CHARLOTTE — The Legacy Heights Senior Living Community in Ballantyne has had some unusual guests lately.
Channel 9 obtained photos of raccoons roaming the halls last week. One photo shows a critter poking his head through the ceiling.
Raccoon expert Que Stewart of the Catawba Wildlife Removal says they are the last thing that should be around senior citizens.
“There are several different zoonotic diseases that these animals carry,” Stewart said.
CMPD animal care and control confirms they responded to the facility twice on July 3. In the morning, they caught one raccoon and the rest ran deep into the attic. That raccoon was released outside. But around 10:30 that night, they had to come back. A raccoon apparently fell from a vent into a guest’s room. That’s when maintenance workers killed it with a broom and put it in a bucket.
In both cases no one was bitten or scratched and there were no rabies exposures. But Stewart says that’s only one thing to worry about.
“Not only can they affect people with these diseases, but they also defecate, urinate, just like we do that,” he said. “Defecation carries diseases that can cause severe health complications, especially in the elderly.”
It is unclear if the senior living facility notified residents about the raccoon population. Two emails sent to the media line for the facility did not get responses. A worker for the facility took Channel 9’s phone number down but no one called to follow up.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services says they have referred this matter to Mecklenburg County DSS. A spokesperson for Mecklenburg County says DSS conducted a site visit Friday in response to a request from the state. Mecklenburg County confirmed the senior living facility hired a pest control company to install cameras and monitor for raccoon activity.
It’s unclear how many, if any, raccoons remain inside.
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