Missed this thread on its first run. Kudos for a nice telling of an indeed familiar story.
My lengthy tale requires pivoting toward the multi-year saga that did finally result in eliminating raccoons from busting through soffits and breaching the eaves, with threats of terrorizing the nearby attic space in a craftsman-type home.
We used Hav-a-Heart traps several times and caught squirrels, possum, and something else I can't remember, before we got our first raccoon. But the familiar sounds would then return, and the openings at various corners of the house would appear.
We used ammonia-soaked tennis balls, nailed-in plywood, mesh wire, and more. Then, we hired pest removal people who baited with peanut butter and liverwurst.
According to city Animal Control, official policy was that trapped animals could not be euthanized, and were to be released not far from their home. There were tales of animals finding their way back from remarkable distances. Catch & release seemed insane.
When we were still in DIY mode, I returned home one day to find a trapped raccoon who had been tagged with a bright pink-purple Rustoleum spray to help identify it, in order to learn if a later-caught animal was a returnee.
The 3rd guy we hired was the roofer, who had built up trust from his other work, and spoke with confidence. He finally did the right combination of sealing off entrances without having sealed a pregnant mama and/or babies inside, and fortifying with enough strength to repel, by then, fully expected new attacks.
It was a tension-producing, lengthy process, with ongoing aggravation and financial expenditure that added up - no deaths though, which might explain why I skipped the death smell thread, or never went far enough into it for me to comment something akin to, "Mi hermano" when yours was posted.
I did hear that several years earlier when the house was purchased out of foreclosure and had been uninhabited for nearly a year, 17 squirrels had to be removed.
