Masked Burglars: ‘Stay Away from our Homes’
By Ellen Wu
People normally do not spend much time thinking about their garbage. They put it out on the sidewalk, or throw it down a chute the night before, and that’s it. This is not the case in Bayside, Queens. The residents already know what will happen. In the morning, their garbage will be strewn all over their lawn and the street. They don’t ask ‘who would have done such a thing?’ but rather they know the culprits are raccoons.
For many residents in Bayside, their trash has became food for the raccoons, who have moved from the trees at Alley Pond Park to beautiful rows of homes to get closer to their food source.
“They leave a mess after the next morning…. I’m responsible to shovel it up, ” said Garrick Lee, a resident of 12 years in Bayside, Queens.
Another resident, Jerrold Yee, who has lived in Bayside for six years, is also annoyed with the raccoons. “It’s quiet here in Bayside, so like at night you can hear them squeaking and scuffing through trash bags. I know for sure that they are hiding under my storage playhouse in my backyard.”
Aside from creating a general nuisance by strewing garbage all over and nesting in chimneys, raccoons also carry diseases that can create a serious health hazard when they are near humans.
According to Bayside community district manager, Susan Seinfeld, raccoons are hosts to fleas, ticks, mites, and lice, which can easily jump to children or household pets and which is why residents know not to handle these creatures without cautious procedures.
“I got used to hearing them often at night going through my backyard…but what can I do? I’m not allowed to shoot them …. I’m not going to go near them. I don’t want to catch any diseases,” said Lee.
In addition, Seinfeld claimed that raccoons were commonly infected by a roundworm parasite egg-like, of which are released in the raccoon’s feces, which can contaminate anything that comes into contact with it.
At Alley Pond Park, near P.S 31, raccoons are likely to hide in scattered trees, most of which are taller than three stories high. In this park, it’s usually quiet, with a few runners and walkers taking a stroll in the forest trail.
George Weber, a Park Department worker at Alley Pond Park, had advice when encountering with raccoons. “If anyone, or animal touches the feces or anything soiled by it, they run a high risk of being infected with roundworm and becoming a host themselves. Many of these raccoons have not received any vaccine, and for those that did, it is not easy to tell if they received it or not, so we have to be very cautious when encountering with one,” he said.
“This one time, I saw them running around in my neighbors’ backyard towards their garbage can. I stopped my car just to get a clearer view and they just stared back going about their business. It’s not a big shock seeing them around d but more like they are not afraid of anyone or anything and will still go about their business if we weren’t a threat,” said Lee.
The New York State Department of Health reported that since 2004, there have been three raccoons captured in Queens that have tested positive for rabies and actions have been executed for the safety of the residents.
“The New York State Department of Health has already distributed oral rabies vaccine which was sprayed and injected into some but not all, that’s the problem,” said Weber.
There is no chemical that can be sprayed on the deck that will kill the parasite eggs in raccoon’s feces, and should be treated as hazardous waste,” Seinfeld said.
These microscopic eggs that are infective can live in the environment for years, and have a fondness towards brain tissues. In other words, we’re talking about rabies. “Children are most likely to be infected, as they would put their hands almost anywhere, and then into their mouth, in which can lead to severe and permanent retardation,” Seinfeld said.
Due to massive loose raccoons residing in trees surrounding resident’s home and highway, many residents have started to take matters in their hand.
Mary Baron, a resident at Bayside Queens, said, “It’s a problem for people living in Bayside, Elmhurst, and Whitestone. The best solution I see people doing is putting a brick on their garbage can.”
“It became expensive to buy the right tools and cages to trap raccoons; it’s a waste of money and time because they’ll just keep coming back in a larger sense,” said Lee.
“One of the best solutions is to install better latches on gates and fences, and installing chimney caps to keep raccoons from nesting in chimneys,” said Yee.