Raccoon Family Humanely Relocated by 1st Response Wildlife

Greater Tucson, Vail, Green Valley, Oro Valley, and beyond have seen a great deal of raccoon activity this spring.  1^st Response Wildlife has several customers who have discovered that their business or home was chosen as a great birthing location for a new family.

Recently, a call to a home to investigate cooing, chirping noises, and night time rustling sounds, resulted in the capture of mother raccoon and her new kits.  The kits were snuggled together in a small crawl space which, while a safe and adequate location for birthing, over time would have become completely inadequate for a growing family. In fact, as you will see in the videos and pictures below, these kits, which didn’t even have their eyes open when captured, would have soon outgrown the small space where they were found and the homeowner would, in short order, have had a real problem as the mother tore out more insulation to create a larger place to raise her young.

1^st Response Wildlife has a philosophy and practice of humanely relocating animals.  In a case like this, where a complete family is captured, capturing the family is only the beginning of a process to ensure the family unit is comfortable and is transported and released in a manner that preserves their wild nature, and also retains protection for survival.

For this family, a site for relocation was chosen that was close to a food source, running water, and a well protected environment. (It even had half a dozen large trees with holes in their trunks that could easily become a new home for this family.)  The mother was captured first and the sounds of the babies chirping, cooing, and moving around led to the discovery of their hiding place.  Once the family unit was complete, they were all transferred over night to a “transfer” enclosure-seen below.

 

Exploration of a place to relocate and release, resulted in preparation for travel to the new location.  The babies were moved, one by one, (see below).  

 

 

All of them were eventually placed in a comfortable swath for the trip. (See below-note the sounds the kits make, which was key to locating them)

 

Here we see the mother, in the transfer enclosure with the kits held over night in preparation for transfer the next day.

  

 

Here is a picture of the family, packed up and ready to be moved to their new home/release site.  The mother is by herself, with the babies in smaller gray enclosure behind her, in the truck, tucked in their little swath of cloth, on their way to their new home.

Once at the new location, the family is reunited back into the transfer enclosure, food and water are presented and the process of a “soft,” release back into the wild begins.  After a few days, the process is complete and, while you may have trouble seeing into the enclosure, this picture below is of an empty enclosure.  The mother has left, found their new home, come back for the kits, taken them one-by-one, and the enclosure is ready for removal and reuse for the next family.

If you think you have raccoons which have taken up residence in or around your property, are losing fish from your fish pond, hear noises on your roof or in your attic, please give 1^st Response Wildlife a call to help you identify and work with you to figure out the best approach to dealing with them.   Raccoons can be destructive, messy, and they are smart.  Whether you have a large male, or a new family that has moved into your home, attic, or is tearing up parts of your property, 1^st Response Wildlife can help.

 Thanks for considering 1st Response Wildlife 

Josh's Cell (24/7 Hours): 520-260-9517

Josh Waling is a humane Licensed Animal Trapper who catches and releases wildlife, removing animals including bobcats (lince), snakes, rattlesnakes (serpiente de cascabel), raccoons (mapache), pack rats, gila monsters (monstruos de gila), rabbits (canejo), owls, bats, hawks, ducks, squirrels (ardilla), peacocks, coatimundi (gato solo), skunks (mofeta), exotics, and domestic cats and dogs. He delivers service that is professional and fast and he is available 24/7.  Give him a call the next time you hear unusual noises in the attic or crawl spaces in your home or if you see wildlife eating your vegetation, creating nests, and raising their young too close to your pets or children or have an exotic sighting in your neighborhood. 520-260-9517 Thanks!