A family of raccoons has left a trail of destruction and chaos in its wake, taking over a $1.2 million Brooklyn home and causing nearly $100,000 (Rs 84.3 lakhs) in damages. Alice and David Zaslavsky's three-bedroom, 1,930-square-foot home was overrun by the masked marauders, who chewed through wiring, insulation, and ceilings, leaving behind a toxic mess.
The Zaslavskys were awakened to the sound of scurrying creatures in their attic, only to discover the raccoons had made themselves at home. The raccoons not only ran wild in the house but pooped and peed everywhere and even terrified the couple's 9-year-old daughter, Paige, before they were finally banished.
The family's contractors estimated that the damage the nature ninjas caused to the three-bedroom home is almost USD 100,000 (Rs. 84,03,035).
However, the family's insurance company has refused to cover the damages, leaving the family to face financial ruin.
“We have this tiny little clause in our homeowner's insurance that says they do not clean up wildlife secretions which they deem toxic,” Alice Zaslavsky told The Post of the AmGuard policy. “We can't do the repairs until insurance agrees to pay. We don't have USD 100,000 liquid to foot the bill,” she explained, highlighting the financial strain the family is under.
The Brooklyn family's ordeal began over two years ago when the city slapped a stop-work order on a neighbour two doors down at 194 Minna St. in Kensington. The owner, Majestic Holdings, was allegedly doing work without permits. The house was left vacant for over a year, in a state of disrepair, with “numerous holes . . . to the outside,” the Zaslavskys reportedly stated in court papers. And it became a haven for the masked bandits.
Brooklyn Supreme Court lawsuit filed in September 2023, which settled a month later, stated, “One night, [the couple] woke up staring into the face of a raccoon hanging down from one of the access panels pushed open by the raccoons.”
An exterminator found the racoons were entering the Zaslavskys' two-story home through the connected houses through 194 Minna Brooklyn Street, New York. Multiple photos have been found featuring raccoon stains inside the Zaslavsky home, including a bedroom ceiling and others.
The family even mentioned that the family said the raccoons chewed through new HVAC ductwork and electrical wiring, ate insulation, defecated on the ceiling, and stained it.
“It came to a head early one morning in September 2023 when the raccoons came busting through the HVAC access panel in our master bedroom, and we decided it was time to take legal action,” Alice Zaslavsky stated.
“Three appeals and more than USD 30,000 (Rs. 25,20,910) in legal fees later, the final judge ruled the homeowner had to close up any access points,” she added. However, no damages were ponied up, and the Zaslavskys paid USD 1,000 (Rs. 84,030) for an exterminator for catching five baby raccoons and their mom in the Zaslavskys' attic crawlspace. “They were released back into the wild on Long Island,” Alice Zaslavsky confirmed.
Revealing how they need to temporarily relocate for future repairs, she shared, “We have to pack up the second floor of our house as if we were moving. Everything has to go to storage. We cannot live in the house during that time because of the toxicity. We're left holding a pretty big bag of repairs. We're still paying off our legal bills from last year.”
