Had some visitors last night.

[cassiesmom]

My mom and dad have a mother raccoon and 5 or 6 little ones who have nested in one of the old trees in their yard. They have this family of raccoons, a few fat possums, a few squirrels because the next door neighbor feeds them nuts, and at least four cats who all visit their yard during the day and night. The raccoons get into the trash, dig for food, and leave a mess behind.

[caseysmom]

We have a family of them that come around also, I worry about my dogs when they need to potty at night I go out first and make lots of noise.

[Louie and me]

Just a couple of evenings ago I saw three of them in my front garden. My only concern was - where is their home because once we had a nesting pair in our chimney? The wild life rescue came and removed them fortunately before they had babies. In Ontario, Canada we are not allowed to kill any wild life and relocating them is just about impossible because they just come back. I am not sorry about that they are not killed but definately don't want them in my chimney (it is now recapped) or even worse, in the attic space.

[gini]

Years ago, a friend's parents were pruning their trees. His father was up on the ladder with the tools and his mother was at the base of the tree holding the ladder. His father saw this large raccoon come into the yard. He told my friend's mother to quickly go close the garage door because he didn't want the raccoon to go into the garage.

So the mother started to run - and that is all that it took - the raccoon started running towards her and jumped up and scratched and bit her in the face. The raccoon had rabies as well. It took a long time for her to heal and of course, she has scars.

The raccoon went on another neighbor's home and attacked that person as well. By this time animal control had been called and they caught the raccoon and had it tested for rabies as I mentioned.

In Los Angeles they run around in the sewer lines and there is a golf course where people see
them all of the time at night.

Please don't feed them - for your safety and your pets safety too.

[Catty1]

That vaccine bait is a good idea. Hope it helps!

[SadButGrateful]

Thank you everyone for your concern. I haven't seen them in a few days. They've come around before, now and then. because there was a fig tree full of fruit which they ate, but not because I encouraged them. But the fruit is all gone from that tree now. I just wanted to take a few pictures that night, but I agree with everyone about not keeping them coming around and I have no plans to feed them again. More than likely I will try to scare them off. I watched a show once called Infestations and one episode was about raccoons nesting in an attic, quite a few of them. The poo and urine got so bad in there that the ceiling actually caved in from it. Ugh!!!! They're cute to look at but they can be dangerous and very much a pest, besides the rabies thing. I did not know they run around in sewers though. Now there's a thought! Ugh, again! I live in Southern California, in a suburban/urban area, but still see coyotes and such. The wildlife is out there. Anyway, thanks everyone for your comments and concern. Just want to let you all know I agree.