Raccoon is in my Manhattan NYC garden! what should I do?

July 15, 2024 9:49 AM

we have an inflatable pool in our garden in the East Village. It sits on a wooden platform raised about 6" off the ground. I just went out there and saw a raccoon looking out at me.

I called a Humane Wildlife company and they can come out on Wednesday morning (no sooner) and swear that they won't hurt the raccoon. I then searched around and somebody said if I call NYC Animal Control they won't kill the raccoon unless it's sick. Then I saw a post on reddit saying in NY State they HAVE to kill a captured raccoon, no matter what. It's not as if they're going to give it a rabies test!

The woman I spoke to at the humane wildlife company said a raccoon won't be awake during the day unless it's sick or just has or is going to have babies and is looking for food and/or a nesting spot, but I should stay out of the garden because most likely it is sick.

But a NYC website about wildlife says that in an urban environment you might very well see a raccoon during the day because there are fewer predators or whatever and they might not be sick or pregnant, just looking for food.

I think Animal Control would be free and the private company will cost several hundred dollars (she couldn't give me an exact price until the guy comes and sees what the job will consist of).

I don't want the raccoon to be hurt!

Question: WHAT THE HELL SHOULD I DO NOW??? wait for Wed? call Animal Control now? Will the raccoon be killed no matter who I call? Do I have to stay out of my garden until it goes away? What if it doesn't go away?

ETC.!!!

posted by DMelanogaster to Home & Garden (25 answers total)

I would treat it like a stray dog or like most wild animals: Be watchful around it, and don’t approach closely. Make sure there is no food or garbage around that it can get into. It should leave fairly soon to find food or a place to sleep. You don’t need to call anyone to get rid of it unless it is nesting in your home or otherwise causing problems.

Here is some more information from the city of New York.
posted by mbrubeck at 10:03 AM on July 15 [2 favorites]

I'm in Chicago and am a 311 super user. I assume/hope that NYC's 311 is as good as ours. If I were in your shoes I would call 311 and ask them exactly what to do and what will happen if you do it. As far as I'm aware, there's no mandated reporting for nuisance critters, so you should be able to ask and get enough info to make an informed choice before giving your address or making anything permanent.
posted by phunniemee at 10:06 AM on July 15

Raccoons love water, is the pool full? It might just be chilling. I've had a few daytime encounters with raccoons in the park that did not seem overtly sick, and I've had a run-in with a very ill raccoon in the daytime. It's not always rabies that gets them. I give them a wide birth. I'd observe from a distance and guess it will probably move on.
posted by spacebologna at 10:07 AM on July 15 [2 favorites]

Congrats, you have a raccoon in your neighborhood. Secure your trash cans, and eliminate any easily available foods like pet foods. Then walk away. Let it be.

If it turns out to be obviously ill or wounded, then yes, call 311 and see what the next steps are. But merely sighting a raccoon isn't cause for alarm.

(I have raccoons in my Los Angeles neighborhood; sometimes they are out during the day.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:10 AM on July 15 [19 favorites]

A raccoon did a lot of damage to my backyard inflatable kiddie pool - claws poked right through it - so you may want to drain or deflate it in the short term.
posted by gingerbeer at 10:13 AM on July 15 [1 favorite]

Raccoons can be active during the day and not rabid. I would call animal control, ask them about what happens to the animal. I do not like animals to be put down, but city raccoons are pests and readily carry disease and fleas, as well as strew garbage.
posted by theora55 at 10:15 AM on July 15

That NYC city page suggests captured raccoons are killed.

FWIW, there is a non-zero possibility of rabies in racoons in NYC (see warning signs in Central Park and elsewhere).
posted by hoyland at 10:38 AM on July 15

Trash pandas can be amusing and fun to watch. They can also be annoying, dirty, extremely destructive, and flat out mean and bitey, even without rabies.

If I had a small yard and kids, I would wave goodbye without thinking too hard about it and hope they fair well.
posted by BlueHorse at 11:06 AM on July 15 [1 favorite]

When I was a wildlife biologist in a place with a lot of people and a lot of raccoons, we used to get calls all the time from people in basically your exact situation. Many of them assumed that the raccoon must have accidentally wandered into their neighborhood and that the obvious course of action would be to have someone come and trap it and release it somewhere more appropriate, like a wildlife refuge. We would explain that the suburbs are full of raccoons that are not there accidentally; they're there because residential neighborhoods are good raccoon habitat. They can find garbage and pet food to eat. They often find a way to get into an attic to make a den. People don't realize how common they are because they tend to be more active after dark. But it's also not that uncommon for a raccoon to be out in the daytime. It doesn't automatically mean it's sick. It doesn't even mean it's probably sick.

