SAN ANTONIO – A retired U.S. Marine and recent widower is struggling to deal with the heat in his apartment after raccoons destroyed the air conditioning duct work.
Jim Hanson said he has had an on again off again problem with raccoons getting into the walls at the Rock Canyon Apartments in the 3900 block of Perrin Central Boulevard.
Hanson said it started about a year ago, and management had a pest control company address the problem.
"They never caught anything to the best of my knowledge. After that it was forgotten, until I had raccoons give birth again this year," Hanson said.
He said the family of raccoons started to cause major problems. "They started rough-housing in the ceiling just creating a noise problem," Hanson said. "Then I get up and I found out they had gotten into the duct work."
Hanson says the holes in the ducts have rendered the air conditioning useless with cool air no longer reaching the vents. The last straw for Hanson was when a raccoon came through the vent in the bathroom, came into the bathtub and turned the water on.
"It was almost over the top when I found it, when I got up that morning and found it," Hanson said. "They made a mess on the floor. Knocked stuff down. Defecated in here."
Hanson says the management has offered another apartment in an adjacent complex, but he likes his current location and his neighbors. He said his wife died a few months ago and he is too emotionally attached to the apartment to move right now.
"Why should I incur the moving expenses to deal with the problem that they should have already taken care of," Hanson said.
Kerry Fulks, spokeswoman for the management company of Rock Canyon,, said in a written statement:
"We want to confirm the well-being of our residents is of utmost importance. we are diligently working with our tenants and animal control vendor to address the ongoing presence of raccoons."
In regards to Hanson's complaint, Fulks said "It is our understanding the unit is fully-functional, should he choose to turn it on. We are in the process of determining next steps to repair any damage in the attic caused by the raccoon and hope to have these issues resolved as soon as possible."