Vacant home attracts raccoons, creating a nuisance for neighbors

Diane Daniels, who lives in the 7th Ward, said raccoons which are occupying a vacant home in the neighborhood, have become a public nuisance.
Diane Daniels, who lives in the 7th Ward, said raccoons which are occupying a vacant home in the neighborhood, have become a public nuisance.

Vacant home attracts raccoons, creating a nuisance for neighbors

By Christopher Shuttlesworth

More than 70,000 Illinois homeowners report wildlife problems each year, and raccoons account for more than 60 percent of their complaints, according to ABC Humane Wildlife Control &Prevention.

One particular homeowner, Diane Daniels, who lives in the 7th Ward, has made complaints to Alderman Greg Mitchell about raccoons occupying a

vacant house located near her home in the 7th ward. The problem with the

raccoons is creating a public nuisance in the community, she said.

Daniels has lived in the 7th Ward for eight years, but within the last three years, the neighboring vacant house hasn’t been maintained, she stated, adding, raccoons that frequent the vacant home have already killed a cat in the neighborhood. She worries about attacks on people and possibly even children.

“The last three years, the house has been very unkept in terms of grass

not being cut and one of the level one windows aren’t boarded up,” Daniels

said. “They gutted out the house, but the inside interior and walls aren’t in

the best of condition.”

Since last May, Daniels said she’s witnessed problems at the vacant home. “When I would put the garbage out, there would be garbage outside of the cans and the plastic bags that I would put the garbage in were shredded.”

Daniels said she saw two raccoons between her house and the vacant

house in June and knew something

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