Hi All, Thank you so much for all the suggestions and well wishes on getting our raccoon problem under control!
Lisa – I can’t imagine how terrifying it must have been to see a hawk on a Sargent, oh my goodness, you must have aged a decade in mere moments! The bat that snuck in a few months back fortunately stunned himself on a wall before he made it farther than our more robust marbles haha (and was successfully relocated back outside!). Jef & Jan – I’d been looking into the music/ noise and light deterrents, but wasn’t sure how well they’d work in the middle of NYC. But I might give it a try first though before bringing in the big guns (especially since it worked for you, Jan!). Denise – Thank you so much for this insight! I was wondering if I could find a loophole of relocating and releasing to private property since the guidelines are really specific about it not being public property. I’m thinking that even if I connect with the Parks department there might not be somewhere far enough in Central Park to relocate him (though maybe somewhere out near the Cloisters would work? Hmm…) I’ll definitely look into our State Fish and Wildlife resources since NYC animal control wasn’t helpful and just told me to call a pest vendor. Joel – Oh! I like that thinking. I had also had Vanish/ Racoon Eviction Paste and liquid<https://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/animal/WCSTJV.html> recommended. Maybe if I try one of those options combined with the music it’ll be enough to deter him. Thank you all again for your ideas. I am so grateful to this community and your vast expertise. I’ll let you know what ends up working! Best, Morgan -- Morgan Nau IPM Program Administrator Director's Office The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10028 @metmuseum<https://www.instagram.com/metmuseum> metmuseum.org<http://www.metmuseum.org/> From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Voron, Joel Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2025 9:08 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [External] - Re: [External] Re: [PestList] RE: Urban Raccoons You can take a spray bottle with sudsing laundry ammonia in it and spray where they like hanging out. It can mimic predator urine. Might work. You will have to reapply after rain storms. Worth a shot. Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef> ________________________________ From: 'Jan Masterson' via MuseumPests <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2025 11:11:32 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: RE: [External] Re: [PestList] RE: Urban Raccoons [CAUTION: This message originated from outside the Foundation. Do not click links, open attachments or take action unless you know the contents are safe] Different circumstances, but we’ve had an ongoing problem with pests infected with fleas getting into the architectural cavities in one of our historic house museums. A wildlife pest expert who works with other museums said to play either hard rock or Tejano music as loud as possible. That fast tempo and the volume level will deter pests from getting too comfortable in those spaces. Strangely there’s no hard rock station in the DFW area, but we have a couple Tejano stations to choose from. We turned the radios on full blast when no one was in the historic houses, primarily overnight. It worked! The raccoons stopped trying to live under the house and climb inside the walls to cool off during the summer. Good luck! Raccoons are little jerks! 😊 Please take a moment to complete the City of Mesquite customer satisfaction survey<https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Z8MHD2G>. [cid:[email protected]] Jan Masterson Curator of Collections & Exhibits | Historic Mesquite | , TX (972) 216-6472 | [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> | www.cityofmesquite.com<http://www.cityofmesquite.com/> From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> On Behalf Of Jef Taylor Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2025 2:59 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [External] Re: [PestList] RE: Urban Raccoons I'm mainly a lurker in this group since my museum is a zoo, so our collection is live and "wet," and I deal with very different pests than most of the rest of you. I do deal with raccoons quite frequently, and I would like to do so with exclusion, but they are very agile climbers. You could try to install some kind of noise making device, even just a radio set to a talk station, but I would guess that NYC raccoons would be less deterred by this than other populations. I wish I had more encouraging advice for you; I trap and euthanize. On Thu, Aug 28, 2025 at 3:54 PM Lisa Bruno <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: The closest we came to this was a big grey squirrel. Somehow he got into our walls, was heard running around the 6th floor above Development, Administration and the Boardroom. Luckily, he never was near art. He found a pathway into the Boardroom and one of our engineers tracked his movement for a few days, and eventually caught him and put him in a carrier/cage and two other staff members released him in the park. The squirrel seamed relieved. Second story – a juvenile red-tailed hawk – got into the galleries from skylights. He was found sitting on the frame of a Sargent painting. He was beautiful but the talons! We isolated the gallery, and eventually called people from the Prospect Park Zoo who sent over staff who caught him and removed him for release. Hope that helps. Lisa From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> On Behalf Of Nau, Morgan Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2025 3:39 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [PestList] Urban Raccoons Hello All, I’m writing to the group about a “pest” that’s new to me - raccoons - and I’d love some thoughts and advice from the group. We are located in Central Park, so there is a significant amount of wildlife all around us (a coyote showed up on the 5th Ave side just a couple months ago!). This spring, a raccoon family moved into a tree right next to the museum and made themselves quite comfortable. For the last month one of the juveniles has begun exploring the exterior of the museum and he’s been found on the roof garden, on ledges, and most recently has turned a construction site into his personal jungle gym. He stays away from people, doesn’t appear sick or rabid, hasn’t caused any damage or made any messes, and is clearly just very curious (I’ve attached a few pictures of the little bandit in action). So far, I’ve advised people to give a wide berth and to keep the site clear of food and trash, which they have, and the construction crew haven’t had any problems. Unfortunately, work is beginning on our skylights in a couple of weeks (so I’m on a time crunch!) and there is concern that it could find a way into the building and cause general chaos and serious damage, especially given his adventurous nature - which we absolutely don’t want. The major concern I have though is that according to NYC law, when a licensed wildlife professional traps a raccoon, they cannot relocate it, but are required to euthanize it (source<https://link.edgepilot.com/s/ee5b6d24/9tRVwZZpqEW433PHL9gTlw?u=https://www.nyc.gov/site/wildlifenyc/animals/raccoons.page>). And the last thing I want to do is have a healthy, nondangerous animal put down if it isn’t necessary. We have a great pest management vendor who is aware that he’s been around and I’ll be alerting them to this latest development to brainstorm next steps. I’m also working on connecting with the NYC Parks department to see if they can help me come up with solutions. And I was hoping that there might be members in this group who have experience with this kind of thing and might have less lethal suggestions as well. Feel free to message me off-list if you’d prefer - [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Thank you all for any insight and thoughts! 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