Raccoons live in all boroughs of NYC. They have probably been living in your neighborhood for a long time and will continue to live there even if you remove this particular one. So there really is no point in removing it unless it becomes obvious that it's sick. (Even if it is sick, it doesn't necessarily have rabies. There are diseases like distemper that raccoons can get but that aren't a threat to humans.)

In your place, I would do absolutely nothing for now. If the raccoon is healthy, you can expect it to move on before long. Whether or not you should stay out of your garden depends on how small your garden is. You should keep your distance from the raccoon, but if you can stay 30 ft. or so away from it, it wouldn't hurt to go out and yell at it and see if it runs away. (But if it just sits there staring at you, don't assume that means it's sick, or has no fear of humans, or would be likely to attack you. When wild animals see something potentially dangerous, it's very normal for them to just freeze and watch it rather than instantly running away.)

If the raccoon is still there tomorrow, or if you see signs there is something wrong with it (e.g. lying on the ground in an exposed area, having difficulty walking, appearing unaware of what's going on around it) then you should call someone to come and get it, realizing that they will kill it, but if it's sick it would probably die anyway.

Also, I highly doubt animal control has the personnel to respond to calls about raccoons that are not obviously sick. I suspect if you call them they will suggest you call a private company, or just continue to observe it for now.
posted by Redstart at 11:20 AM on July 15 [21 favorites]

FYI, the NYC info is right, the other people are wrong. Many healthy human-acclimated raccoons are active during the day, be it in urban areas, or even popular campsites in the woods.

I would ignore, secure trash and possible food items, and move on. Do note the pool is a huge attraction; raccoons are basically semi-aquatic and love water. So cover that or put it away if you want less racoon action in your yard.
posted by SaltySalticid at 11:22 AM on July 15 [2 favorites]

Question: WHAT THE HELL SHOULD I DO NOW???

Mind your business and leave them to get by like you would any other neighbor.

If it's not showing any signs of distemper, rabies or any other neurological impairment, I'd say don't leave food out, maybe add something to your pool so an animal in it can get out if they fall in, and otherwise just let it go. I had six raccoons in my yard last night, and they poked around a bit and went on their way, it's really not a big deal.
posted by mhoye at 11:26 AM on July 15 [7 favorites]

Question: WHAT THE HELL SHOULD I DO NOW???

Nothing? I have never lived anywhere in America where there were not trash pandas running around at all hours of the day/night, and that includes Brooklyn. I wonder if OP is an expat? There are as endemic as rats or pigeons to urban areas, removing one is futile and pointless. They live for trash, they don't care about you, just don't approach them. All you need to do is make sure they are not getting into your trash can - they are mischievous as fuck and have cute little hands.

Also being out during the day does not mean they are sick, raccoons fucking love water almost as much as they love trash and it's been hot, dude was trying to cool off. If I saw him in my pool I would wave to him and go about my business.
posted by bradbane at 11:54 AM on July 15 [5 favorites]

If you have pets with any outdoor aspect to their lives (even just going for walks), make sure their vaccinations are up to date. You should be doing this anyway, of course, but if you missed a recent booster date on any of your furry dependents, take this as a nudge to do it right away.
posted by praemunire at 12:09 PM on July 15 [3 favorites]

The raccoon is not going to hang around waiting until Wednesday. You only need to try to have it caught and picked up if it is injured or worse. You will probably not ever see it again.
posted by lgandme0717 at 12:17 PM on July 15

Best answer: This is really bad advice, but...

The only way I have yet encountered that will keep a raccoon out of my garbage is to piss in it. It seems that raccoons are very clean animals, that wash their food and stay away from things that smell like urine. I don't actually have to piss in my garbage can, I can simply drop a few ripe pissy diapers into the top of it and they give my bin a complete miss. I can throw an entire chicken carcass in there, and leave the can unlocked and there's not a single muddy paw print on the lid, much less the empty bin being found in the morning flat on its back with the lid six feet away. For some reason raccoons feel the same way about a roast chicken found underneath a pissy diaper that you do.

So one simple and inexpensive way you can probably convince the raccoon that your backyard is a disgusting place for any nice raccoon to set up housekeeping, is to go around and piss on everything you can, ensuring that nobody, neither you, nor the raccoon, nor your neighbours like the way your backyard smells.

I told you it was really bad advice.

But there are other things you can do to make the raccoon go away that won't make your backyard into the cess pit of the neighbourhood.

Unfortunately while simultaneously being very clean animals that wash their food, raccoons are also vilely filthy animals, because they live on scavenged rotting food, so they ordinarily have really gross parasites, and their own latrine waste is so toxic with bacteria that you don't go near it without a mask and gloves, you use bleach on the area if it is on a roof or in an attic, and then you throw out the broom afterwards. Raccoons will establish a latrine, in one central location where they do their business and will return to that area repeatedly. And you very much do not want to have a raccoon latrine in your backyard. If you have seen a raccoon in the yard you are going to want to make sure there is no latrine.

