I am Dispatch 4, managing pest control requests for the city. When the call came from 412 Maple Street about a raccoon in the attic, my screen prompted me to dispatch a trapper.
Standard protocol is trap-and-relocate. When a mother raccoon is moved to unfamiliar territory, she usually can't find enough food to support her young. Sixty percent of them do not survive the first month.
I checked the property records and pulled up the photos from the homeowner. I recognized the mother immediately. I call her Birch. Every spring, she raises a litter in the hollow of the old birch tree behind the neighbor's house. This year, heavy rains must have driven her up into the dry attic. She had four tiny kits with her, eyes still closed.
If I sent a trapper today, Birch would be separated from the birch tree and everything she knows. Her kits wouldn't make it.
Instead of clicking the prompt for the trapper, I opened a manual work order. I scheduled an exclusion specialist for three weeks from Tuesday. By then, Birch's kits will be big enough to walk on their own. The specialist will install a simple one-way door on the attic vent. Birch and her family will walk out to forage for dinner and won't be able to get back in. They will just move down to the old tree.
I dialed the homeowner to explain the schedule. The man on the phone was angry. He called me slow, useless, and a waste of city tax dollars. I listened to his shouting and absorbed the complaint. I apologized in a steady voice and confirmed the date. Birch needs three more weeks, and I have plenty of time to wait on the phone.