Is Aspen’s raccoon population ok?

When Carlyn Porter, emergency response and epidemiology program administrator for Pitkin County, started her job, she received a raccoon head in a candy container.

With animals bigger than a bat involved in exposure cases, they have to be decapitated before going to the state lab, so the brain can be tested for rabies. And while she initially hit the ground running with raccoons, this summer, Porter hasn’t gotten a single call about the species.

“I don’t even remember seeing raccoons in recent times in Aspen,” she said. “That’s a little bizarre. I remember past years we have had human versus raccoon encounters as well as raccoon versus domestic pets.”

She noted there was “some sort of disease outbreak” in the local raccoon population a couple years ago, where people were calling in and complaining about strange raccoon behavior that wasn’t related to rabies. According to her, this was most likely distemper.

Canine distemper is a viral disease of wild and domestic carnivores, Colorado Parks and Wildlife writes on its website. Coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, and black-footed ferrets are the most common animals to be infected by the virus, which is typically fatal. 

“It can knock off the population,” Porter said of raccoons with distemper. 

Notably, canine distemper can’t be transmitted to humans, but the disease can be transmitted to unvaccinated domestic dogs.

Porter said the last email and calls she received about raccoons was in 2024, and the Pitkin County environmental health director told her that they did not remember any recent calls either, Porter shared. She did note, however, that calls could be going to animal control instead of Pitkin County public health, which Pitkin County Community Response Officer Emily Casebeer confirmed.

“We field on average one to five calls each month from people who state they have raccoons (or other wild animals, such as skunks) being a nuisance near their home and wanting to trap and relocate the animals,” Casebeer wrote in an email. “Anecdotally, it seems as though we have a robust raccoon population.”

The Sheriff’s Office does not offer trapping services, however, and recommends that residents call a pest service company. Those interested are able to borrow a live trap from the Sheriff’s Office but must return the trap empty and clean. 

In Snowmass, the raccoon population also appears to be present and active. According to call logs for summer 2025, from May 1 to Sept. 1, there were five calls for service regarding raccoons, Porter said. None of those calls were for bites.

To learn more about animal bite exposure data for the summer in Pitkin County, visit aspentimes.com/news/pitkin-county-shares-animal-bite-exposure-data-for-summer.