She called a pest management specialist who, during the course of the last year, caught 15 of the critters, trimmed back the cedar, hot-wired her pond and sealed off entries to attic and crawl space with tough screen.

"We’re on the raccoon freeway here," she says, referring to the hillside area of Scenic Avenue in Ashland. "There’s a huge number of them, an infestation. One of my neighbors, taking groceries from her car, found one going into a bag when she went back for a second trip to get it."

As Rhee learned, Thumper and Brer Possum are charming in Disney cartoons, but it’s not so charming when they — or skunks, raccoons or squirrels — live in the attic, walls or subfloor of your home. In addition to creating noise and odors, they damage wiring and insulation, chew through sheetrock walls, leave large piles of dung and bring a host of diseases.

There’s a lot you can do to protect your home. Patch screens and plug openings in your crawl space and attic, especially around pipes, make sure entries are closed and latched and remove food sources. That 40-pound bag of dog food in the garage is the main temptation for "nuisance wildlife"

The biggest problem is animals getting under the house, where it’s dry and they can make a home by tunneling into the floor insulation. Squirrels, rats, raccoons and possums like to tear into the insulation, wires and ducts between joists and build nests.

Fees for such services range from about $50 to several hundred dollars, depending on the business, the number of visits, the type of pest and the work required.

"I called for help to get rid of a family of skunks who’d moved under a shed only 15 feet from my house," says Leslie Gottlieb, who lives near the wilderness above Ashland. The person he called for help "used baited traps and caught one each night for three nights. He threw a thick blanket on them so they wouldn’t spray and then he drove them 10 miles out of town and let them go. I guess they liked the shed because it’s quiet and protected, but I figured they’d multiply and be under my house soon."

Small mammals like to chew on rubbery, petroleum-based wire wrapping and tubes and, though it’s rare, it can cause a short-circuit and fire.

The biggest attractors of pest animals are bird feeders and pet food. Animals need that protein, so any bags of cat or dog food should go in sealed bins or garbage cans. But seal all holes first. If they can’t get in, it’s not an issue. If you have a hole as small as a quarter inch, mice can get in.

"Another often unsuspected source of food for pest critters are compost bins and fruit trees, which leave plenty of rotting fruit on the ground for many weeks," says Paul Wesner of All Natural Pest Elimination in Medford. "Make sure your compost is sealed and latched and excess garden produce picked or disposed of," he suggests.

"Trim back bushes and plants close to your house, as these provide shelter and pathways under your home," says Wesner.

Another strategy is to spread mothballs around in attic and crawl space.
Animals "hate the smell."

Pest animals can bring health problems, including fleas, distemper and rabies, and like to relieve themselves in one spot, creating "raccoon latrines" of several feet across. These piles can carry roundworm, a potentially fatal disease transmissible to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It’s rare, but is often misdiagnosed, CDC says, and has been reported in seven states - including Oregon. Pest mammals, especially possums, can be ‘loaded’ with fleas.

The fate of animals after they’re trapped is a subject of some controversy.

New homes are being built into wildlife habitat all the time, displacing animals and limiting their options.

When exterminators live-trap such critters they are allowed to relocate the native ones, such as raccoons, skunks and foxes, but not the invasive possum, which must be killed, says Rosemary Stussy, assistant district wildlife biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. When there’s an outbreak of distemper among raccoons, as happened last summer, they can’t be relocated and also must be killed.

Some exterminators get required state permits and file required monthly reports on the number of animals relocated and killed with the ODFW, but most "run rampant" and drop problem mammals in the country as they wish, Stussy says, adding that she notifies the Oregon State Police, but it lacks the manpower to resolve the problem.

Complicating the issue are animal-rights activists who will intervene when they see an exterminator taking away trapped animals.

Many pest control companies promote themselves as non-toxic, using naturally occurring compounds, including boric acid, diatomaceous earth and botanical oils that are offensive to pests.

"It’s safer for the environment, pets and people, and it’s the direction the industry is going," says Wesner of All Natural.

John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland.E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.