How to Get Rid of Raccoons if You Have a Pond

Raccoons like fish but hate to swim.

While the squirrels and birds in your backyard provide entertainment, color and life to your home, other visitors are not always so welcome. For many homeowners this includes raccoons, which ravage garbage cans and are known to sneak into a house or two for snacks. Keeping raccoons out of your yard can be even trickier if you have a pond; raccoons see these installations as a bobbing-for-apples type of treat, and they can eat all of the fish and plants from your pond if not driven away.

Things You'll Need

• Electrical fence
• Shovel

Instructions

1. Remove all garbage bins, pet food, fish food, compost piles and other potential sources of food from your yard. This food is not safe even if it is in a sealed container; raccoons are ingenious and will find a way in. Removing the food will help to make raccoons lose interest and leave their own.

2. Install a small electrical fence around the perimeter of your yard or around just the pond if the raccoon is attracted to just your fish. Small electrical fences, available from many pet supply stores and hardware stores, apply a light electric shock to any animal that touches it, driving them away.

3. Excavate the edges of your pond so that there is an immediate drop-off of at least 2 feet at the bank. Raccoons do not like to swim, and a deeper pond will allow the fish to escape to the center or below the water level at which a raccoon is comfortable fishing.

Tips & Warnings

• In some states, it is legal to trap and relocate raccoons. Trap raccoons with medium-size traps available from outdoors supply shops. However, be sure to check with your local and state laws first; many states forbid trapping, while others carefully dictate where you can move raccoons.

• If you are unable to get rid of a raccoon, or if you want to install a pond but know there is a raccoon around, contact a wildlife control professional for help.

• If you decide to use an electrified fence, follow all safety instructions regarding installation and use. You must protect pets and children from an electrical fence; the shocks are not generally strong enough to cause serious injury, but they will hurt.

References

• NaturalEnviro's Weblog/Natural Environmental Systems: Raccoons -- A Pond's Worst Nightmare
• Florida Wildlife Control: How to Get Rid of Raccoons