For nearly two months, two roommates living in a San Francisco apartment could not understand why strange scratching sounds kept coming from inside their walls. The noises became louder over time and regularly woke them up at night.The mystery finally ended when a mother raccoon, which had been living inside the wall, gave birth to baby raccoons. Soon afterwards, the animals broke through the wall and entered one roommate’s bedroom.The roommates eventually moved out of the apartment after the raccoon family was removed. The property’s managers later gave them about $4,600 in reduced rent and other expenses to help with the move.
Wall cavities provide warmth and shelter for wildlife (Screengrab: ABC 7)
Weeks of scratching
Isaac Brodkin, one of the tenants, shared his experience with San Francisco’s ABC affiliate KGO-TV. He said the scratching sounds first started in April. “It kept waking me up, and I couldn’t sleep, and that’s when I knew it had to be some kind of animal,” Brodkin said.At first, the roommates did not know what was hiding inside the walls. After searching for possible explanations, they believed raccoons had entered the building.They contacted the property managers, Kenney & Everest Real Estate of San Francisco, who sent an inspector to check the apartment. The inspector confirmed that raccoons were living inside the walls and sprayed a repellent to drive them away.The treatment, however, did not solve the problem. Instead, the noises became louder over the following days. “The sound just kept getting more and more intense, just like a horror movie would, and I couldn’t sleep,” Brodkin said. “So I moved into the living room to sleep there.”As the sounds continued, Brodkin became worried that the animals might eventually break through the wall. That fear proved to be true. One day, his roommate heard animals running around inside Brodkin’s bedroom. When he opened the door, he found a hole in the wall.
Raccoon babies inside wall
The empty space inside a wall, known as a wall cavity, can provide warmth, shelter and protection from bad weather. Such hidden spaces can attract wild animals looking for a safe place to raise their young.Brodkin soon realised there were baby raccoons living inside the wall as well. He said he could hear the young animals making small sounds and also heard what sounded like feeding.In addition to hearing the baby raccoons chittering, Brodkin said he could hear “sucking sounds, like feeding” coming from inside the wall.Once the raccoons had created an opening large enough to move in and out of the bedroom, Brodkin stopped using the room. “We kept the bedroom door shut. If I needed to get my clothes, I’d run in real quick, grab them and run right out,” he said.The roommates stayed in the apartment for some more time but decided to move out in mid-June. Just before they left, an exterminator opened the wall to remove the raccoon family.Sadly, the rescue did not end without loss. According to Brodkin, the mother raccoon became trapped after falling through part of the wall and died.“The mother raccoon fell through the wall and trapped itself. I was sad about that because I felt like I’d gotten to know this family by living so close for two months,” Brodkin said.