When Patrick Biondo moved into his townhouse on Canterbury Lane in New Milford a year ago, he went right into cleanup mode, scraping what he thought was cat poop off the back deck. It wasn’t.

Biondo, 54, would soon learn that neighborhood raccoons, not cats, were using his deck as a “communal commode.”

“They were destroying my property for a year,” Biondo said Thursday. “They wrecked my screen door, my plants. My deck needs to be power-washed. The raccoons took over and nobody deserves to live like that.”

About 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, the New Milford Police Department received a complaint that Biondo had repeatedly stabbed and poured bleach on two raccoons trapped in a cage on his deck. Biondo says he wanted to kill the animals.

“Biondo advised officers he was attempting to exterminate the raccoons due to them being a constant nuisance on his deck,” borough police Chief Brian Clancy said in a statement Wednesday. “Officers were led to the area of the captured raccoons and observed them to be in poor health with stab wounds and burns.”

Clancy said officers determined “Biondo had poured liquid bleach on the raccoons and stabbed them.”

Police charged Biondo, a licensed funeral director, with animal cruelty and released him on a summons to appear in court, Clancy said.

“The raccoons were taken by TYCO Animal Control and received treatment. They were expected to survive,” Clancy said.

Biondo said Thursday he had reached out to New Milford police and a local animal control officer about how to rid his property of raccoons but that no one would help him.

“I was at borough hall where I pay my taxes – $14,000 a year – and the police department and animal control can’t help me,” Biondo said. “Enough was enough. I took matters into my own hands.”

Biondo said he bought a trap at Home Depot over the winter and caught three raccoons on three separate occasions. He left the raccoons in the cage until they died of starvation or some other cause, he said.

Biondo said he didn’t want to release the animals at another location because he believes it’s illegal to do so. He also said he thought the animals might be rabid and worried about being attacked after letting them go.

Biondo says neighborhood raccoons destroyed the screen door leading to his deck.Patrick Biondo

Shortly before he was charged with animal cruelty, Biondo said he had two smelly raccoons in a cage that he believed were diseased.

“I wanted to disinfect the cage and the raccoons. I had water and bleach just to disinfect them and the cage and surrounding area where they (defecated),” he said.

Asked if he had stabbed the animals, Biondo said: “No. The knife wouldn’t fit in the cage.”

Biondo admits, however, that he would have left them in the cage until they died. He said he plans to hire a lawyer and that his defense will be the animals destroyed his property and borough officials refused to help.

“I called Verizon Wireless and they are sending me an itemized bill showing each time I called police and animal control,” he said.

Biondo said he hopes his case will move police and elected officials to adopt policies or laws to assist homeowners faced with pest issues.

“I hope police, municipalities and animal control would learn a lesson from this and help the residents,” he said.

Biondo said he took this photo of his back deck on Wednesday, after he got home from work.Patrick Biondo

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters.