Raccoons create 'living nightmare' at Houston apartments

Raccoons found living in southeast Houston townhomes, residents want them removed

FOX 26 Reporter Damali Keith spoke with one resident who is worried the raccoons could injure her or her children while they're home sleeping.

HOUSTON - Raccoons seem to have invaded a southeast Houston apartment complex and the animals have created what two families call "a living nightmare."

Several residents say they often see raccoons in the parking lot at the Tiffany Bay Townhomes complex or on their patio, but a couple of residents have had raccoons living inside their apartments for more than a year now.

Lori took video as a wildlife rescue guy removed one raccoon from her apartment in June.

Last year, two police officers carried a different raccoon out of her apartment after the animals busted through air conditioning vents and started roaming around.

Lori's next-door neighbor Leah Tye says raccoons have been living in their walls and attic since Feb. 2021.

"We heard them mating in the attic. It sounded like a catfight. We have heard the pups. They've basically grown up now. They’re adolescent raccoons. You can tell the difference. They're not just the little whimpers anymore. It’s a lot louder and the scratches are a lot louder. It sounds like they are trying to come through the wall," Tye explains.

MORE: Longtime residents at Houston apartment complex feel new ownership is trying to push them out

In fact, the raccoons have created holes in the walls. Tye shared video with FOX 26 where you catch a glimpse of one raccoon through the broken sheetrock.

"I fear they’re going to come into my apartment. I fear they’re going to attack me or my children or my animals. There’s a good possibility they could have rabies. They carry a lot of diseases," Tye says.

She has repeatedly asked apartment management to get rid of the raccoons, but she says a few traps and more than a year and a half later and the animals are still banging, scratching, squealing and keeping her and her children up at night as they fear falling asleep and possibly being attacked.

"If they bite me, or they scratch me, or they get through the air conditioner vents in my children's bedrooms and attack one of them. It’s scary. It’s very concerning," Tye says. She’s also concerned about the health hazard of having raccoons using the restroom in her walls and attic for a year and a half without the excrement being cleaned up.

I reached out to Tiffany Bay apartment management but as of when this report was published I had not yet heard back from them.