Forums

[Sparklehorse]

Yesterday, I had a raging headache and went to sleep fairly early. At around midnight, I woke up to a shuffling sound near my closet. I have a cat who is fascinated by my other closet (and its high shelf filled with sweaters) but he usually sleeps in the living room and I'd closed the door to my bedroom so he wouldn't wake me up. So in my half-asleep state, I turned on the light, ready to scold the cat and kick him out of the room. Instead of a Siamese cat mask, I was looking at a raccoon mask. I got up and went out to the living room, closing the bedroom door, to check where the cat was. He was hanging out in the living room so I closed the door to the living room and returned to my bedroom. The raccoon was still in the same spot and then it opened its mouth like a cat hissing a warning would, although no noise came out. I stood there, trying to wake up from my stupor and formulate a plan get the damned animal out so I could go back to sleep. As I stood there, it scaled up the closet door frame and went back through the clothes racks and up to the hole in ceiling that apparently leads into the attic space. (The closet is a strange design, sloped back wall with a flat area up high (ceiling of staircase) where I've got some boxes stored.)

My mother just paid hundreds of dollars to have some baby raccoons removed from her chimney. After some agonizing about the situation, she'd called someone to remove them and asked the guy not to kill them. Since then, we found out this was technically illegal to live release the raccoons because of the risk of rabies.

So my question is: What should I do? Do I have to call my landlord and get him to hire Mister Rueysbroeck to come kill the raccoon or can I live in Lala Land and hope it will not come back downstairs? (Usually, unlike last night, I keep the closet door closed but it's where most of my clothes are.) Or should I try to block the hole in the ceiling?