Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Raccoons in my back yards
- This topic is empty.
-
AuthorPosts
-
October 8, 2012 at 8:24 pm #605122
lisaMemberHas been more than a year 2 to 5 big and small coons like to occationally playing in our back yard after midnight /early morning. We never feed them, and our garbage can is tightly covered can’t be opened. The problem lately is they left their poopy quite a few times for me to clean up.
I have used ammonia (not lemon scented) sprinkled around the area, they stopped doing it so far the last 4 days. But the ammonia irritates our throat and we’ve been coughing, it also give me itches.
Do any of you know any good exterminator in Seattle ? I’ve spent the whole 2 days trying to call King County/Seattle city gov. wildlife dept. to find out how to dispose them in case we could trap those coon. No luck, either the phone # were wrong, “the voice mailbox is full, leave a call back no.”, but never heard a call back.
Any infos and advises will be appreciated.
October 8, 2012 at 8:36 pm #773394
WSBKeymasterNeither the county nor the city has a “wildlife department.” You can try reaching the state Fish and WIldlife Department. Or read their info for living with urban wildlife. Here’s the raccoon info, including how to discourage them from hanging out in your yard.
October 8, 2012 at 9:06 pm #773395
birdrescuerParticipantGet rid of these and you’ll have more.
October 8, 2012 at 9:07 pm #773396
birdrescuerParticipantGet rid of these and you’ll have more.
October 8, 2012 at 9:53 pm #773397
dhgParticipantI started out sarcastic but it’s not really the right tone. I was shocked (though I should not have been) that you would just as soon kill the wildlife for playing and pooping in your back yard. Create a sandy area and they’ll use it like a litter box. Don’t like wild critters? Put up a fence. Get rid of your yard. Better yet, move away to some godless sterile metal jungle where monsanto agent orange can keep you safe from all that nasty wild stuff. Oh gee,i guess the sarcasm came back.
October 8, 2012 at 9:58 pm #773398
Betty TMemberWe have racoons in and around our parking lot and garden because one of our residents insists on feeding two stray cats. Recently our Night Manager came in after dark and when he opened his car door two tried to attack him as he had two bags of groceries and could probably smell the food.They travel every night between our little tree area at back of parking lot, go behind our building, cross Graham St. and behind apartments facing Lanham. I thnk like the coyote issue they just tell people not to encourage them. We’ve been trying to catch the two stray cats without much luck because other residents hear them crying for food and feed them. Meantime residents are told not to venture back there after dark. Last year there was a mother with 3 babies. Pests that they are, the babies are cute, at a distance of course.
October 8, 2012 at 10:05 pm #773399
hammerheadParticipantThere are companies will trap them for a large fee and be happy to kill them for you. Yes that is what they do, you can not legally trap them and take them some where else. Although I do know of several people that do that.
NO the fish and wildlife will NOT do anything about raccoons or coyotes. They do live here too.
It is interesting, I have a family of raccoons that eat with my cats and have never had a problem. I just say to them, leave my animals alone and I will feed you. So I guess they “respect” me as I respect them.
October 8, 2012 at 10:40 pm #773400
dhgParticipantI have a 90 yr relation who feeds the raccoons. They tolerate her little kitty on the porch. That is where I found out they will use a sandy spot as a litter box. I also have a midwest relation who would routinely catch rabbits in live cages, drive for miles and release them. It did not reduce their rabbit population because critters breed and spread out. All she was accomplishing was to make space for a new rabbit.
October 8, 2012 at 11:06 pm #773401
WDParticipantThere’s a device called a Scarecrow which is reasonably priced that will do the trick. Someone recommended it in the Blog a couple of years ago and I tried it. You hook it to your garden hose. It’s has a motion sensor that sets off a really strong stream of water which sprays for about 5 seconds in a 1/2 circle radius, like the industrial lawn watering systems. You can adjust the radius and the length of the stream. It doesn’t hurt them, just startles them and they hate surprises. Raccoons used to travel a route through my yard and just a month of using the scarecrow changed their route. Haven’t had a problem in a couple of years. I think I bought it at Oasis Water Gardens. Might give them a call and see if they still stock the device.
