No More Racoons In Our Chimney

So last weekend we (meaning my sister, Angela, and I) rearranged our basement so that we were able to use our fireplace for the first time in 2 years! When Daniel went to open the flume to the chimney so that he could start a fire, he saw a gray and black tail and two beady eyes.

Unsure of how to remove the raccoon from the chimney, we decided that if Daniel beat on the metal flume door with the iron poker that the raccoon would get scared or annoyed at the noise and leave. This worked beautifully and we were able to have our first fire last weekend while Angela was visiting.

This week Daniel decided that we should cap our chimney to prevent future inhabitants. So we went through the drill with me banging on the metal door with the poker while Daniel went up on the roof to put the cap on. So now we can have fires and not worry about strange little animals being in the chimney.

 

Current view of the basement. Whenever we get around to the renovation, 

we will make this area into our game/media room. It is 600 sf shaped like an L.

Raccoon cont.

Daniel just found this post on someone's blog that is pretty funny about a raccoon living in someone's chimney. It could be bad if the raccoon we heard last night is using our chimney as a home...

We saw him on the roof by the chimney a couple of weeks ago and then last week I was mowing the yard in the evening b/c of the heat and I saw the darned thing scampering through our fence row...

Raccoon Stuck In Our Chimney

Daniel just called me down into the basement b/c he thinks there is a raccoon stuck in our chimney. Thankfully the flume is shut, but there is definitely something in the chimney. I have no idea how it is going to get out. There is no way that we can let it loose in our basement - that would be an absolute disaster!

Does anybody have any suggestions as to how you can safely remove a raccoon from your chimney???