Raccoons near you

The City of Toronto lists the openings raccoons use: uncapped chimneys, loose shingles and openings in attics, roofs and eaves, garages and sheds, as well as the space under decks and other structures. The damage outside and the timing of the noise usually confirm a raccoon rather than a smaller animal.

Raccoons settle where food and shelter are close together. Toronto Public Health asks residents not to feed raccoons or other wild animals, and the City recommends putting the green bin and garbage out on the morning of collection rather than the night before. Ontario's guidance adds a bungee cord or strap to keep lids tight on garbage and compost bins.

Toronto advises making sure all raccoons have moved out before an opening is closed, especially between March and July, when there may be babies. A mother cut off from her kits will work hard to reach them again, often by tearing a fresh hole in the roof, and kits sealed inside die where they are.

For a raccoon in a chimney, Ontario's guidance says the easiest option is often to wait: after eight to ten weeks, the female and young leave and don't return. It also warns against smoking them out or pouring anything down the chimney, including naphtha flakes or mothballs, since adult raccoons can climb out easily but their young can't. Once the family is gone, a chimney cap keeps the next one out.

Our wildlife removal page explains the general exclusion process. With raccoons, a few steps matter most.

Many homeowners picture trapping a raccoon and releasing it far away, but provincial rules point the other way. In Ontario, captured wildlife must be released within 1 kilometre of where it was caught and within 24 hours, and a wildlife removal business may capture and release a problem animal but not kill it. Moving animals also moves disease: Ontario reports that its 2015 raccoon rabies outbreak began when an animal was inadvertently moved into the province.

In Quebec, a landowner who captures a nuisance raccoon may release it on site, outside the building, with killing only as a last resort, and in municipalities around known raccoon rabies cases, moving or relocating live raccoons is prohibited. Whatever the province, a mother trapped and taken away leaves her kits behind to die, which is why exclusion is preferred over trapping in spring.

Raccoon droppings are more than a smell problem. HealthLink BC notes that waste from pet dogs, cats and raccoons is a common source of human roundworm infection, so keep children and pets away from raccoon latrines on decks, roofs and woodpiles. Toronto advises removing material contaminated with raccoon feces carefully and burning it, burying it or sending it to landfill, wearing protective equipment and treating surfaces with boiling water. A latrine in an attic is a job for a professional crew.

Raccoons are among the most common rabies carriers in Ontario, and Toronto Public Health calls them a high-risk vector for rabies transmission. Ontario reports no raccoon-variant cases detected since 2023, but the province still describes two forms of the disease to watch for: a dumb form, in which animals lose their fear of humans and become paralyzed, and a furious form, in which they become extremely excited and aggressive. Report a raccoon that seems sick to the provincial Wildlife Health Information Line, or to police in an emergency, and anyone bitten or scratched should wash the wound and contact a doctor or the local health unit right away.

A raccoon that has used an opening once will push hard on the patch, so the repair has to be stronger than the original material. Quebec's wildlife guidance recommends mesh with 5-cm openings against raccoons, groundhogs and skunks. Roof work belongs to a roofer or the removal company's crew, not a homeowner on a ladder.