Pets, People Can Coexist With Raccoon Family

QUESTION: A raccoon family is living in my palm tree. I have two cats and my neighbor has a dog. Is it safe to live with raccoons? If not, how do I get rid of them without hurting them?

ANSWER: You can learn to coexist with raccoons, and so will the cats and dog. Here are some precautions you can take to keep safe while living around raccoons:

* Bring in your pets and their food and water dishes at night, and close pet doors. Have your pets vaccinated regularly.

* Keep garbage cans covered and inside the garage, if possible, until pickup day.

* Trim back tree limbs that might provide an easy route to your roof. Raccoons love a warm attic or garage and will tear up your roof to get in.

Raccoons can carry zoonoses, diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans.

A fairly common zoonosis in Los Angeles area raccoons is the roundworm baylisascaris. The roundworm’s eggs, which raccoons shed in their feces, can be ingested by people working or playing in soil-contaminated areas.

Children are at particularly high risk because raccoons use sandboxes as toilets.

Only direct sunlight and desiccation will kill the eggs, which infect a person’s nervous system and can cause seizures and muscular dysfunction. In rare cases, the eggs settle in the brain, which can be fatal. In any event, there is no treatment.

To guard against transmission of zoonoses, I recommend that you cover sandboxes at night with a weighted tarp.

On a rare occasion, a raccoon may attack a cat or small dog. This usually happens when a raccoon has been cornered or is sick, but have a veterinarian look over your pet if you suspect a bite.

To get the raccoons off your property, you’ll have to hire a nuisance wildlife control company. But you should know that they would probably euthanize the animals, as would most municipal animal control agencies.

Balcony Has Become Perch for Pigeons

Q: My fifth-floor Westwood condo balcony has become a pigeon dumping ground second only to Venice’s Piazza San Marco. I’ve tried to deter them with a frog-shaped motion-sensing, croak-emitting device at which they seem to scoff. The result is that I’m the one who’s startled by a “ribit” whenever I step outside. Your thoughts?

A: The trick to solving the problem of roosting pigeons is having the right tools and using them correctly.

Several companies make light-weight, easy-to-install products that keep the birds from landing on ledges, handrails, lights and air-conditioning units. Since you didn’t say where the birds are landing, I’m assuming it’s on the handrail.

To keep pigeons from roosting, you can purchase pre-assembled strips of spiked wire. Mounting can be accomplished with screws, straps or a special glue.

According to Cameron Riddell, president of Bird Barrier America Inc., a company that makes bird control products, pigeons won’t impale themselves on the spikes, and smaller songbirds won’t be harmed.

Persistent birds get smart and can drop nesting material on the spikes, creating a new roosting area. So you’ll need to clean off any debris.

Stay away from the sticky bird repellers that are applied like caulk. Smaller birds can get their wings and feet caught. And it’s difficult to clean up.

One-foot lengths of bird spikes cost $3.35 through Bird Barrier America Inc. (800) 503-5444).

Can Desert Tortoises Return to Habitat?

Q: We have two desert tortoises that have been living in our yard for 20 years. We found them in the street and brought them home for the kids to play with. Now that the kids are gone, we’d like to take them back to the desert. My neighbor says they won’t survive in the wild. Is this true?

A: Your tortoises might survive, but the tortoises that they come in contact with in the wild might not.

Once desert tortoises have been taken out of the desert and moved to cooler climates, they can contract an upper respiratory tract disease.

The disease can be fatal to domesticated tortoises, but it can also be carried, without symptoms, by tortoises, which could then infect wild tortoises.

In the early 1970s, it was quite common to pick up a “pet” tortoise from the Mojave Desert, or even buy one in pet stores. Today, the Endangered Species Act makes it a crime to remove a tortoise from the desert.

To find a new home for your tortoises, call the California Turtle and Tortoise Club at (510) 886-2946.They also answer questions about desert tortoises’ diet and shelter requirements.

Clarification

The July 5 “Living With Wildlife” column said sparrows are not federally protected birds. It should have specified that house sparrows are not protected.

Critter conflicts? Send your queries to Andrea Kitay at P.O. Box 2489, Camarillo, CA 93011, or via e-mail at adkitay@ix.netcom.com. Please include your name, where you live and as much detail as possible. Questions cannot be answered individually.