Wildlife Removal Photo Album: Raccoons Gain Access to Lanoka Harbor, NJ Home

Recently, homeowners in Lanoka Harbor, NJ had a raccoon gain access into an area of their roofline. Raccoons are highly dexterous animals with excellent climbing skills, and attics, chimneys, and areas around the roofline are all common harborage areas for wildlife, especially raccoons and squirrels.

Successful trapping of raccoons

I headed out to check on some of the other traps we set in the area and returned in about an hour. The little kit lured out the mother and there she was inside the trap with the juvenile. With mom in the trap, two other little kits were hanging out around the trap wondering what was up with mom. We removed all of the raccoons together to relate the entire family in a safe location far away from human habitats. After we removed the raccoons, we were able to seal up the roofline area.

Raccoon damage

Raccoon damage and entry point into home.

Raccoon kit in laundry basket

This appeared to be a standard raccoon situation that I've dealt with countless times. However, the only thing predictable about wildlife is their unpredictability. I set a positive set trap over the opening and expected the mother, who generally leaves the den at night to forage for her kits, to soon be caught within a day. Positive sets are traps that are placed over or in front of an entrance hole, and barricaded to funnel the invading animal. Wildlife technicians particularly like using positive sets because they catch only the target animals existing the hole that's covered, and other "innocent" animals can't accidentally find themselves trapped.

Traps set

Even with a positive trap set over the opening, the trap remained empty for a week. I started to think that this extended stand-off meant that the female may be long gone. Perhaps something happened to her when she was out foraging, maybe hit by a car, maybe trapped in some other location at another house. I inspected the attic to see what was going on. To my surprise, she was still up there! I also saw the one of the juvenile raccoons found himself in a pickle. He had fallen through a drop ceiling in the laundry room that had a tile missing. I placed the little raccoon in a screened off area in the back fo the trap so he could not accidentally set off the trap and secured the trap inside the attic