trap.
been around a long time, simple and easy to use.

 

[SailBoat]

The method of halting entrance to your apartment is to limit the opening of the window. Each style window will have different means of limiting their opening. Your local Police Department Crime Medication Group will have information on simple methods of limiting the size of the opening.

I would not go into a discussion of your want to stop a Racoon as it would only sideline the discussion.

 

[ToMang07]

I have one of these, size 1.5 for
Raccoons. Got 2 coons and a fox so far this summer. Full time job around here keeping predators out of the hen house.

Sorry for your loss.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[TomL]

Thanks for the advice. Not my property, it is federal housing, they have an open dumpster with trash being thrown in which just keeps feeding the problem. I'm going to go legal on this one with a lawyer sending a letter to the management company.

 

[SailBoat]

With great luck your lawyer will charge you for his /her service and the landlord will suggest that you close your windows.

Setting a wood block is a simple method of limiting how far a window opens.

 

[TomL]

With great luck your lawyer will charge you for his /her service and the landlord will suggest that you close your windows.

Setting a wood block is a simple method of limiting how far a window opens.

Typical learned helplessness and defeatist reasoning. The only way you can get others to take appropriate action is the right type of legal action and turning anger where it belongs, on the negligence of management aware of a long running problem.

At the bear minimum reports should be filed at the police department; and letters could be written by me, a lawyer knows what is practical and what isn't.

 

[SailBoat]

"Typical learned helplessness and defeatist reasoning."

Lost in the wilderness of government renting and pointing out an assumed position of others. May your attorney charge you appropriately.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

a .22 works for me...even a high powered BB gun..but hey...thats just me



Jim

 

[TomL]

You would get arrested with any gun discharged around here.

I have a customer who gunned down a rabid racoon in his backyard some years ago and was arrested for discharging a gun in a residential area. And he is the grandson of General George Patton. When I was last on his property the neighbor called the town on some brush clean up I was doing in his wetlands which apparently is against the law.

 

[TomL]

"Typical learned helplessness and defeatist reasoning."

Lost in the wilderness of government renting and pointing out an assumed position of others. May your attorney charge you appropriately.

No, not expensive to have them write letters and this is a civic responsibility thinking of your neighbors.



This is a case of negligence on the side of the housing management company which has a handyman and office manager very well paid. This is the first time a racoon has broken into an apartment. To have them come in through a window, breaking through a screen, killing a house pet is an extreme action by a wild animal which never has happened around here and as my lawyer said is something he had not heard of before. The window is six feet up from the ground, the only way a racoon could get in is by the steps and then a jump to the window. What's next? Someone gets bitten by the racoon or has other run ins with it? Addressing the problem is the housing management company's responsibility, tenants pay a lot in rent; the management has insurance to address problems they are liable for. Management harassed me on an inspection for some houseflies claiming it was an "infestation" which I addressed with fly paper. Now they are at fault and will probably evasively claim it is not their problem that residents need to put up with feral animals.

 

[TomL]

This is a case of negligence on the side of the housing management company which has a handyman and office manager very well paid. This is the first time a racoon has broken into an apartment. To have them come in through a window, breaking through a screen, killing a house pet is an extreme action by a wild animal which never has happened around here and as my lawyer said is something he had not heard of before. The window is six feet up from the ground, the only way a racoon could get in is by the steps and then a jump to the window. What's next? Someone gets bitten by the racoon or has other run ins with it? Addressing the problem is the housing management company's responsibility, tenants pay a lot in rent; the management has insurance to address problems they are liable for. Management harassed me on an inspection for some houseflies claiming it was an "infestation" which I addressed with fly paper. Now they are at fault and will probably evasively claim it is not their problem that residents need to put up with feral animals.

Pet owners have rights that should be respectively exercised.

 

[Flboy]

With great luck your lawyer will charge you for his /her service and the landlord will suggest that you close your windows.

Setting a wood block is a simple method of limiting how far a window opens.

Typical learned helplessness and defeatist reasoning. The only way you can get others to take appropriate action is the right type of legal action and turning anger where it belongs, on the negligence of management aware of a long running problem.

At the bear minimum reports should be filed at the police department; and letters could be written by me, a lawyer knows what is practical and what isn't.

Helplessness and defeatist reasoning? For a solution that?s guaranteed to work and a very real outcome to a planned course of action?
Best of luck to you!

 

[saxguy64]

It appears that this thread is becoming a hot bed of negativity. The mod team has unapproved several posts, pending review.

I might suggest, when forming opinions regarding OP's course of action, to read the original post in it's entirety, and note the photo of the ripped open screen. It's not in any way unreasonable to keep a window open with a screen in it. We all do that.

Racoons are expert climbers with extremely good dexterity. Having seen first hand what they're capable of, I can't imagine anyone assuming OP is at fault. Telling someone to keep their screen covered windows blocked shut in the summertime serves no purpose in solving the problem at hand, which is simply wild predators getting into someone's home and killing their pets.