Who’s Eating Your Trash? 5 Animals That Love Garbage

It’s a common occurrence. You put your garbage on the curb for pickup the next day. In the morning, you awake to find your garbage cans tipped over and trash strewn all across your lawn. You, and your garbage collectors, are displeased. But who is making this giant mess? It’s probably your wild neighbors. While most animals stick to fresh food, there are plenty of creatures who won’t hesitate to make a snack out of your trash. Most likely, it’s one of the following culprits. Check out these five animals that love garbage.

1. Raccoons

These masked bandits are more than happy to make off with your trash and are one of the most common animals that love garbage. Commonly nicknamed “trash pandas” because of their panda-like face masks, raccoons (Procyon lotor) are the only North American members of the procyonid family. Raccoons don’t have any trouble getting into your trash, even if your garbage cans are secure. Weighing up to 57 pounds, large raccoons can tip over trash cans to get to the goodies inside.

Smaller raccoons are not easily deterred either, as they are skilled climbers and can access trash cans from above. They can easily climb thanks to their extremely dexterous paws that resemble human hands. Contrary to popular belief, they do not have opposable thumbs. However, they can skillfully manipulate and hold objects using both of their paws.

A raccoon’s paws are useful for more than just gripping. Their feet are unique in that they have around five times as many mechanoreceptors as other mammals. Mechanoreceptors are sensory cells that respond to stimuli in the form of touch, motion, pressure, and stretching. This gives raccoons an extremely sensitive sense of touch that is better than that of any other mammals except primates. These remarkable paws allow raccoons to easily move and grip objects, pry into garbage cans, and tear into trash bags to extract their next treat.

A Raccoon’s Favorite Trash

Raccoons aren’t particularly picky when it comes to mealtime. They will happily enjoy pretty much anything in a trash can that isn’t spoiled. Unlike some other dumpster-diving animals, raccoons will avoid rotten foods unless it is their only option. However, they are opportunistic omnivores and love snacking on vegetables, eggs, meat, fruit, and other foods found in trash.

As natural scavengers, raccoons don’t hunt or graze but seek out food where they can find it. They enjoy eating the leftovers found in garbage, as well as insects and even some dead animals (carrion). In addition to human-provided food, raccoons enjoy food found in or adjacent to water, including snails, clams, frogs, and crayfish.

While all of this is good, perhaps one of the raccoon’s favorite snacks is cat food. People who feed outdoor cats may also find themselves feeding the local raccoons! Raccoons love food that is high in protein and has a strong odor, and cat food checks both of those boxes.

Deterring Raccoons From Your Garbage

The easiest way to deter raccoons from getting into your trash is to keep garbage secured. Ensure that trash bags are kept inside closed trash cans to make it more difficult for raccoons to get to them. Put away bird feeders at night to prevent raccoons from being attracted to the seeds and nuts.

You should also avoid putting out food for outdoor pets, even during the day. While raccoons are nocturnal, it is not unusual to see them out during the daytime, particularly in the spring and summer. This is when mothers are giving birth and raising young kits. Mothers stay with the babies at night to protect them from predators. They will venture out to scavenge for food during the day after they have tucked their babies away somewhere safe to sleep.

2. Skunks

There are five types of skunks in North America, and none of them will turn up their noses at a nice meal from a garbage can. Since skunks are omnivores, human food waste often mimics their natural diet. This makes it an appealing option for a quick meal. You’re more likely to find some types of skunks raiding your trash than others. This depends on the region, species, and sex of the skunk. Skunks have long claws designed for digging, that they can also use to easily claw through plastic trash cans and trash bags. While they aren’t climbers, skunks will knock over garbage cans to see what is inside. They are particularly determined in winter when natural foods are scarcer.

Striped Skunk

The striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) is the most common skunk in North America and can be found raiding trash cans across the continent. They are so prevalent that the National Wildlife Federation estimates that there are five to 13 striped skunks per every square mile in the United States. You may not see many skunks because they are nocturnal, but there are a lot of hungry mouths checking out your trash each night. These skunks primarily eat insects, including grubs and larvae, as well as fruit, reptiles, small mammals, vegetables, and leafy greens.

Hooded Skunk

The hooded skunk (Mephitis macroura) lives primarily in the American southwest and Mexico and prefers to live along streams. While they favor rural settings, they will venture into more suburban areas during arid months. When in the suburbs, they will happily consume human food waste if it’s available. In addition to trash, hooded skunks eat primarily vegetation, particularly prickly pear, as well as insects, eggs, fruit, and small vertebrates.

Eastern Spotted Skunk

Eastern spotted skunks (Spilogale putorius) are less likely to dumpster dive in your neighborhood. Commonly found in the eastern regions of the United States, they prefer to live in densely wooded areas, rather than urban or suburban regions. Because of this, they don’t overlap with people as much as other types of skunks. However, during mating season in March and April, males will wander into new territories such as neighborhoods and cities in search of a mate.

Western Spotted Skunk

The western cousin of the spotted skunk on the east coast, Spilogale gracilis lives in a wide range of areas, from the suburbs to the desert. Found throughout the western United States, this spotted skunk actually has stripes, not spots, making it easily confused for the striped skunk. However, western spotted skunks are considerably smaller than striped skunks, measuring only 14 to 18 inches long. In addition to garbage, western spotted skunks will eat mice, lizards, eggs, scorpions, and other insects, which is beneficial in controlling the populations of these animals.

American Hog-Nosed Skunk

Found in both southwest North America and Central America, the hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus leuconotus) is the largest North American skunk, measuring up to 37 inches long. These skunks have broad noses that they use to root around for food under dirt, rocks, and other obstacles. Much like striped skunks, hog-nosed skunks love insects, which they can easily dig up with their long claws. While they prefer snacking on invertebrates, a trash can presents an attractive alternative for a hungry hog-nose.

Deterring Skunks From Your Garbage

Since skunks aren’t good at climbing, securing trash cans against them is a little easier than raccoons. If possible, store garbage cans in an area where they cannot be knocked over. You can also use cans that are metal or heavy plastic to prevent skunks and other animals that love garbage from clawing into them. As with raccoons, leaving food outside for other animals will attract skunks to your yard, where it will be easy for them to hone in on your trash. If food is abundant, skunks will see no reason to leave, and will happily make a burrow under a porch, deck, garage, or shed to stay close to their free meals.

3. Virginia Opossums

The opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is another common trash thief that loves garbage — and another one that is an excellent climber. An omnivore just like raccoons and skunks, opossums enjoy many of the same foods as people. Unlike raccoons though, these scavengers don’t mind spoiled foods and will eat rotten fruit and carrion.

Virginia opossums live throughout the United States and Canada and have adapted well to life in suburban and even urban environments. They have a great sense of smell that they use to track down food such as insects, worms, birds, amphibians, and small mammals. While these aren’t commonly found in trash cans, opossums also enjoy many foods that are, including fruit, eggs, vegetables, meat, and nuts.

Why Calcium Is Important

While humans get calcium from dairy products, opossums have to get their calcium intake elsewhere. Calcium is a particularly critical component of an opossum’s diet as they cannot produce it on their own. This makes them prone to metabolic bone disease (MBD). MBD is a serious and often fatal disease that results from an imbalanced diet that leads to calcium deficiency. Low calcium levels initially lead to a loss of grip in the paws, tremors, or incoordination. Without treatment, the opossum’s bones will demineralize, resulting in fractures, the inability to use its legs, and ultimately death.

To combat this in the wild, opossums regularly eat foods that are high in calcium, such as eggs (including the shells) and the skeletal remains of dead animals. The calcium found in bones boosts their calcium level into a healthy range. They will also get calcium and other vitamins they need from cat or dog food, or dairy items found in garbage.

Deterring Opossums From Your Garbage

As with other animals that love garbage, the best way to deter opossums is to not let them see your house as a food source. Opossums get into trash cans by climbing, so securing garbage can lids with bungee cords prevents them from being able to access the can from above. It’s also important to keep your trash cans clean and rinsed out, as opossums search for food primarily through their sense of smell — and nothing smells better to an opossum than a dirty garbage can! Opossums will forage under bird feeders for both nuts and unsuspecting birds, so removing feeders can make your yard less appealing to these hungry marsupials.

