Raccoon Breaks Into Basement in Howell, NJ
This homeowner in Howell, NJ, has had work done in the past — from exclusions to just free roaming trapping in general. His porch was harboring just about every type of animal that seeks shelter at ground level in the state of New Jersey due to its large area. I assumed that he was having another issue with animals around the back deck area. Once I arrived at the location, it turns out, it wasn’t the back deck area were the issue was, it was his living room in his basement!
As soon as I walked into the basement, it was crystal clear that a wild animal was here (either that or they had one insane party). You can actually see little “handprints” on various walls throughout the basement. This situation is exceptionally dangerous because raccoons bring fleas, ticks, and other parasites into your home. Not to mention they leave feces and urine as they explore, and unless your Bret Michaels from Poison, you’re not accustomed to that type of environment.
It was clear that the raccoon was walking on the drop ceiling tiles and fell through while navigating. There was some good news — once I walked around the corner and saw how open the drop ceiling was in areas, I was confident that the raccoon made its way back outside. You could see where it climbed various areas leading to the ceiling and was hanging on the wiring to move across the basement.
After fully inspecting the basement, and helping the homeowner clean up, I walked around to the exterior of the home and did find an access point at the rear of the house underneath a picture window overhang. Definitely not an access point that you see that often.
Being the fact that there was a wild animal roaming around someone’s living space, this issue needed to be taken care of immediately! We carefully set up traps and a one-way near the access point. Two days later, we received a call from the homeowner that the raccoon was successfully captured in one of our traps. We then humanely relocated the raccoon and will return to repair and help the homeowner find a permanent solution to this problem.