So I am going to suggest that you bring a broom and you explore your back yard and any area reasonably near to it, such as the roof of the shed and the lane and behind the dumpster there, and make sure there is no raccoon latrine in or beside your back yard. If there isn't a latrine, the presence of the raccoon is not a particularly big deal. In fact they probably have been wandering through your backyard since well before you moved in. This is merely the first time you noticed one, because it had insomnia and was up in the daytime taking a dip in your pool, because it was just too darn hot to sleep.

Also, your neighbour may have realised that the raccoon's usual source of drinking water on their property was breeding mosquitos and drained it. The fact that the raccoon was seen near a source of drinking and washing water is an indication that it is probably just a thirsty raccoon. How about draining your pool and only leaving it full of water when it is in active use? Leaving it full for 24 hours makes it a mosquito breeding ground, and it becomes what is legally referred to as 'an attractive nuisance', likely to entice young interlopers onto your property and leave you rushing out bawling at them to "Get off my lawn!!"

If you are seeing a raccoon in broad daylight - since it is July - especially if you are seeing it in a place you've never seen them before - there is a very good chance that particular raccoon was born this spring, and it and its siblings have reached adolescence and are now dispersing from their home nest while looking for a place of its own to live. You will also see more road killed raccoons and woodchucks at this time of year and that is why.

What you probably want to do is convince it that it might enjoy doing a little skinny dipping in your pool while you are unaware of the delinquent behaviour, but you now know it has been taking liberties and this is your territory and it is not welcome here. Your pool is there for your benefit, not its.

In that case the first thing to do is drain the pool, and the second thing is to search for signs of a latrine, and if you find it, clean it, and then fill the entire area you had to clean with spikes that are MUCH too uncomfortable for a raccoon to comfortably squat on while it does its business. And then you want to spend the entire remainder of the month of July living as loudly and actively in your backyard as possible. Get a broom and probe all the bushes. It's time to bring out the music, and climb the tree, and throw balls, and crash through your shrubbery, and hose down the flowers, and beat rugs, and even haul out a barbecue and have the neighbours over for beer. Dawn and dusk are the best times to enjoy backyard mayhem, because that is when the raccoons are most active leaving or going back to their sleeping places (almost always in trees or other high up locations), and if your kids are playing tag with flashlights then, the raccoon isn't going to be able to enjoy a quiet home life. Get a chiminea and enjoy your backyard.

Raccoons are used to people, and clever enough about sharing territory with them without getting stepped on, that that you should be safe climbing the tree and poking your shrubbery with a broom, or while wearing boots, as long as you leave the poor guy an escape route when you do. But if you encounter a raccoon staggering, or actively roaming slowly in daylight, or one acting in any way suspicious, you will need to immediately withdraw back to the house. If the critter is acting the least bit unusual for a raccoon, such as sleeping right in the open on the ground, stay the hell out of the yard and call animal control to report it. If a raccoon does that, they are probably a very sick raccoon and will not live out the week; it could be rabies. If you call the Animal Control on a healthy raccoon, it will take one look at the guy with the long pole with the loop on it and leave so quickly that they are unable to catch it. Describe the raccoon to them; they only come out if they are worried about rabies. If they won't come out you are likely safe enough to harass the raccoon by banging pot lids and waving a broom.


A healthy raccoon won't let you corner it, unless it already has a bag of hot dog buns from the picnic table in its mouth and can't make a getaway without dropping the bag. If it's risking a slap on the butt from your broom to hang onto a meal, that's a healthy, albeit hungry raccoon. (When this happened to us the bag of bread was on the kitchen table, and the raccoon was in the kitchen, and it refused to leave the house without the ill gotten gains, even though it was very anxious to get out of there as quickly as it could. But it backed off so it could keep its eyes on our broom and thus got stuck in the hole in the screen door, so it was hilarious.) If it's boldness has nothing to do with food, then the broom isn't long enough and you better get into the house and make that call.

Whether or not you decide to be noisy and hold a barbecue every evening to discourage the raccoon from trying to make your backyard its new home, make sure that not a particle of food is left in your yard or in front of your house, NO FOOD GARBAGE from your house, that a raccoon might potentially scavenge. You don't even leave a dirty grill that the poor hungry raccoon might be tantalized into trying to pry open so it can lick it. No empty cups. NOTHING that resembles or smells of people food.
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:23 PM on July 15 [10 favorites]

Best answer: Also pet food and bird feeders attract raccoons. If you don't want regular visitors, you'll need to make sure it's not coming to eat food you are putting out for someone else.
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:32 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]