4. Black Bears

You probably won’t find lions and tigers in your garbage, but bears — oh my, they’ll be there in a heartbeat. American black bears are experts in getting into trash and making a giant mess. At 200-600 pounds and 5-6 feet long, black bears can easily topple, unlatch, or even destroy garbage cans. Despite their name, some black bears are rusty, cinnamon, or brown in color. They are generally smaller and lighter in color than grizzly bears, with which they share a range. Found across most of North America, an individual black bear’s territory can span up to 15 square miles.

On the Hunt for Food and Trash

Because they have a very versatile diet, black bears have acclimated well to living in a variety of habitats. They thrive in forests, mountains, along rivers, and anywhere where there are trees and food. Food is easy for them to find, as they’ll eat a wide variety of things. Like the other animals that love garbage on this list, black bears are omnivores and eat both plants and meat. Despite their size, they will eat insects, roots, berries, fish, and even grass. They will kill and eat deer and other hoof stock, but generally only go after larger animals when the prey is young.

Bears enjoy many of the same foods as humans, so they have become habituated to people and their garbage. They are attracted to trash, pet food, livestock and livestock feed, bird seed, fruit trees, bee hives, and other human-supplied foods. They also like to investigate compost piles and grease on barbecue grills.

Deterring Bears From Your Garbage

Bears can be very determined when it comes to getting food out of garbage cans, so extra measures are needed to bear-proof your trash. The first line of defense is to reduce the likelihood of attracting bears. You can do this by not leaving food outdoors, removing bird feeders, and cleaning off grills after use to remove food scraps and grease. To prevent bears from getting into your trash, keep garbage cans secured inside a garage or shed. Avoid putting trash bins out the night before pick-up to prevent bears from investigating overnight.

If you can’t keep a trash can inside, consider building a bear-resistant enclosure out of heavy-duty chain-link fencing. Alternatively, you can bear-proof your trash cans themselves to prevent these animals that love garbage from breaking in.

5. Rats

Rats and other vermin are often one of the first things that comes to mind when thinking about animals that love garbage. Rats are opportunists and omnivores that will eat just about anything. Their strong sense of smell makes it easy for them to find garbage to eat, and their sharp teeth can quickly chew through garbage bags.

Where Rats Thrive on Trash

While there are two primary types of rats in North America, the most well-known is the Norway rat, also known as the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus). Brown rats infamously run around the streets of New York, eating pizza and scaring people in subways. And their numbers are growing rapidly: A 2023 study estimates that there are an estimated 3 million rats in New York City. This is nearly one-third of the city’s human population. The city has tried numerous strategies to reduce the rat population, including poisoning, sterilization, and trapping. However, there are no signs any of the initiatives have been effective. Meanwhile, female rats reach sexual maturity at just 3 months old and can have up to 84 offspring per year.

A big reason for the growth of rat populations is that there’s no incentive for rats to move anywhere else. In New York City alone, nearly 6.5 million pounds of food waste are thrown out every day. A healthy rat only needs to eat 15-20 grams of food (1-2 tablespoons) per day, so there’s more than enough to go around.

A Rat’s Favorite Foods

Rats aren’t picky about what they eat, but they are particularly attracted to foods that are high in fat and protein, such as peanut butter, bacon, hot dogs, and fast food. They are also drawn to fruits and berries. In a natural habitat outside of the city, berry bushes and fruit trees will attract rats. Rats in the wild are less likely to eat meat but instead favor plants, fruits, and seeds. City rats enjoy many of the same greasy foods as people and aren’t shy about finishing the leftover cheeseburger you threw in the garbage.

Deterring Rats From Your Garbage

It’s much easier to prevent rats and other animals that love garbage from coming to your home than it is to get them to leave. Rats have an average home range of 25-100 feet from their nest. They typically travel no farther for food or water. This means that if a food source is readily available, they will set up their home as close to it as possible. Brown rats are burrowers that build nests under patios or concrete slabs, or beneath vegetation. Roof rats will build nests off the ground in woodpiles, trees, or worst of all, in attics, walls, or even car engines.

The best way to keep rats away from your home is to ensure they don’t have access to food. Carefully secure garbage in thick plastic or metal cans with tightly fitted lids. Don’t hang bird feeders, and eliminate nesting places by cleaning up yard debris and clutter. Rats dislike the smell of peppermint and vinegar, so spraying around vulnerable areas can also help prevent rat infestations and deter animals that love garbage.

Summary of 5 Animals That Love Garbage

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