Duncan Cameron was walking his dog Naima near his home in Denver’s Speer neighborhood last summer when he spotted a family of raccoons.
He crossed the street to give the mother and her kits some space. Then a nightmare scenario unfolded: One of the young raccoons darted from the group and pounced on Naima.
“It was like the creature in ‘Alien.’ It just latched onto her and wouldn’t let go,” he said.
After Cameron desperately kicked the fuzzy assailant, it finally released his pup and then chased them both down the street. The event left Naima, an Australian cattle dog mix, with a bite mark and Cameron with a few scratches. Even though the raccoon appeared to be aggressive rather than rabid, Cameron decided to get rabies shots, just to be safe. Once symptoms appear, rabies is virtually always fatal.
“Unfortunately, at that time I was between jobs and I didn’t have health insurance. … It ultimately ended up being a $16,000 bill,” he said, between an initial round of eight shots and then three more return trips in the following weeks.
Several of Cameron’s neighbors have also had run-ins with aggressive raccoons, he said. And while it’s extremely rare to have a physical encounter with them, his neighborhood isn’t alone in its raccoon run-ins.
So far this year, the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment says it’s received 11 reports of “contact that breaks the skin” between humans and raccoons. Since 2020, Denver Animal Protection has recorded a fluctuating number of calls per year related to the critters, averaging about 498 calls per year. It saw a spike in 2024, with 704 calls.
Raccoons, which are far more plentiful in the city than some realize, are a common part of any city’s landscape. Some urban areas, like Toronto, have declared war on the animals, whose sly determination to rummage through waste has earned them the nickname “trash panda.” In Denver, raccoons aren’t quite as big of a problem, but they offer a taste of the sort of wildlife encounters that are more typically reserved for time spent in the mountains.
The nocturnal animals are difficult to count, but some experts estimate there could be dozens living in just a few blocks in some of the country’s densest areas.
“It’s like asking how many squirrels there are,” said Kara Van Hoose with Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
And at times, they can cause serious problems. Homeowners tend to experience the brunt of the headaches because raccoons often use attics and areas underneath porches for their dens.
Koi ponds as scenes of destruction?
The idea of a backyard koi pond might evoke images of tranquility and a place to connect with nature in the depths of the city. But for some koi pond owners in Denver, that oasis turns into something darker when the sun goes down.
Jordan Ranney, an employee of True Pump and Equipment in Denver’s South Broadway corridor, said the store’s customers often report gruesome and strange stories of raccoon attacks at their koi ponds.
“They will rip the fish head off the fish and leave the body outside the pond,” he said. “They will just throw the fish out of the pond whole.”
Sometimes the raccoons eat parts of the fish. Other times, they appear to just be playing with them.
“Maybe they’re bored and they’re messing with the fish,” Ranney said.
There’s no real way to prevent the attacks, since the animals have dexterous hands and can remove most protective measures like nets or small fences. That leaves owners with few options to protect their scaled companions.
While Denver Animal Protection and the health department can help with the most extreme episodes involving raccoons — some might call them raccooncidents — they don’t offer pest-control services.
Jon Ewing, a city spokesman, said that’s because the city has only enough animal protection officers to respond to emergencies.
“I think, ultimately, it’s a matter of resources,” he said, adding about the clever creatures: “I still think they’re cute.”
Raccoon-proofing a home
Instead, residents who have persistent problems with raccoons must either deal with the problem themselves or contact a private company.
Some offer exterminations.
Others will trap and release the animals.
Most charge hundreds or thousands of dollars for their services.
One company operating in Denver, Skedaddle, says it can make a home raccoon-proof. Skedaddle, which uses the Beatles song “Rocky Raccoon” as its on-hold music, says it is one of the few companies in Denver that offers a truly humane raccoon response.
When someone reports a raccoon has taken up residence in their home, the company comes and seals off the entrances the animal is using to get in. It installs a one-way door to keep the animal from coming back.
“Raccoons are diggers and they’re climbers. So there isn’t a single part of a structure that’s safe from a raccoon,” said Deanna Samuelson, the owner of the Denver franchise of Skedaddle.
The intelligent critters will rip off roof shingles to enter an attic, crawl through vents, give birth to their young in a chimney or tear up a home’s insulation to make their beds. They can carry diseases and cause expensive damage.
Still, many people don’t want to kill the animals.
Samuelson said that during raccoons’ busiest periods, typically the spring mating season, the company will visit 20 customers for raccoon prevention each week.
Skedaddle doesn’t trap or move the animals because, most often, they won’t survive that event, Samuelson said. Instead, its employees block off access to the den site, which is likely one of several the raccoon is using.
“It’s totally whack-a-mole,” Samuelson said. “They just move on, but this is where they live. They’re urban wildlife. And we’re going to interact with them.”
That’s not likely to change, especially as raccoons’ comfort with the human environment seems only to be increasing. A scientific article published in the journal Frontiers in Zoology in October found that urban raccoons are starting to show early physical signs of domestication, including developing shorter snouts.
The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment recommends giving the animals a wide berth, and it urges people to “avoid the temptation to pet or handle raccoons,” said Ryann Money, the department’s spokesman. It’s also illegal to feed raccoons or leave out food for them, Money said.
“While they may be cute, they can be dangerous and carry diseases like rabies,” he said.
As for Cameron’s dog Naima, he said she’s back in action after a brief time wearing a cone, thanks to her rabies vaccine. The pair hasn’t seen any suspicious raccoons on their walks lately.
“Nothing recently,” Cameron said. “But wait until next spring.”
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