Raccoon problem growing in Toronto

Liz Braun
Torontosun.com
June 10, 2021

The raccoons are winning.

The furry masked bandits have been a problem in Toronto for years, but with COVID lockdowns and less human activity, raccoons seem to be everywhere.

According to the City of Toronto, there has been a huge jump in raccoon encounters since COVID began. A March news release states that animal services saw a 300% jump in service requests for sick and injured animals last year over 2019; between January of 2020 and February of 2021, there was a 62% increase in reports of people being bitten or scratched by raccoons over previous yearly averages.

The main takeaway: Stay away from raccoons and all other wildlife and do not feed the animals. Secure your garbage and don’t feed pets outside.

Protect your pets. Besides a rabies vaccine, your dog needs to be vaccinated against Leptospirosis, Giardia, roundworm and canine distemper, all of which can be passed along by raccoon urine and feces.

Raccoons are persistent and clever and they want food and shelter just as much as we do.

Mike Heimbach, director of business development and marketing at Abell Pest Control, swears by the ounce of prevention approach.

The trick with controlling wildlife around your house is to be proactive — take preventative steps before there’s a problem. Once raccoons are eating your garbage or living in your attic, it’s hard to get them to change their habits.

Heimbach has seen every kind of wildlife infestation — raccoons, skunks, bats — and he feels your pain. The animals can do enormous damage to your domicile while setting up housekeeping for themselves.

“We’re getting more calls than ever before,” said Heimbach in an interview Tuesday. “Calls for raccoons are off the charts.”
Calls are up 65% across Canada, he added, and more than 200% in certain places.

Abell uses safe and humane methods to get rid of raccoons and other wildlife, and they put the focus on exclusion, Heimbach explained.

And yes, Abell will do trapping and removal as required, “But that’s not really the answer.”

It’s far more important to figure out where they’re getting into the attic or how they’re getting under your deck — and fix that. You focus on excluding them.

Abell does trap and remove in the spring when there are probably pups involved.

Their service includes waste removal, too, a nightmare of a job for any homeowner.

The important thing, Heimbach emphasized, “Is that we seal the access point after we remove the animals.”

Both raccoons and rats have had their food sources interrupted by COVID, as the lockdown has meant empty hotels and restaurants and none of the usual food garbage both generate.

That’s put the animals on the move to find food elsewhere.

“There’s been an explosion of rats in residential environments,” said Heimbach.

 

The good news is that Abell does preventative work. You can book them to come and go over your property before you have wildlife issues, and they’ll tell you what precautions to take.

“We can do a full property review and point out things you might not think about — like how a raccoon will use a tree branch to access your house,” Heimbach said.