CASPER — Abby Roich’s war with raccoons has been going on for years, but the latest battle began with a masked trespasser prowling the roof of her home in the heart of Casper’s old, tree-lined center.
Roich, Cowboy State Daily’s advertising operations coordinator, lives near 12th and Wolcott streets, an established part of town where mature trees tower over sidewalks and older homes.
Raccoons had found her chimney before. In fact, they knew about it before she did.
The previous owners had dealt with them, and after another incursion since Roich moved in, steel mesh was wrapped tightly around the chimney opening.
That was supposed to settle it.
Then in early September, a neighbor spotted another raccoon on Roich’s roof.
Video from that night showed the animal up near the chimney. Roich wasn't worried. Wire covered the flue.
Then Sunday night, Roich heard something in the chimney.
“No way,” she thought.
'Do You Want To Borrow My .22?'
The mesh that covered the chimney was mangled. Sections were folded inward, strands curled loose and a dark opening gaped where the barrier once covered the flue — and there was raccoon hair caught in the wire.
Somehow, it had peeled open the barricade and gone down the chimney.
That might sound like an impressive bit of breaking and entering, but it doesn't surprise the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
“Think of a raccoon’s hand,” Game and Fish spokeswoman Janet Milek told Cowboy State Daily. “They essentially have thumbs that give them dexterous, hand-like front paws.”
Raccoons can manipulate latches, fasteners and other obstacles that stop many wild animals, Milek said.
Roich’s neighbor Jerry came over with a flashlight, and they tried to see if the unwanted guest was still there.
She worried it might've made its way into the house.
“Do you want to borrow my .22?” Roich recalled him asking.
“Oh my God, no,” she told him.
She wasn't shooting a raccoon in her house, but she also wasn't interested in sharing it with one.
By Monday morning, Roich needed another weapon: Metallica.
Turn It Up
“Apparently they don't like loud noises,” Roich said. “So this morning, before I went up on the roof, I put a speaker in my fireplace area and just turned on some Metallica as loud as I could and hoped that it would scare it out.”
There is at least some basis for the approach.
Patricia Wyer, who runs Broken Bandit Wildlife Center near Cheyenne, previously told Cowboy State Daily that noise, lights and other disturbances can be used to make a den site less comfortable and encourage raccoons to relocate.
After giving the eviction concert some time to work, Roich climbed up and shined a flashlight down the chimney.
She and friends also checked from below, opening the damper and looking around a shelf where the animal might have remained tucked away.
“He at least is out and about for the day doing raccoon things,” Roich said.
They cut a heavy paver to fit over the opening and glued it down.
“Hopefully, it's glued down and it's heavy enough that they can't move it,” Roich said.
Why Her Chimney?
Roich is reluctant to declare victory.
Raccoons have excellent memories and are creatures of habit. When they find a dependable source of food or a good den, they can return to it, said Milek.
From a raccoon's perspective, Roich's chimney is prime Casper real estate.
It's high, beyond the reach of dogs, sheltered from predators and protected from Wyoming's wind and weather.
This time of year makes it even more attractive.
Raccoons don't fully hibernate, Milek said, but they begin seeking winter dens where they can stay put for longer stretches as temperatures fall.
A chimney can be “fantastic," she added.
There may even be something of a calling card left behind.
Oils, waste and other odors can linger around places raccoons have used, Milek said, and other members of the species can detect those scents.
Headless Chicken
A few months ago, Roich said she stepped outside and discovered a decapitated chicken with feathers scattered around it.
For a moment, the scene was so bizarre she wondered whether somebody had deliberately left it there.
Then a neighbor knocked on her door about a missing hen.
The mystery was solved, but the neighborhood's raccoon troubles were not.
Roich said the same neighbor later caught one of the enterprising critters in a trap and attempted to kill it with a kitchen knife.
The animal escaped, but not before biting her, Roich said. Because it couldn't subsequently be tested for rabies, the woman sought medical care.
Raccoons are wild animals and can carry diseases, including rabies, Milek said. People shouldn't grab or corner them in tight spaces.
They will fight back.
While trying to get one out of a dumpster earlier this year, Rock Springs animal control officer Lydia Gomez said the animal grabbed the other end of her catch pole and began shaking it while screaming at her.
“They look cute and you see all of these cute videos about them, but they're mean,” Gomez said.
Her department has also dealt with one that climbed onto the roof of an Animal Control vehicle and stretched out beside the word “control.”
“That was just mean,” Gomez said.
Criminal History
In April, Cheyenne-area resident Kevin Gunter told Cowboy State Daily the animals killed eight of his 13 chickens.
His response was a roughly $1,300 fortified coop, complete with railroad ties, a metal roof and heavy steel cloth buried around the perimeter.
He called it “The Henitentiary.”
Gomez keeps chickens herself. Her coop, she said, is “locked up like Fort Knox.”
“They can lift things, pry at things, open things,” she said.
Casper has its own dossier.
In 2024, several raccoons surrounded a woman in a downtown hotel parking lot, with one reaching for her leg. A hotel employee said individual raccoons were a common nighttime sight downtown, though a gathering that large was unusual.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
