BHB Publisher’s Brush With Wild Raccoon on Willow Street

By on January 16, 2010 3:25 pm in Brooklyn Heights


Many of you have posted over the last few months about raccoon spottings in Brooklyn Heights.   Last week my neighbors discovered one in our garbage bin having a trashy party with a good ol’ NYC rat.  Good times.   It took a visit from the NYPD to chase the raccoon away and our friendly exterminator deals with those pesky rodents on an ongoing basis.

The rats seemed to have gotten the “get away” memo, but a raccoon (we think it’s the same one) returned this morning.  Neighbors called animal control (it’s the NYCACC which is an NYC government contractor) and were told that they don’t do raccoons, but would gladly send us some brochures on handling our little rascal.   Remembering how the NYPD dispatched of our furry friend the last time, a team of neighbors attempted to release our furry friend back into “the wild”.  But these beasts….they are clever… and he just returned to the place he loves most – our garbage bin.  Lesson learned here: call a trapper.

The above video documents this attempt.  The Howard Dean-esque screams are mine depite the fact that Saddam (or Effie as Mrs. Fink calls “him”) seemed relatively friendly. Also, it should be noted that rabies is something to be concerned about when you encounter a raccoon.

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  • my2cents

    That made me laugh out loud! Hilarious reaction. Why are raccoons so cute yet so nasty?

  • Matthew Parker

    Be very careful of raccoons. There’s currently a serious rabies outbreak in Central Park. And last week a rabid raccoon bit a person there. I heard this during a recent meeting with the Parks Dept. Rabid raccoons have also been found in LIC.

  • http://lyndanaclerio.tumblr.com Lynda

    Oh sure, I laugh watching this, but there was a family of raccoons–they could have been Saddam’s body doubles–living in the vines around the block’s telephone pole, which is about ten feet from our yard.

    All spring, the vines would shake when the little ones would play, and then they decided to check out our cherry tree. And our porch. It wasn’t as fun as your video, mainly because it was dark every time they came around. I had a conversation with one because they made me go crazy. It understood what I was saying. That made me go more crazy.

    It’s not legal to set fire to vines in your neighbor’s yard is it?

  • frbullwalker

    entertaining!
    my dog saw one the other evening and ran for her life

  • nabeguy

    My daughter and I can’t stop watching this clip, it’s so funny. Laughs aside, I admire your courage HF in taking this raccoon tail-on. Not exactly Richard Engel territory, but that took guts, and I’d probably have screamed a lot louder in this situation…if only to scare the little critter away, mind you.

  • my2cents

    That wasn’t screaming, Nabeguy. That was Homer’s carefully calibrated Raccoon cry, which translates loosely to “You, sir, are not welcome in my territory. Kindly take your leave!”

  • AAR

    When my dog heard Homer’s cries he came running toward the computer full tilt and with load barks! Funny and not so funny at the same time — poor racoon is totally out of his territory.

  • Publius

    That’s one well-fed raccoon.

  • http://Www.twitch.com Peter

    When I was a kid a raccoon dropped out of a tree into an occupied
    baby carriage. Fortunately no injuries.

  • AEB

    Oh, the horror!

  • Emily

    I walk my redbone coonhounds down Willow St. all the time. I also hunt them on coon in the Catskills.
    There’s not much non-lethal you can do to discourage a coon that’s found a steady source of food it likes. It is illegal to transport a live coon. They are tough critters and actually seem to relish a fight. They love alcoholic beverages, especially soured corn.
    You may want to put a 1/4 inch of household ammonia on the bottom of your garbage pails. That is the best raccoon repellant I know.

  • reggie

    When I was in junior high school in a small town about 40 miles north of here, a resident called the police about a raccoon in her garbage can. The cop who responded emptied his revolver into the closed can, turned to the resident and said, “that should take care of the problem.” Or, you could try the household ammonia idea–it’s quieter if nothing else.