Raccoon droppings: this is the answer

Raccoons are cute animals in the zoo. However, if the small bears visit their own garden, they can cause all kinds of damage. However, the nocturnal intruders can be easily recognized by their legacy. How to spot raccoon droppings.

Urbanized raccoons

Since raccoons (wiss. Procylon lotor) are very adaptable, they have also conquered the human settlement area. Because this offers all kinds of useful things for the nocturnal predators:

• Fruits and insects in gardens
• Leftovers in garbage cans
• Sleeping and throwing places (garden sheds, garages, attics or caves in old garden trees)

Note: How well the raccoon has settled in Europe is also shown by the list of invasive alien species of Union-wide importance of the EU, on which the small bear has been registered since 2016.

But since other wild animals have also found pleasure in urban habitats, it is an advantage to have the Identify nocturnal intruders so that the appropriate countermeasures can be initiated can. A good reference point is the animals' slogan.

Recognize raccoon droppings

Raccoons are very clean animals. They don't just drop their slogan, but set up communal toilets called latrines. These

• are located in elevated places (e.g. B. Firewood pile in the garden) and
• are used regularly.

The typical characteristics of the legacy are:

• Appearance: tubular, two to three centimeters long
• slightly thicker than the droppings of martens
• overall resembles a small dog poop
• Color: depending on the food of the omnivores
• usually dark
• contains leftover food such as (raccoon) hair as well as the remains of berries, cherries or household waste

If the solution is pink to reddish in color, the probability that it is a raccoon is high. Because the small bears can eat the poisonous fruits of the yew tree unscathed.

Note: The smell of raccoon droppings is less pungent than that of martens.

Remove raccoon droppings

Since disease can be transmitted through solution of raccoon droppings, you should consider eliminating them

• Wear gloves, overshoes and mouth and nose protection,
• clean the latrine with a disinfectant spray,
• put the remains in a sealable plastic bag and
• Dispose of these together with gloves, overshoes and the face mask in the household waste.

Note: Since raccoons smell very good and mark their latrines with scented tags, you should remove them with chemical cleaning agents. In this way you can prevent other animals from recognizing the communal toilet.

Likelihood of confusion

However, since there are other animals in the garden during the night, which also leave their droppings, confusion can arise:

• Squirrel, rat and mouse droppings: significantly smaller
• Dog excrement: not in raised areas
• Fox droppings: in raised areas, but has a black to gray color, tapering, pungent odor
• Badger droppings: latrines not in elevated places, rough surface, cylindrical shape

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