WDFW: Gaze of raccoons have dispersed after Poulsbo woman stopped feeding them

A Poulsbo woman who found herself surrounded by a gaze of raccoons Monday has regained her home.

Bridget Mire with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed to MyNorthwest via email on Wednesday the woman stopped feeding the animals.

“Our wildlife conflict specialist for Kitsap County met with the resident, who has stopped feeding the raccoons,” Mire wrote. “The raccoons appear to have started dispersing now that they are no longer being fed, and we are glad for a positive outcome to this case.”

Mire added the best way to avoid a similar situation is to remove attractants and not feed wild animals.

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The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) reported, via a Facebook post Monday, the woman first started feeding raccoons outside her home 35 years ago. Then on October 3, the woman looked outside to find nearly 100 of them.

“She said around six weeks ago the number of raccoons ballooned to more than 100 and the new animals were far more aggressive,” Kevin McCarty with KCSO said in an email to MyNorthwest. “She said she repeatedly had to throw food to them to get them to leave her alone.”

She called for help to which Kitsap deputies responded.

“She was forced to run away in her car to escape the furry and very hungry creatures,” McCarty stated in the video.

The woman told deputies the raccoons started getting out of control about six weeks ago. The woman added the raccoons often surround her day and night demanding food.

She said she had been quoted as much as $500 per raccoon to trap and relocate them. Deputies referred the woman to the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to help her “find a solution to her pesky problem,” KCSO stated.

“Our involvement was to make sure she was safe, educate her on what can and can’t be done under the law regarding removal of wild animals, and refer her to the WDFW for further information and assistance,” McCarty told MyNorthwest.

The WILDCOMM team at WDFW referred the woman to wildlife control operators in her area, according to an email from Bridget Mire with WDFW to MyNorthwest on Monday.

Mire added the woman told officials she was working with a trapper. However, “all animals trapped by a WCO must be released on-site or euthanized and properly disposed of, per WAC 220-440-050,” Mire said.

Wildlife experts urge people to not feed raccoons, according to WDFW’s website.

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WDFW said that feeding raccoons can create undesirable situations as raccoons that are fed by people often lose their fear of humans and can become aggressive when not fed. Other recommendations to keep raccoons away are keeping garbage secure, feeding pets indoors, locking pet doors and closing off areas that raccoons could make into a den.

For more on raccoons, visit WDFW’s website.

Editors note: This story was originally published on Oct. 7, 2024. It has been updated and republished since then.

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.