Raccoons in the Attic: What Ontario Wildlife Law Lets a Homeowner Do, and Where It Stops

Ontario’s wildlife schedules put the raccoon, the red squirrel, the gray squirrel, the flying squirrel and the bat in different legal categories. The self-help right is shared; the rules that come with it are not.

I’m Arthur Zhao, a real estate broker with AZ Real Estate Partners. Picture the eavestrough installer climbing down after a spring roof check. The soffit at the back corner has been pried open, there is shredded insulation behind it, and something has built a nest in the gap. He never saw the animal. All he can tell you is that it was “probably a raccoon, maybe a squirrel.”

That “maybe” matters more than it sounds. Ontario’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997 (FWCA) gives property owners one shared self-help right in s.31, but its Wildlife Schedules regulation sorts the animals that end up in Ontario roofs into separate legal categories. The red squirrel and the gray squirrel are not even in the same schedule. Whether a rule about dens and a rule about keeping a carcass apply depends on that category; a third rule, about where a live animal goes after capture, applies to all of them.

So this guide is laid out the way the schedules are, one animal per section, followed by a section on who is allowed to act for you. It explains what the statute and its regulations say. It is not legal advice about your particular roof, and where the text stops, I say so.

The provision every animal below shares: FWCA s.31

Each section that follows starts from the same text. Under s.31(1), if a person believes on reasonable grounds that wildlife is damaging or is about to damage the person’s property, the person may, on the person’s land, (a) harass the wildlife to deter it from damaging the property, or (b) capture or kill it.

Section 31(3) takes some animals out of that right: moose and woodland caribou outright, and white-tailed deer, American elk and other wildlife prescribed by regulation unless a Minister’s authorization or prescribed circumstances apply. None of the animals in this guide is named in that subsection. Under s.1 of the Act, “wildlife” includes both game wildlife and specially protected wildlife, so the right reaches all of the categories discussed below.

Two limits travel with the right wherever it goes. Section 31(4) says you may not harass, capture or kill more wildlife than is necessary to protect the property. Section 31(5) says you may not cause it unnecessary suffering.

Finally, s.31(6) and O. Reg. 665/98 s.131 list provisions that do not apply to someone acting under s.31, including ss.5 and 6 of the Act, clauses 11(1)(a) to (d), s.27, s.36(1) and (2), Parts I to XV of O. Reg. 665/98 (except ss.75, 82 and 83) and O. Reg. 667/98 (except ss.17 to 28). Section 8 of the Act appears on neither list. That becomes important for two of the animals below.

Raccoon

According to the Ontario government’s Wildlife Schedules regulation (O. Reg. 669/98, consolidated from 2020), the raccoon is listed in Schedule 1, Furbearing Mammals. Three provisions beyond s.31 attach to it because of that classification.

• The den rule, FWCA s.8(2). A person shall not intentionally damage or destroy the den or habitual dwelling of a furbearing mammal, other than a fox or skunk, unless the person holds a licence to trap furbearing mammals. Because s.8 is not on the s.31(6) or s.131 lists, the s.31 right does not, on the words of those lists, switch this rule off. Section 8(4) does contain a protection-of-property exception, but its text applies only to subsection (3), the beaver dam rule; it does not mention s.8(2). The Act does not define “den” or “habitual dwelling.” Section 8(5) allows the Minister to authorize something s.8 would otherwise prohibit.
• After a live capture, O. Reg. 665/98 s.133. A raccoon captured and not killed under s.31(1)(b) must, no later than 24 hours after capture, either be released as soon as possible into the area in close proximity to the capture site (unless the Ministry directs otherwise), or, if it is sick, injured or immature, be delivered to a wildlife custodian described in s.44 of the Act. Release on private property needs the owner’s permission (s.133(2)).
• Keeping the carcass, O. Reg. 666/98 s.2. Section 2(2) says a person shall not keep possession of the carcass of a furbearing mammal acquired in the ways s.2(1) covers unless, promptly on acquiring it, the person submits a notice of possession to the Ministry in the format the Ministry establishes. The exemption in s.2(7)(a) for lawfully killed wildlife expressly does not cover a furbearing mammal killed while protecting property under s.31. The regulation speaks to keeping possession; this guide does not go beyond that text.

Red squirrel

In law, the red squirrel sits beside the raccoon rather than beside the gray squirrel. Schedule 1 of O. Reg. 669/98 lists Red Squirrel as a furbearing mammal.

That means the same three provisions described in the raccoon section attach to it: the s.8(2) den rule (a red squirrel is a furbearing mammal and is not a fox or skunk), the s.133 release rule for an animal captured and not killed, and the 666/98 s.2 notice of possession for a carcass kept after a s.31 kill. The size of the animal makes no difference to the text; the classification is what the provisions key on.

