Raccoons – The Masked Thieves in Your Home

Raccoons, they are so cute to watch from the inside of your home. However, when humans come into contact with them in their natural habitat, it is self-evident that they are not an animal one would want for a pet. They are mammals and are known to be nocturnal and omnivorous.

Now, because they are omnivores, they are scavengers as well. So they will discover a way into your backyard and patio. If a raccoon finds dog or cat food on a backyard patio, it will not hesitate to eat it.

Once a raccoon knows where to get a free meal, it will return for more. In fact, a raccoon with bring its family with it to enjoy a free meal. The raccoon is most likely to consume nuts such as walnuts and acorns in its own natural habitat. If, on the other hand, a raccoon strays into a suburban setting, like the backyard of a home, it will consume whatever is on the ground or in a rubbish can.

The raccoon is famous for getting into, and overturning, garbage cans to search for waste food for their next meal. Raccoons were first spotted in a city in Cincinnati in the 1920?s and then were seen in such cities as San Francisco, Chicago and Toronto in the 1950?s.

The raccoon is chiefly to be found in North American states and territories such as Panama, Bahamas, Cuba and Jamaica., but what’s more in Europe too.

Raccoons have a decent memory and have been studied by a variety of scientists past and present. With their memory and intelligence, it is no wonder that they can remember where they discovered their last meal and will return to that same area.

When a raccoon knows where to return for a meal, it will, more likely than not, strive to get into the home it is taking food from. If a raccoon is clever enough to know where to return for a meal, with family in tow, it will find a route to into a home and search out a food supply.

If a raccoon is found in the garden, or inside a home, it is not wise to try to catch it. The best a homeowner can do is shoo the raccoon and its family away and call the animal control in your city. As cute and furry as raccoons seem, they are not to be touched or picked up.

A raccoon is a wild animal and will do whatever it has too to protect itself and its family. It is also important to know that raccoons carry sickness. A raccoon carries rabies and will pass it on to a pet or human by a bite. The rabies virus is in the raccoon?s saliva.

As the raccoon becomes ?comfortable? visiting the outside of a home, it will try to get inside if it sees a way in through a back door or attic window. As stated above, raccoons are smart and fantastic natural climbers. They will have no problem climbing up the side of a home, look for an open window into an attic and scramble in.

If a raccoon has its ?kits? in tow, they will all find their way into the attic and create not just a lot of noise, but will do their utmost to get into the home to look for their next meal.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with distemper in raccoons. If you want to know more, please go to our site at Distemper Vaccines