TULSA, Okla. — A man in Tulsa tells 2 News some new, unfriendly neighbors are destroying his neighborhood and even threatening his family pet. He tells us he reached out to the city and game wardens about a family of destructive raccoons.
They look cute from afar, but for Charles Grant one raccoon and at least three others are dangerous. He said the raccoons are living inside the attic of his neighbor's home.
"A couple of weeks ago, I caught these racoons attacking my dog in the back yard, about a week after that, they caught some of the neighbors' chickens and dragged it into our yard and ate the chickens there," Grant said.
He said one of his biggest concerns are the diseases they carry.
"Racoons have rabies?" his daughter asked. "Yup," he said.
He said another neighbor shares similar concerns.
"Our neighbor over here has, they've gotten to his chicken coup, but he's very concerned just about the disease carrying and damage to private property," Grant said.
Grant reached out to the city. He said they told him to look into private pest control. He said the game warden declined to help, too.
For Grant, it's a matter of keeping his family and and their dog, lucky, safe.
"I don't want lucky to die…oh no, he'll be okay," Grant said.
So, Grant turned to 2 News and we reached out to the city.
They said animal control officers do not remove wild animals from private residences, but they would send a code enforcement officer to assess for violations. We were in the neighborhood when that officer arrived.
The city said the officer left a notice of violations on that neighbor's door and the homeowners have ten days to comply.
City officials said they hope that by addressing the code violations that helps address the raccoon problem.
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