October 8, 2012 at 11:39 pm #773402
SmittyParticipantThis will put “Portlandia North” into a tizzy, but if you trap them – fill a garbage can with water and………you can figure out the rest.
Don’t think I could do this myself(I’m a softy), but it works…….
October 9, 2012 at 1:23 am #773403
Betty TMemberDoesn’t sound too humane.
the problem with feeding them, and the cats, is when the lady went to the hospital and they weren’t fed. What happens when your 90 year old lady can’t do it anymore?
October 9, 2012 at 1:46 am #773404
anonymeParticipantRemoving raccoons by any means is not only an exercise in futility, but illegal in some cases. There must be something tempting them, or they would not be spending so much time in your yard. And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop spreading ammonia around. If you don’t poison yourself in the process, you’re poisoning the environment and a myriad of living things other than raccoons. Learn to live with them; they were here first.
October 9, 2012 at 2:07 am #773405
Talaki34ParticipantWD,
The Scarecrow sounds like a good thing to try.
Betty T,
You might suggest to the people trying to help the strays, to build a platform attached to something raccoons cannot climb. A perch bracketed to a smooth wall perhaps. If I am not mistaken, raccoons cannot jump so a feeding station that is of a height accessible to the cats only (able to jump up to it) might just work. Also, not feeding after dark may help.
*****
I am sorry I just don’t understand why anyone would willingly feed a raccoon or allow any raccoon to feed near their cats or dogs. Raccoons are omnivores. They will eat just about anything and that can include cats and small dogs. In a battle with an adult raccoon, a cat will lose and even a large dog may suffer severe injury.
I started to include a very graphic link of the kind of damage a fully grown raccoon can do to a cat. All the pictures were of barn cats that lived at a single farm. Traditionally barn cats are a little on the feral side, but even so they could not survive the repeated attacks. 16 cats in all were killed by a single raccoon over several months and the lure used to entice it into the humane trap was the carcass of one of them.
People should also consider the zoonotic diseases that may be spread to the cat/dog and ultimately the human. http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/infectious-parasitic/c_ct_baylisascariasis#.UHNrslHF0XU
In all fairness though, this is not just about the safety of the cats, dogs or us. It is also about the welfare of the raccoons too. Raccoons are wild animals and they deserve to remain that way. Learning to depend on humans for food can be a death sentence.
There is a lot of information out on the web of nonlethal commonsense approaches to limiting critters in your yard. Like the suggestion from WD. All it takes is a little bit of effort and in some cases tradeoffs, but everyone can for the most part live harmoniously with wildlife.
October 9, 2012 at 2:17 am #773406
hammerheadParticipantTo Betty T. I am not trying to be personal, but if you live in Highpoint were the strays are, it could be the same place, I tried trapping those cats last weekend.
A lady named Emily, was caring for them since the older lady is in the hospital. The manager was pissed so we pulled the traps.(Don’t know why)
So the story you are telling sounds very familiar.
Oh well shame on the manager, might be kittens next year.
FCAT
October 9, 2012 at 7:59 pm #773407
maddyParticipantGoogle “how to dispose of raccoon poop” to safely remove. Contact by humans or family pets could be deadly. Could contain dangerous larvae passed on either by contact or airborne.
October 10, 2012 at 12:08 am #773408
hammerheadParticipantAre people really that afraid of raccoon poop, with all the raccoons in our area, if it is so dangerous, why are we not hearing about diseases being spread around or issues in general.
Heck just going hiking I am assuming one would step in raccoon or any other wild animal poop. Ever heard of hanta virus, that was a huge problem at Yellow stone national park. A few people died. I have yet to hear of any one dying from raccoon poop.
People die from the flu virus too.
October 10, 2012 at 4:33 am #773409
redblackParticipantraccoons are attracted by things as simple as outdoor pet watering dishes. buggers knocked over a yard waste can, found an expired loaf of bread, and washed their ill-gotten “meal” in the pet watering dish. made an awful mess.
the best way to discourage them – as others have said – is to offer nothing of interest to them around your home. e.g. standing water (which they’ll use for washing or drinking), pet food, bird food, yard waste, etc.
also, too, the drought is probably causing them to get a little bolder in their quest for places to drink and wash their food.
“encourage” them to seek water elsewhere.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.