A nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism

Art Lander’s Outdoors: Raccoons in the attic? Nuisance wildlife no laughing matter for people, pets


Kentucky is blessed with a diversity of wildlife – some 74 species of mammals, 380 species of birds, and 112 species of reptiles and amphibians.

Many landowners encourage wildlife on their property and spend countless hours and considerable sums of money to improve habitat for rabbits and quail, white-tailed deer and wild turkeys.

But when a family of raccoons takes up residence in the attic, or an opossum is spending more time in the garage than the family car, it doesn’t take long for these uninvited guests to become a nuisance.

Live-trapping is a good way to deal with nuisance raccoons in urban and suburban areas, where hunting and the use of leg-hold traps isn’t possible Havahart, in business since 1940, sells a fine of metal box traps ideal for capturing raccoons. Photo courtesy of David Seerveld

That’s when it’s time to call the local Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator, who is permitted to trap and remove wildlife causing property damage, or that pose a threat to humans or family pets.

Kentucky has 139 licensed Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators. They are typically small business owners working in cities, suburbs and rural areas. Fees are charged to remove nuisance wildlife and operators are permitted to work year-round, often outside legal hunting and trapping seasons.

To learn more about solving nuisance wildlife problems, and get the names of telephone numbers of Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators in Kentucky, visit this website.

Raccoon Problems

The raccoon is the number one nuisance wildlife species.

A majority of the raccoons issues occur in the state’s three largest metropolitan areas – Louisville, Lexington and the northern Kentucky counties south of Cincinnati, but the raccoon is a problem everywhere.

Often portrayed as a cute creature with a ringed tail, white whiskers, bandit mask, and hand-like paws, there’s nothing shy and cuddly about raccoons. They are unwelcome pests.

They take up residence in attics of old homes in tree-lined urban neighborhoods. They act aggressively towards pets in suburban backyards. They raid garbage cans and tear up gardens, and eat their way into the wallets of farmers all across Kentucky.

They will decimate row after row of sweet corn bound for farmers’ markets and if raccoons can find a way into a chicken coop, they will come night after night to kill and devour even the largest of hens.

Raccoon populations are high in Central Kentucky, but low to moderate in areas of the state that have a higher percentage of forested land and less human development.

During the summer months when there’s less natural food in forests, they gravitate towards populated areas. They are opportunistic foragers, adept at dumpster diving, brazen enough to walk up on the porch to eat from your dog or cat’s food bowl, and determined enough to claw and squeeze through any gaps in the soffit of sheds and outbuildings.

Raccoons are poor hunters, so when they find an easy food source they stay with it until it’s exhausted.

Seasonal Nuisance Issues

Other wildlife that sometimes creates problems for humans are squirrels, skunks, bats, woodchucks, coyotes, muskrats, beavers, chipmunks, birds, foxes, snakes, river otters, rabbits, mink and bobcats.

Problems with nuisance wildlife change throughout the year.

In January and February, when skunks are breeding, and the females are seeking out dens, there are often problems with skunks digging under porches. The males are fighting over females and they do a lot of spraying.

In mid-summer, snakes can become a nuisance when they shed their skins. They vulnerable when they molt so they come inside garages and out buildings and sometimes crawl between walls in houses.

The telltale sign that something is living in the attic is when homeowners hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet running across attic joists.
Squirrels jump from trees onto roof tops and find a way to get into the attics of older homes. Sometimes go through air vents. Squirrel problems intensify in the fall, with the onset of cold weather, when they seek out warmth.

For more outdoors news and information, see Art Lander’s Outdoors on KyForward.

Squirrels have a bad habit of actually working their way downstairs into houses. They follow the light and gnaw their way through gaps in the plywood, where a pipe goes through a wall or ceiling into a closet.

Re-Locating Nuisance Wildlife

Re-locating nuisance wildlife is always a bad idea biologically, and some cities have laws against re-locating wildlife live trapped by landowners into city parks.

Re-located animals often die soon after release due to natural mortality factors — starvation from not being able to find food, or injury from fights with animals they encounter, when attempting to establish a new territory.

Homeowners have a right to kill wildlife that is damaging their property, but damage should be reported to a local conservation officer before taking action. To find the name and telephone number of your local conservation officer click on this link, then type in the county name.

Not all wildlife can be dealt with using lethal methods.

Nuisance wildlife control operators are permitted to deal with native wildlife under state jurisdiction, but they can’t capture and transport federally-protected species unless they get a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Federally-protected species include song birds, birds of prey (such as hawks and owls), and migratory waterfowl, such as resident Canada geese, that nest in Kentucky, and migrate from their territory only during periods of severe cold and snow.

These so-called temperate nesting geese are becoming a problem in cities, when they live around lakes in city parks, golf course, and suburban neighborhoods. Goose droppings create a mess on sidewalks and driveways, and at times the big birds can be aggressive, especially towards small children.

Live-Trapping Nuisance Raccoons

Live-trapping is a good way to deal with nuisance raccoons in urban and suburban areas, where hunting and the use of leg-hold traps isn’t possible.
Havahart, in business since 1940, sells a line of metal box traps ideal for capturing raccoons. Visit their website.

Don’t encourage bad behavior by wildlife. Feeding pets outdoors is an open invitation for nuisance raccoons. Keep the wild in wildlife.

1Art-Lander-Jr.

Art Lander Jr. is outdoors editor for NKyTribune and KyForward. He is a native Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature enthusiast. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and author and is a former staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine, editor of the annual Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide and Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outdoors newspaper column.


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