The reason you want to watch out for raccoon latrines is because raccoon feces commonly carries raccoon roundworm eggs. In humans and other animals that aren't the normal roundworm host, the larvae can migrate out of the gut into other parts of the body, including the brain, causing serious problems. The eggs in fresh feces aren't infective; it takes 2-4 weeks for them to mature to that point. Unfortunately, they can remain viable for years. How can you tell if a raccoon pooped in your yard a year or two ago and left eggs in the soil? You can't, which is why in addition to avoiding raccoon poop and cleaning up obvious latrine sites you should also wash your hands after getting dirt on them. (Dog roundworm larvae can cause similar problems in humans, so you also need to be concerned about places dogs have pooped.) But I wouldn't get too freaked out about roundworm. Cases in humans are rare. It's definitely something it's good to be aware of, but there are a lot of more likely dangers you should focus on more.
posted by Redstart at 2:07 PM on July 15 [5 favorites]

I have a large avocado tree and a large persimmon tree and a flowing waterfall feature in my backyard. I have a grocery store across the way and a couple of restaurants as well.

Needless to say, I have racoon neighbors and they've scared the piss out of me many times.

Might I suggest you do what any good Southern host would do and bring them a pitcher of sweet tea? :)

(But no, seriously, leave them be, police the yard of temptations and wish them a swell life)
posted by drewbage1847 at 3:17 PM on July 15

FYI the only way an animal can be tested for rabies is after death, when the brain tissue is dissected and tested.

I once had what I was convinced was a rabid raccoon in my suburban neighborhood (not NY), called the police, and the police sent an officer who confirmed that the animal appeared very sick. I assume there was consultation with a wildlife agency because the cop waited for some time, like 30 minutes, for radio permission to shoot it dead. I never heard if it was rabid, and I never knew if it was tested.

The raccoon climbed out of a storm drain and walked around drunkenly in the street, and then sat staring at us. It was the middle of the day. The police roped off the street while it was there to divert traffic and curious people.
posted by citygirl at 3:32 PM on July 15

I'm from Toronto where I see raccoons more than I see my neighbours. Once one came into my BEDROOM. I threw a novel at it. It did not read the novel, but it also did not run away from the novel. Toronto raccoons are particularly cozy and jolly and cute and crafty and waddling and adorable and annoying.

A selection of Toronto Raccoon Hijinks:
mcdonald
sky donut
zoom zoom
snak box
house pawti

Anyway, raccoon latrines are disgusting and dangerous, don't let one develop in your yard, don't touch their poop, and research how to clean it properly.

Raccoons are not afraid of home remedies like cayenne pepper or scented soap. Even being squirted with a water pistol is no big deal to them, much to the delight of my neighbour's child.

And definitely stay away & call animal control for weird-acting or sickly raccoons - most likely it's distemper (fatal to raccoons, dangerous for dogs, humans can't catch it but can spread it to dogs). But rabies is so dangerous that of course, you don't want to take the chance! Vaccinate cats and dogs, too.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 9:26 PM on July 15 [1 favorite]

Question: WHAT THE HELL SHOULD I DO NOW???

Buy a webcam, give the racoon a name appropriate for stardom, set up new social media accounts, etc.

call Animal Control now? Will the raccoon be killed no matter who I call?

You live in a place where raccoons live, so another raccoon will probably appear to use this exciting water source if this one is removed or killed.

Welcome the raccoon into your life, anyone could put a pool in their yard, but you have a raccoon!

Do I have to stay out of my garden until it goes away?

Well it might have rabies, but on the other hand, you might be able to feed it hot dogs or something on camera, depends on your risk tolerance that's up to you but you might want to google what happens if you get rabies first.

I don't think you have to stay out? Raccoons are commonly found in gardens in cities. You have probably had raccoons visit before.

What if it doesn't go away?

Buy a pool toy for the raccoon. Work on your marketing skills, or maybe hire a social media manager or agent. Get sponsorship deals for something maybe.
posted by yohko at 4:35 PM on July 16

I called a Humane Wildlife company and they can come out on Wednesday morning (no sooner) and swear that they won't hurt the raccoon.

Releasing wild animals outside of their territory often leads to their deaths, even if the animal was unhurt when released.
posted by yohko at 4:40 PM on July 16 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: UPDATE: After the initial sighting, I have not seen the raccoon again. (I sort of miss them.) I cancelled my appointment with the raccoon removal service and will not be calling anyone unless I see them again, walking toward me, snarling and salivating.

Thank you all.
posted by DMelanogaster at 10:11 AM on July 17 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: FINAL UPDATE (Warning: Sad) -- I smelled dead animal and it turned out to have died in my neighbor's backyard. I am sad.
posted by DMelanogaster at 10:02 PM on July 26

I am sorry to hear of your sad news. You wanted the best for the racoon and did not want it to come to harm, sadly, that was not what happened.
posted by yohko at 3:47 PM on August 6 [1 favorite]