A mother raccoon in cage trap, lured in by babies

Go back to the main photograph page or the home page.

Catching Mama Raccoon - Mother raccoons are a great example of an animal with natural motherly instincts. Till the time their babies are in their care, mother raccoons can go to any lengths to protect them and feed them. Having a good eye for a warm spot, you will generally find a raccoon family crawled up in a nice warm place, which they use as their nest. Mostly they use a hollow tree trunk or the attic area of houses as their safe haven, especially when their kids are so small that they cannot venture out on their own.

The raccoon family you see in the picture above was also residing in someone’s attic. They usually enter attics by the help of nearby trees, which make it easier for them to access high attic windows. That is what happened in this particular scenario as well. Of course, it was only a matter of time before the owners heard all the scratching and hullabaloo big momma and her little kids made. They called me up for help and there I was to see what these raccoons were up to, and I was not surprised to see that it was a classic raccoon in the attic story.

When I reached the attic, mommy dearest was out food hunting for her kids. This was perfect because if she were there, she would have made it tough to even lay a hand on her kids. Anyways, I got hold of the babies with the help of a back trap and then patiently waited for the mother to come home. This is the ideal way of catching mother raccoons as they always follow wherever their kids are and the mother raccoon in this case also did the same, walking into the trap and making the raccoon collection complete.

I decided that the best way to ensure their proper survival was to let them go in the wilderness and that is what I did. A satisfying end to a normal work day!