Last week, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday (March 18 or 19), I heard a noise coming from the fireplace in our living room. Our 2 cats and our dog heard it as well. Then the noise subsided. I thought maybe another squirrel had tried to get in via the chimney and then decided to leave. There have been other incidents of them trying to get in. (Bats as well, but that’s another story.) On Friday, (March 21), my wife heard a noise coming from the fireplace in the basement. I said it was probably the same squirrel that tried to get in the living room fireplace earlier in the week. Both fireplaces are semi-sealed inside because we don’t use them anymore. Nothing else out of the ordinary happened over that weekend. On Monday night, (March 24) my wife heard strange noises coming from the basement fireplace again, only this time a little louder. She again thought it sounded like a squirrel. Our cats were very interested. Tinker our female cat had pried the board we had placed in the fireplace opening to seal it about an inch or so. My wife could see the little creature’s yellow eyes. I told her that it wasn’t dieing so we should call a pest removal company to get the animal extracted. She agreed; we both felt sorry for the animal. My wife called 'All Time Pest Control' (517-749-6017) and Glenn said he’d be out in the morning around 8 am. He arrived promptly at 8 and then said: “That is not a squirrel you hear, but a female *raccoon and her babies!” A mother raccoon had used our chimney as a birthing den. He instructed us to keep the cats away for they were considered an immediate threat and the mother raccoon would kill them. Then he climbed unto the roof and put a natural deterrent into the chimneys. He said that should make the mother raccoon move out with her babies. Glenn said he’d be back in the morning to put the caps on the chimneys. Glenn came back in the morning and checked the chimney where the raccoons were living. It didn’t work as he had planned. She had moved the babies further down into the firebox! He told us to get some chimney caps and he would install them. He put a live trap on the roof and baited it with cat food. He said he’d be back in the morning to retrieve the cage and hopefully the momma raccoon. Glenn came back early and checked the trap. Yeah it had worked! The momma raccoon was in the trap and very testy. Then Glenn retrieved the babies from the fireplace. He got back onto the roof and installed the chimney caps. He took the raccoon family out into the country to let them go and live.
* http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/a_closer_look_at_wildlife/raccoons.html © 2008 Jeff (weseye) Wesley
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