Gray (black) squirrel

Schedule 2 of O. Reg. 669/98, Game Mammals, lists Gray (Black) Squirrel, alongside the Fox Squirrel. It is not in Schedule 1.

• s.31 right: applies as described in the first section, with the s.31(4) necessity limit and the s.31(5) suffering limit.
• s.8(2) den rule: the subsection is written about furbearing mammals (s.8(1) covers black bears). It does not name game mammals, so on its words it does not reach a gray squirrel.
• 666/98 s.2 carcass notice: s.2(1) lists black bear, woodland caribou, white-tailed deer, American elk, moose, specially protected raptor and furbearing mammal. Game mammals as a class, and the gray squirrel in particular, are not on that list.
• 665/98 s.133 release: applies, because it covers any wildlife captured and not killed under s.31(1)(b).

That two provisions do not name the gray squirrel is a statement about those two provisions only. This guide does not claim that no other rule anywhere applies.

Chipmunks and flying squirrels

Schedule 6 of O. Reg. 669/98, Specially Protected Mammals, lists the Eastern Chipmunk, the Least Chipmunk, the Northern Flying Squirrel and the Southern Flying Squirrel. So a “flying squirrel” is in a third category, separate from both the red squirrel and the gray squirrel.

• s.31 right: s.1 of the Act defines wildlife to include specially protected wildlife, and s.31(3) does not name these species, so s.31(1) applies to them by its words, subject to s.31(4) and (5).
• s.8(2) den rule: written about furbearing mammals; these animals are not in Schedule 1.
• 666/98 s.2 carcass notice: s.2(1) names specially protected raptors, not specially protected mammals.
• 665/98 s.133 release: applies. If a captured animal is sick, injured or immature, s.133(1)(b) points to a wildlife custodian, and s.44(1) of the Act defines that custodian by reference to game wildlife and specially protected wildlife.

Bats

The same Schedule 6 lists eight bats: Big Brown Bat, Eastern Small-footed Myotis, Hoary Bat, Little Brown Myotis, Northern Myotis, Red Bat, Silver-haired Bat and Tri-colored Bat. Under the FWCA and its regulations, each is a specially protected mammal, which means the chipmunk section above describes how the provisions in this guide line up for them: s.31 applies by its words with its two limits, s.8(2) does not name them, 666/98 s.2(1) does not name specially protected mammals, and s.133 governs any bat captured and not killed.

This guide reads bats only through the FWCA and its own regulations. Whether any other statute adds rules for a particular bat species was outside what was checked for this article, so nothing here should be taken as a complete answer for bats.

Striped skunk

Schedule 1 of O. Reg. 669/98 lists Striped Skunk as a furbearing mammal, the same schedule as the raccoon and the red squirrel.

The difference is in s.8(2) itself. The subsection protects the den or habitual dwelling of a furbearing mammal, “other than a fox or skunk.” The skunk is one of the two animals the den rule expressly leaves out.

Who can act for you: s.31(2) and O. Reg. 665/98 s.132

Section 31(2) lets the property owner use an agent to harass, capture or kill wildlife under s.31(1), but only if the agent has the Minister’s authorization or belongs to a class prescribed by regulation. O. Reg. 665/98 s.132(1) prescribes these classes, and some come with their own limits:

• Paragraph 1: trappers licensed under O. Reg. 667/98 (Trapping).
• Paragraph 3: immediate family members of a landowner, acting on the landowner’s behalf on the landowner’s own land. Section 1(1) of the regulation defines an immediate family member as a grandparent, step-grandparent, parent, step-parent, spouse, child, step-child, sibling, step-sibling, grandchild or step-grandchild. Under s.132(2), a family agent using a firearm must meet the accreditation requirements for a licence to hunt in s.11 or 12.
• Paragraph 4: persons whose business is primarily removing nuisance wildlife, if they harass the wildlife, or capture and release it if it is capable of being released. Killing is not part of this paragraph.
• Paragraph 5: employees or agents of a municipality whose responsibilities relate to wildlife control.
• Paragraph 6: holders of a valid outdoors card who meet the hunting-licence accreditation requirements in s.11 or 12, for killing or harassing, but not capturing.

Two more points from the same section. Under s.132(2.1), any agent using a gun must meet the requirements of s.25.2 to hunt with a gun. And under s.132(3), if the Minister is of the opinion that a person is not acting in a humane way or in accordance with the regulations, the Minister may notify that person in writing that they shall no longer act as an agent. Paragraph 2 of s.132(1) has been revoked.

The categories side by side

The table restates only what the sections above cite. A “No” means the provision does not name that category; it is not a statement about other law.