'It sounds like a horror movie': Toronto woman fed up with raccoon infestation amid neighbouring reno

Ethan Lang · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 04, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

For the past fewer weeks, Ariel Lukaniuk says she and her spouse person been sleeping successful their 2nd bedroom.

That's due to the fact that her enactment location successful Toronto's eastbound extremity is connected to a gathering going nether renovations 2 doors down, wherever raccoons person infiltrated the walls and made their mode implicit to her chamber wall. She says a household of them has been surviving determination ever since, scratching and screaming done the night.

On apical of that, her canine is frightened by the sound and barks astatine the walls done the wee hours.

"It sounds similar a fearfulness movie," Lukaniuk said. "It's psychotic, the sounds each night, and I can't sleep."

Lukaniuk says she's been trying to get the metropolis and the neighbouring gathering proprietor to region the animals for weeks, but they haven't shown immoderate urgency.

WATCH | Raccoons making racket successful Toronto woman's walls: 

She says she contacted the metropolis done 311 astir 3 weeks ago, asking them to region the animals and guarantee her neighbours — a lodging non-profit — chopped disconnected entree to the walls astatine the renovation site. Despite assurances that the occupation is being addressed and aggregate emails, she says the raccoons are inactive there. And she's fed up.

"Every clip you deliberation they're helping, it's conscionable like, snail pace," she said. "I'm conscionable truly tired."

Lukaniuk says she archetypal contacted the metropolis astir the occupation connected May 13 and was told unit would look into it. 

After emailing backmost and distant implicit the adjacent 10 days, she says her caseworker told her the metropolis inactive hadn't contacted the gathering owner. So Lukaniuk says she called them herself to inquire what they could do.

Building owners trying to trap raccoons

The gathering nether renovation, located connected Main Street adjacent Gerrard Street E., is owned by Community Circle LandTrust (CCLT), a non-profit lodging provider. CCLT took implicit the gathering from Toronto Community Housing Corporation in 2022 to crook it into affordable housing.

During renovations this spring, the backmost partition connected the crushed level was wholly removed for respective days, allowing raccoons entree to the interior walls of the enactment housing, Lukaniuk says.

CCLT CEO Alia Abaya says some the metropolis and Lukaniuk contacted the non-profit connected May 23. On May 24, the backmost partition was sealed and a pest power institution was contracted to instal a trap connected the property, which was done connected May 26.

On May 27, Abaya says the trap was inactive bare and CCLT had a roofer cheque for different introduction points. The roofer installed a one-way doorway astatine a imaginable introduction to support the raccoons from coming back. 

Two days later, the trap hadn't caught immoderate raccoons and it was removed, she says. CCLT past issued a enactment bid connected June 2 to acceptable a caller trap and instal one-way doors successful betwixt the attics of the properties, which Abaya expected to beryllium completed that day.

"While we tin admit that it's challenging for our neighbours that we person not had occurrence successful catching the raccoons yet, we are moving diligently to code the situation," Abaya said successful an email.

'It's ace frustrating and ace exhausting'

Lukaniuk says nothing's changed and the sound is opening to interaction her enactment arsenic good arsenic her sleep. She's disquieted the one-way doorway installed by the roofer has trapped the raccoons successful the walls, saying she hasn't seen them permission since it was enactment successful and the scratching and screaming has intensified.

She's disquieted the raccoons could dice successful her walls, oregon chew a ligament and commencement a fire.

But the metropolis won't adequately respond to her concerns, she says, oregon let her to prosecute her ain pest power since the occupation originates connected different backstage property.

"They conscionable support saying the aforesaid thing: the concern is being addressed by [Circle Community LandTrust]. It's not being addressed," she said. "They're conscionable similar a robot.

"It's ace frustrating and ace exhausting."

In an email, spokesperson Shane Gerard said the metropolis "is alert that the spot owners person taken steps since the ailment was initially addressed with them to resoluteness the concern."

"The City volition proceed to analyse to find and guarantee compliance with the applicable City bylaws," helium said.