Ethics of Raccon removal

[JTMonahan]

My family escorts spiders and moths to safer outside havens. We provide safe habitat to visiting wildlife, but a month of finding three raccoon kits and a protective momma in our kitchen, eating our cat’s food, as two pusses quaked in their boots, gave us all pause. Raccoons learn fast, and easy food is never forgotten.

These cute critters are wild, and aggressive. Neighbors concurred that this gang has been invading their homes with equal brazenness.

We contacted Northwest Nuisance Wildlife Control and found them to be most sensitive to people who love wildlife, and clear in explaining the humane thing to be done. Their staff helped us understand why the laws only permit euthanasia, or relocation to the same property.

Alternatives such as poison, drowning, shooting or harrassment are all cruel or ineffective. They told us how studies of these staunchly territorial creatures have led the State to conclude that relocating them to strange locales results in starving, lonely animals being attacked by aggressive locals. They told us how CO2 gas edges them to sleep, and gently on to meet their makers.

We grieve, as a mom and three kits head to raccoon heaven. In the future we’ll have a steel cat door, cats who spend the night indoors and abundant water and fruit trees for these native creatures to enjoy. We wish we’d known to take these measures earlier…

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[oddreality]

Why didn’t you put in the steel cat door and keep the pets in at night before killing them Sorry. Seems uncalled for . Keep your doors shut so they can’t come in. They were here first. It was up to you to keep them out. How did they get in your house?? We have raccoons all the time and they have never gotten in the house.

Pisses me off when people kill our wild neighbors. No empathy from me.

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[jwws]

Ditto oddreality. just uncalled for. If you have a pet door that is not secured then expect wildlife to come in DUH.

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[GenHillOne]

Sorry, I’m with oddreality on this too. Yes, those other actions are inhumane, but there are some steps that seem to be missed for humans, pets, and wildlife to co-exist. And frankly, it may be unintentional, but the post feels like a thinly veiled ad for the company.

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[EdSane]

Raccoons are a nuisance. Sounds like you did the right thing.

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[JTMonahan]

After 26 years of never having had any such wildlife problem, and 4 recent weeks of nightmare events, such hindsight solutions offer me little comfort. Perhaps others starting down this road will follow your sage counsel. Hence my post. Reserve your sympathy for the young and judgmental.

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[hammerhead]

OMG words can’t not say enough. Damn shame.

You grieve?

Wow I really hope if you have children they are NOT aware of what you killed.

People are the nuisance we all live in houses built on land they live on too.

HH

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[Traci]

I wish I didn’t open this thread. Depressing and so upsetting.

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[stina]

Whoa – strong feelings here. The problem with raccoons (and possums) is that once they’ve been fed in an area they are aggressive. They’ve been trained to expect food and they become incredibly destructive when they don’t get it. I’m talking about attacking young children aggressive. You can’t get rid of them.

After personally seeing the damage an aggressive raccoon can do to a property, plus having had a few run-ins with the critters, I’m understanding of people who trap and put them down.

And I’ve heard multiple horror stories that go something along the lines of, “I had pet chickens and I came out one day to find that a raccoon in the process of dismembering them and pulling them out piece by piece while they were still alive.

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[mehud7]

I am horrified and sickened by the thought of that mother raccoon and her babies being killed for what a mother does, feeds her children.

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[anonyme]

Anyone with a lick of common sense knows that if you have a pet door you run the risk of a raccoon invasion. I would have blocked the door the very first time this happened, not several visitations later. There’s something really off about this announcement; perhaps, as GHO mentioned, this is merely an advertisement for the exterminators. Killing an entire family of raccoons was entirely uncalled for and displays malice – not grief.

Your professed ignorance of exclusion techniques (while simultaneously providing ample habitat) is laughable; your first paragraph entirely contradicts the last. Any animal with three babes in tow will be aggressive if threatened. Next we’ll be hearing how you had the coyote hunters out after your free-roaming cats disappeared.

There are plenty of wildlife horror stories out there, most of them easily preventable. What really needs to be curbed is the destructive, aggressive and wildly unpredictable behavior of that most prolific of species – homo sapiens.

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[hammerhead]

Once again thanks for proving to me humans suck.

If it bothers you just kill it nice and simple for you huh?

This goes with the coyotes issue too.

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[Talaki34]

If anyone is having raccoon problems, please read the following:

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/raccoons/tips/solving_problems_raccoon.html ***Good place to start

http://dnr.state.il.us/orc/wildlife/docs/Keeping%20Wildlife%20Out%20of%20Your%20Home.pdf

We have several highly recommended Pest Control Specialists posted about here on the WSB that do a wonderful job of “Exclusion.” Prices are very reasonable and it works.

While sick, severely injured or aggressive animals might warrant euthanasia; most wildlife can be lived with successfully. A little research and effort will go a long way to living harmoniously with nature.

Just something to keep in mind. There is a difference between a mother protecting her (you might not always see them)young, an animal who perceives it is trapped and an aggressive animal.

Stina,

I found this and thought you might be able to use the info. Cursor down to the pictures provided by “Tyler Ludens,” should be the 9th entry. Hope this helps.

http://www.permies.com/t/8219/chickens/Predator-proof-chicken-ramp

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[chan7878]

wow, i have a pond in my yard and it is their eating and bathing ground and as much as we get frustrated they dirty up the pond, eat our fish. we dont kill them, we have tried hosing them down but they arent affected. They are wildlife here first, your ignorance of 4 weeks over several supposed years without issues. Should of put a lightbulb in your head fix an issue, and you not being smart in added a pet door where they cant come in. That to me sir would be common sense. People never seem to shock me with their stupidity and ignorance or respect for wildlife. Karma will come, karma. RIP poor raccoons fending for your lifes.

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[Bostonman]

Who cares if they were here first. That person is here now and needs to live there, not fear for their safety. The racoon wouldn’t hesitate to hurt you that’s for sure.

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[Ms. Sparkles]

Amen Bostonman. I HATE Racoons. They are not endangered, and they will harm pets….thus they are pests that must by delt with accordingly.

Until you have a property tax base of racoons paying for the land they were “here first” on – they gotta go and I don’t care how they get gone – exclusion or extermination.

Sorry your cats were scared JT and sorry your post was hijacked by….I don’t even have a name for the people who believe in the sanctity of a racoons life over peoples homes!

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[singularname]

Just reread the thread replacing the word “raccoon” with “Native American.” It was interesting (and that’s not to say I haven’t shot my share of possums, rats, and nutria in my day, so not judging).

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