Not All Roof Vents Are Raccoon Proof!

By Steven Shaffer, President of A All Animal Control of South East Ohio

Here’s a picture showing part of the roof and roof vent from a client’s home. This client had a raccoon raising pups in the attic and called A All Animal Control of South East Ohio to remove the animal. It’s very common for raccoon to access attics through these vents. The client in this case had dealt with this problem several years ago by installing heavy screen to the metal shaft that housed the fan in these two vents. The screen the client had installed extended all the way to the vent cover. It was undisturbed on both vents and provided no access.

After the female raccoon and her young were removed, it was time to find the animal's access point. During inspection, I tried to locate the access point. I spent about 35 minutes and frustratingly, could not locate her access point. All of the attic roof vent screening the homeowner had installed, the soffits, connecting rooflines, the chimney cap, attic vent screens, etc..., were all solid and raccoon-proof.
Finally, I began looking for hair as I could find no tracks or other signs of raccoon. Again, I had no success. As a last resort, I looked again at the roof vents. It’s difficult to get your head under these to see well, as the gap is very small. I finally did notice the screen installed by the client on the vent located in the left side of the roof had a few raccoon hairs on it.
I attempted to squeeze my head in far enough to allow me a better look and here’s what I found! The raccoon had learned to push up the plastic cover, in which a connecting rivet for the plastic cover, had failed. This failed rivet allowed her to push up the cover and enter the attic. Kind of like a trap door!! When she entered it shut behind her. When she left it shut behind her. No obvious outside sign! The client had told me that he had searched everywhere as well and could not find how she was getting in. I nearly missed it myself. I quickly permanently raccoon-proofed both vents. Raccoon amaze me!! For all of your wildlife problems call A All Animal Control of South East Ohio at (740) 732-1080 or (740) 260-3274. Email us at seohio@aallanimalcontrol.com