Operation Raccoon & Team Ward

Well, for the last couple of weeks we have been hearing something in our chimney. At first, we thought birds were nesting in there, and then Kelly threw out that it might be a raccoon. He had seen paw prints leading up to the rooftop.

So today we launched Operation Coon Capture...Kelly devised a plan to spook the mother out of the chimney, while I watched safely from his truck. Kelly opened up the flume in the living room, which had been inoperable since we moved in. Even after much banging around, the mother would not flee the chimney. So Kel turned on the propane stove and within minutes, she had fleed the nest. (See video)

With long arms and a delicate touch, Kel extracated three kits covered in soot. With their eyes still being closed, we estimated that they were about 10 days old.

We sealed off everything so that the mother cannot return. We are relieved to have that problem solved. Unfortunately there is an outbreak of parvo and rabies in this area, so we were instructed by pest control to dispose of the kits in case they were infected. :(