Are raccoon’s vermin and or rodents?
Our community must share space with wildlife, including raccoons, which can become aggressive in their hunt of an easy meal and accommodations. I had a client who had a raccoon get into the attic. It damaged the attic and left urine that seeped into the ceiling of the house. The individual put in a claim to their insurance company and was declined because the raccoon was considered a vermin/rodent. So is a raccoon considered vermin or a rodent? Vermin is an idiosyncratic term, subject to many explanations depending on the bias of the translator. In fact, one dictionary’s definition of “vermin” is to include objectionable persons in the definition. Another dictionary included rodents in its examples of vermin, it was faulty logic to conclude that since all raccoons are rodents; and since rats, mice and other rodents are vermin; therefore, raccoons must be vermin. Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary describes vermin as: any of a number of small animals with filthy, destructive, troublesome habits as flies, lice, bedbugs, mice, rats, and weasels. Therefore it is my opinion raccoons are neither a vermin nor rodent.
gogreenpestcontrol.ca Ladner Tsawwassen Delta B.C. Randy Bilesky
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/raccoons-vermin-rodents-randy-bilesky?published=t
