Raccoon in the Chimney

We recently had a family gathering at our house in Long Island where my Great Uncle Ed sat me down and talked to me about the importance of chimney cleaning. Somehow it came up in casual conversation that I hadn’t had mine checked in years, though I use it every winter. Great Uncle Ed then told me a story about a time he hadn’t had his chimney cleaned, and they found a raccoon in it one year. Now, I’m attributing many factors to them finding a raccoon, but he insisted that the ‘coon was drawn towards all the filth in the chimney. Whether or not the story actually happened, I put in a call to have my Long Island chimney cleaned as soon as I got home.