[COPY] Back to Gardening Chapter 6, Dealing With Pests - Part A: Mammals (cont...)

In this section I discuss how to identify and deal with a raccoon problem.

Raccoons

Raccoons are nocturnal omnivores that can eat a range of vegetables. They are also clever, curious and adaptable. Those inclinations and traits, combined with their dexterous hands, make them a difficult problem to solve when they decide to make a meal of your garden. Raccoons can climb, burrow, and even solve simple gate latches from time to time (thankfully not mine… yet). These abilities make them a formidable problem for a gardener. This can be even more problematic in urban and suburban environments where raccoons have found a way to co-exist with humans - because these “civilized” raccoons tend to have a much better sense of what garden vegetables are good to eat when compared to their wilder cousins.

As far as gardeners should be concerned, they look like thieves because they are [source]

Identification

Raccoon will eat almost anything from grapes to goldfish - so their choice of food will often not give them away. Preferences can range from one animal to the next, although corn, peas, fruits and berries seem to be most preferred. They can also a heck of a mess when they dig up the garden looking for grubs.