The Nightly Visitor
Every few nights, we have a visitor at our house….
“Hey… need more food out here, buddy”
And this creature cleans up any remaining food, making a mess for me to find in the morning when I go out to feed the cats.
Ready for me to wash out before feeding the cats
Each spring, Mr. Raccoon always shows up right when the all of the snow has melted and the weather is starting to warm up a bit. We think he lives in the canal behind our home, since there are many ducks, rodents and a fox that live in that mostly marshy area.
Our main concern isn’t so much that it’s coming up and stealing cat food. It’s that possible confrontation with one of the cats. Since a raccoon is an untamed wild animal, it may fight back if it finds one of the cats to be a threat. So far, only one of the cats [the oldest, and the one staring into the camera in the photo below] has snapped at the creature on one visit.
Feeding Time
Our defense to keeping the raccoon away is to bring in the food at night… if we remember to do so. Sometimes we don’t, and that’s when the unwanted beast enjoys a free meal and watering.
Fate Happens
But the raccoon’s biggest concern isn’t the cats. It’s traffic. We live right on a busy road and when the raccoon finds no food at our place, he tries another home. Unfortunately for him, that means either swimming in the canal or crossing the road.
Wildlife and city streets don’t mix
So far, we have only found one dead on the road. And I really do hope they find their fate a more natural way. Getting hit by a car isn’t the most pleasant way to kick the bucket, even for a creature stuck in the city.
Any solutions?
We have thought about various ways to get the raccoons back into their wildlife home. But if they are born here in the city, their instincts are not wildlife-driven. They are based on survival in the city. That rules out catching him and driving him up to the mountains. We contacted the local Humane Society and Animal Control offices, asking what we can do. Their two options were actually less humane then excepted: drowning after being trapped in a cage or placed in a large garbage bag while being euthanized from tailpipe exhaust. WTF?
Given those options, we have chosen to bring the food in each night and hope that it goes elsewhere to find food. For those nights we forget, it’s gets a meal and goes home after eating, leaving the felines as they are.
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OMG! Quick! Call Pamela Anderson! That Humane Society isn’t treating animals very well. PETA bitches about a 98 lb jockey flailing at an 1800 lb horse with a little leather stick and yet they let this go on? Unconscionable!
Let me get this straight – the HUMANE society told you to drown the raccoons in a cage? WTF WTF WTF? Can’t you trap them and drive them into some local park far away? A park where there’s plenty of garbage for them to get into? Raccoons seem pretty resourceful to me – I would think they’d be able to find food pretty easily.
winter – you hit that one on the head. I think PETA is barking up the wrong tree, if you ask me. They concern themselves with something that plasters their name in the press, but true concern for wild animals like our visitor falls on deaf ears, so it seems.
jenny – Their response to me when I asked why we couldn’t just trap him an take him up to the Uintah Mountains (an hour’s drive from our house) was, “That’s not his environment and he wouldn’t survive long there, plus any diseases he may have had would infect the rest of the wild animals.” First off, he’s not surviving very well here, considering cars and traffic and I doubt cat food is his first preference for food. Secondly, we have birds that carry disease and they let them fly all over the place without concern.
BTW, I should also mention that once an animal is dead, Animal Control will come out to get it. It took them 5 days to pick up the dead raccoon off the road (we moved him into the brush next to the road).
Wow, how did you snap that first photo of him? Very cool. Hard to believe that those are the only two solutions the Humane Society could come up with.
karl – I took that picture from inside the house, with the flash off and my low light setting cranked up some.
Yep.. I was expecting something more “humane” If it were a cat or dog, I think I would have been offered a completely different set of options.
Waaaa… now I want a pet raccoon! Cute!!
Jesus. I can’t believe the humane society said that to you. WTF.
Your cat has a very ominous look in that photo. Heh. Heh.
I guess the only thing you can do is keep feeding it?
dave – I know of a raccoon that’s available….
kilax – WTF is right. If we don’t bring in the dishes, raccoon gets a free meal. I’m trying to get some other pics of him, but he comes pretty late and not every night. Needing a wireless web cam outside so I can get video of him.
The hard part about catching problem raccoons is knowing that you’ve got the right one. Those little masks make identification troublesome.
delmer – now I need to find a way to unmask the cat food bandit
Those were the options given to you by the Humane Society? Not exactly the options that would immediately spring to mind if we’re thinking about being humane.
The raccoons are evil and mean here. Killed 23 chickens before Mr. Savy confronted him with a dull samurai sword (I wish I were joking.)
kevin – Cruel options by organizations that are supposed to protect animals against cruelty seems odd.
kyra – 23 chickens? sounds like have a valid need to keep anything wild away from the coop. Do you get foxes, too?
Our forest people (I think rangers are their official title?) told us that if we call them about the raccoon, they will come and shoot it. I remember last year that there was a rumor that a child saw the police shoot a raccoon. I guess it was true. For now I am just hoping our raccoon will go away on its own, or someone else will call. It does scare me though because it doesn’t seem to be afraid of us. I don’t want them to shoot it at all, but if they are going to, I don’t want it to be me that made the decision. But, if it continues coming close to our house, and continues to show no fear or run away when the kids are around, I guess it being shot is better than one of the kids being bitten. But I am nonviolence by nature, and it makes my heart hurt to think of it being shot!
I’m sure our raccoon is well fed behind our house. The kids drop all kinds of food, and every time we have anyone over tons of food is dropped out there as well. Maybe if we are more careful for a while it will get discouraged and try a different house.
(sorry for such a long rambly first comment!)
tori – No problem on the comment. Hoping they don’t have to shoot the raccoon and that he goes off and finds another place to get his food from. Pretty wild that he comes out in the day. Ours waits till night time (he came last night, but I wasn’t watching for him this time)
Racoons don’t last too long in our area. The wild pigs usually take care of them.
whall – wild pigs? do you live on a farm?
When I lived in SF and had raccoon problems, animal control told me to put out jars of ammonia anywhere I didn’t want the raccoons showing up. They also told me that they could not take them away unless they were sick or injured. I briefly thought, “That can be arranged.”
dagny – a jar of ammonia, huh? And I bet the cats would leave that alone, too… might be something I need to try. So far, I’ve been better at bringing in the food. That and I think raccoons hate rainy weather, which has been going on the last few days here.
Our cats sit right next to the raccoons, too. They hiss occasionally and the raccoons just look at the like they’re crazy.