Raccoons can get into just about anything, and they are VERY destructive! You should get a Gamo pellet rifle to dispatch raccoons; it is extremely effective, and won't damage your trap. I have a neighbor that gives them free swimming lessons once in the trap, to use the pelts.

The only bad thing is you only catch the dumb ones, so they continue to get smarter!

This is the only living thing the monks over in Japan will kill. They got over there because there was a cute little Raccoon in a video game. When the new owners found our how bad they really are, they released them into the wild (threw them away) and they began an unrestricted breeding program.

They moved into the thousand years old temples, and started to destroy them! The monks were forced to kill them, then hire others to hunt and kill them too.

:)