Originally published at: Abandoned house overrun with wild raccoons becomes 'Raccoon Saloon' with 24/7 live feeds | Boing Boing
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If you’re frustrated by the lack of raccoons in the living room live feed, try scrolling back to 02:17 today (Feb. 16) using the clock in the upper left to see a couple critters running around.
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The earliest in that feed is now 04:47.
It’s disappointing, BB said there would be raccoons.
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I love raccoons as much as the next guy but this is a major health hazzard for the house and the sorrounding area.
I’ve cleaned up raccoon infestations after the raccoons have left or been removed, it’s tyvek suit respirator territory. Raccoons will use a common area for their toilet, dangerous stuff. But it’s good money because it’s always insurance jobs.
Unless this is an old cabin in the woods with no neighbors it’s a health hazzard.
That being said I love watching raccoons being raccoons.
You want to see racoons follow this guy and check out his videos. It’s British Columbia, his wife died, they were big racoon people. He recently remarried one of his followers. He seems like a great guy.
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I mean, the heart wants what the heart wants, ok, but this is exactly the kind of thing the religious right warned us about.
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… I see in order to simplify his calculations he only works with spherical raccoons 
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I think you’re understating this. Raccoons commonly carry Baylisascaris procyonis, a roundworm that is difficult to treat successfully in humans. Baylisascaris eggs are found in raccoon feces; they’re light and can become airborne during cleanup. An N95 mask or respirator is a must, goggles too probably since along with oral and respiratory routes to infection, there’s apparently an ocular route as well. Here’s what the CDC has to say about Baylisascaris infection (it’s safe, no nematode glamour shots to squick anyone out):
TL;DR:
- infection is difficult to diagnose and treat. Pathology can be severe by the time it’s detected.
- severe infections cause something called neural larva migrans which you really don’t want since the symptoms include:
- ataxia
- mental changes
- stupor and/or coma
- enlarged liver, organ damage
- blindness - the CDC buries the lede a bit. At the end of the first paragraph they drop this gem “Death or permanent disability is a common outcome of neural larva migrans due to Baylisascaris .”
If you have a raccoon latrine that needs to be cleaned up, probably best to leave it to professionals like @tcg550.
If the latrine is outdoors and you’re determined to take care of it yourself, the CDC literally suggests that you kill it with fire:
https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/baylisascaris/resources7/raccoonlatrines.pdf
If the latrine is indoors, we’ll honestly, there’s no way that space would ever be clean enough for me to inhabit, but YMMV.
Bottom line- don’t feed raccoons.
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I was just going to mention good old Baylisascaris procyonis; the endearing story of a confused roundworm nematode and visceral larva migrans.
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I got around to watching some of the videos with my wife. This is fun.
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If anyone wants to understand what that means, at about 9:20 in this video you can see one of the huge latrines.
There is no way I’d be wandering around this house without a respirator gloves and safety glasses with a change of clothes outside.
The house appears to have power, it looks like an old hunting lodge that was in use in 2007. It has power so someone is paying the bills and owns it. I can’t believe it has not been condemned.
Sooner or later these videos are going to get back to whatever city this is in and shut it down.
Here’s the outside tour, it’s sitting on acres and acres of property with no other homes anywhere near it so I’ve changed my mind, have at it and let the raccoons have it. Sooner or later it’s going to be a tear down anyhow so it’s nice for the raccoons to have a house all their own for a while.
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