Make sure your pet is current on its rabies shots. Try to keep your pet indoors at night. Since raccoons are nocturnal and roam for food in the evening, your pet stands a greater chance of encountering wildlife in the evening than during the day. Don't scatter food for birds or squirrels in your yard. Place bird food in proper receptacles.
Raccoons usually travel and live in groups.
Although you may catch one or two in a trap, there are usually more in a neighborhood. Sick raccoons will rarely be attracted to the food in a trap and are usually too disoriented to even enter the trap. By trapping scores of healthy raccoons and subsequently destroying them, more room is available for sick raccoons to move in and take over your backyard. Trapping healthy raccoons or those with the serum neutralizing antibodies can create a rebound phenomenon. Trapping can actually prolong rabies outbreaks among raccoons.