Raccoon Removal Done Right — By GTA Pros Who Know These Animals

Raccoons in the GTA are not like raccoons anywhere else. Toronto raccoons are bold, smart, and they know how houses are built. They rip through aluminum soffits like tin foil. They peel back roof vents with their hands. A mother raccoon looking for a denning site in March will tear a hole in your roof that costs more to fix than the removal itself.

The busiest time for raccoon calls is March through May — baby season. A female will pick an attic, usually one with a weak soffit junction or a damaged roof vent, and have her litter there. By the time homeowners hear the thumping overhead, there are usually 3–5 kits already born. That changes everything about how the job gets done. You cannot just seal the hole. You cannot use a one-way door until the babies are mobile, or they starve inside your attic and the smell alone will make the house unlivable.

Ontario law is clear: raccoons must be removed humanely, and they cannot be relocated more than 1 kilometre. That rules out trapping and driving them to the countryside. The legal and effective method is a one-way door system — the raccoon leaves to forage at night, the door prevents re-entry, and once the attic is clear, every potential entry point gets sealed with 16-gauge galvanized steel mesh. Anything less and they will be back.