hello,

so, last night I saw a quite-large raccoon nearby - and, it is possible that he lives in my relative's yard. This is in an Orange County suburb. It was the size of a small-to-medium dog. (If you aren't familiar with SoCal, these types of neighborhoods have quite small yards - this is not the same as in some other parts of the country. No offense either way, to any body.) This was at about 9:30pm.

Is this bad, to have one living so close? There are nearby parks where it could go live. (I am not certain it lives here, I just strongly suspect.) I don't think it gets into our trash - I am pretty sure it can't.

I will check with the vector service too, but I wanted to know what other people in similar contexts do.

Otoh, I was recently talking to a pest control person about a different issue, and he said that possums and raccoons keep away rodents - so that is something to think about. (We had recent Caltrans construction nearby - which may have unsettled a lot of animals. I have seen skunks and possums, in recent years. I don't know that they were here decades ago - but, maybe I just didn't know it.)

It is not really a problem for me, exactly. I am not outside much at night. However, other people nearby have children and pets - and I know there can be diseases - should I be doing something about this?

I realize that it would probably at a minimum be upsetting for the animal if somebody came and trapped it - I just want to know if this is considered risky to people or pets, or not. It's not the kind of place, I think, where people expect these larger animals to be. (Though like I said, activity has increased around here recently.) Also, I tend to worry a bit too much. But, this is a little too close for comfort.

Thanks.