While raccoons are interesting animals that will intrigue you with their intelligence, they are not strictly enemies or friends of the lawn. Since they pose a significant danger to your safety, raccoons are considered pests. Like many insects, raccoons may provide some advantages to your garden, however these contributions do not outweigh their potential harm. Becoming familiar with how to handle the presence of raccoons in your landscape is essential for your protection.
Identification
Raccoons have furry coats in brown-gray with ringed tails and also a telltale black mask across the eyes. Their ears are pointed and also their paws handlike, capable of detailed tasks such as pulling apart objects or unlatching a door. Measuring approximately 3 feet long with a body weight of 10 to 30 pounds, these mammals consume both plant-based and animal-based foods and are known for their ability to show up in a variety of locations due to scaling and digging skills.
Benefits
While you do not wish to abandon a raccoon problem untreated, these critters do provide certain advantages to your lawn. As a result of their preference for a number of foods, raccoons keep your lawn free of insects. For instance, raccoons will consume wasp larvae, destroying the nest. Raccoons also consume other insects, such as small mammals, keeping your lawn of a variety of issues.
Drawbacks
While raccoons provide some advantages to the lawn, they pose a larger threat to the safety of your loved ones. Since they do not fear people and aren’t easily scared off, the hurt that they cause becomes a significant concern. Raccoons carry diseases, such as rabies, roundworms, fleas and parvovirus, which threatens the health of the people and pets. These critters may also consume your garden plants and cause destruction and mess when they dump over garbage cans or locate an entry to your house or discard, looking for food.
Control
Exclusion and keeping a clean area is the very best way to handle a raccoon problem. Since it’s more dangerous than beneficial to allow them to live in your lawn, controlling them is vital. You might need to work with your neighbors to genuinely control the problem. Making every effort to remove hiding spaces, such as heaps of timber, removing food resources, keeping all your food inside sealed in airtight containers and blocking entrance points to your house or other buildings is the most effective method of compelling raccoons your lawn and house are unexciting. Adding an electric fence, even when possible, to your lawn is also valuable. However, avoid the initial instinct to trap, either relocate or eliminate raccoons, since these methods of management are prohibited in California without the help of a licensed management professional or consent in the Department of Fish and Game.