RANT: Damn Racoons

[grr]

ok..where the hell are the coyotes to take care of these vermin???

4am today they decided my coy pond would be fun to destroy going for a snack.. Of course..the Dogs heard something, and ran out all “Cujo to see what was going on’..

Two of the coons scattered up and over the fence, but the third decided to be all Rambo and take on the dogs. One dog (58 lbs) got the worst of it. Other dog ran back inside.

Nasty puncture wound by her ribs. Managed to get it all cleaned up before the vet opened, but went up for some hefty antibiotics and pain pills. She’s had all her shots..but we want to be sure.

We have an old feral cat trap in the garage..It’s going out tonight. grrrrr.

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[dhg]

It’s possible your dog did not give her a chance to get away. It is better to learn to live with nature than to fight it. I know of just one person with a coy pond and his technique was to make it too deep for the raccoons. They won’t dive for their meals.

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[hammerhead]

So I have recently found out that if you trap the raccoon you can drown it yourself. Do that in your coy pond to show them who is boss.

Yes I do know this because fish and wildlife told this to me directly as did our new (useless) Burien animal control.

Good Luck

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[datamuse]

@hammerhead: yep, a friend of mine down in Tacoma has been doing that because they’ve been decimating her garden. I think she’s nabbed over a dozen.

(Btw folks, it’s “koi”. Though I suppose koi may be coy, on occasion…)

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[inactive]

I like the idea of a deep pond, but if you’ve got toddlers, not so great an idea I guess.

What about a larger mesh netting to float on top. Holes too small for ‘coons to pull through? Tho’ they’d probably rip it to shreds first. Hmm. Never mind. Not a great solution.

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[cjboffoli]

I was out on Beach Drive a few nights ago, trying to shoot the Perseid meteor showers, and I actually got chased away by aggressive, growling raccoons. It was the craziest thing.

There were a lot of them too! More than I had ever seen in one place. No fewer than ten of them crossed the road one-by-one and headed down to the water’s edge to scavenge for food. They gradually worked their way up the beach and when they got to where I was, along the top of the little bluff there, a couple of big ones climbed up the rocks and started growling at me from about 30 feet away.

I’m not sure if they were after the nearby trash can or if they didn’t appreciate me shining my light on them as I monitored their progress up the beach. But they held their ground and were aggressive.

I couldn’t really shout too loudly as there are lots of houses down there and it is dead quiet at that hour. And the handful of pea stones I threw over their heads on the rocks behind them didn’t have any effect. It was 3:30am by that time and I wasn’t seeing a whole lot of meteors anyway. So I decided to take their unsolicited advice and vamoose. I didn’t need an early-morning trip to the emergency room for rabies shots.

Here I was thinking that some early-morning thug might mug me for my camera gear and instead I got menaced by the Beach Drive raccoon posse.

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[Wilma]

We heard our neighbors dog being attacked by a racoon at 5:45 Saturday morning. We were surprised since the dog was not a small dog. Also, we caught a racoon getting ready to go after another neighbors dog last week. They seem super aggresive this year.

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[grr]

yeah..the koi pond is certainly deep enough..even have some wire mesh on it..they just tear it all to shreds trying to get to it.

Pretty sure it could have gotten away..the other two did. It was just a nasty one :) THey haven’t been back tho..

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[The Velvet Bulldog]

Christopher, are you a raccoon whisperer or just out at all hours? :-)

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[cjboffoli]

Velvet Bulldog: I wasn’t exactly whispering to those raccoons. They responded to neither orders to shoo nor Jedi mind powers.

And in reference to the ungodly hours, all I can say is that news never sleeps. ;-)

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[EmmyJane]

Oh my gosh DROWN it? For decimating a garden? Holy jeez I’m sure glad I’m a far-superior-to-every-other-living-thing-huuuuuman and capital punishment only applies to serious crimes.

Isn’t there some way we can live peacefully together? And I’m asking that as a real question, not the “please everyone out there is WSBLand, attack me now” kind of statement. I agree that a racoon attacking my dog would be upsetting and I would want to do something, so does anyone have any ideas/options other than killing them?

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[datamuse]

EmmyJane, they’re living on what that garden produces. But the real problem is that their next door neighbor has been feeding the raccoons.

Yeah, we can live peacefully with raccoons. Until they get the idea that humans are a food source. Then they get aggressive.

My father used to shoot the foxes that raided his family’s henhouse, how exactly is this different?

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[EmmyJane]

Two things datamuse. First, it’s sad to me that the racoons get punished because of the human’s actions (human feeds racoon, racoon gets killed.) Second, in your example, it’s not a lot different, and I also disagree with your father shooting the foxes.

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[datamuse]

Yeah, it is sad. And it’s why I really wish people would secure their garbage cans and not leave pet food outdoors and not litter food waste, and basically not do a lot of things that give wild animals the idea that coming after human food sources is a good idea.

I am curious to know, however, what you think Dad should’ve done instead. It’s not like foxes can read “Keep Out” signs, you know?

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[GenHillOne]

What EmmyJane said, on both counts.

–

and I guess vermin is a matter of definition, because though I can appreciate a big professional koi display, I’ve never seen the draw of having big dirty goldfish poop in a puddle in my yard…most home versions are disgusting. I am truly sorry about your dog though, grr; just sounds like the racoon was doing what wild animals do, defending “its” food.

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[EmmyJane]

Agree Datamuse, agree.

Honestly, I’ve never had to deal with keeping foxes out of a henhouse so I’m not sure what your dad should have done, but I’d rarely agree with killing an animal. That’s why I asked the question to see if anyone else had dealt with this in other ways and could offer other ideas.

I think we have racoons eating all of our garden, but I don’t mind because I can afford to go up to QFC and buy some food. I suppose if I was in a genuine struggle over resources I might react differently, but with how wealthy our society is, I doubt most of us truly face those situations. Your dad (sounds like growing up on a farm a generation ago) might have been in more of that situation and since I’ve never been there, it’s hard to judge.

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[TDe]

There’s a great device called a Scarecrow with a motion sensor that attaches to your garden hose. Shoots a strong stream of water when the motion sensor is activated. I bought one last year at a water garden store and it pretty much stopped the problem at my pond. Just remember to turn it off when you’re working in the garden… :)

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[melissa]

Golly. I can see why one would want to kill them, as I’m about to. They create toilet areas, sometimes in people’s yards. From http://www.seattle.gov/animalshelter/pdfs/LivingWithRaccoons.pdf : “Raccoon droppings may carry a parasite that can be fatal to humans. Do not handle or smell raccoon droppings and wash your hands if you touch any.”

I have a dog & I have a racoon nest in the tree in my yard. That dog will do anything to protect his yard and family & I don’t want him harmed. I have children. The dog can be a vector of disease between racoons and humans. I will not endanger my children, myself, or my dog by allowing the racoons to continue to live there. So rather than carrying them into woods elsewhere to become someone else’s problem, I intend to kill them. And no, I don’t relish the thought. I’d rather not do it, but they are dangerous, so I shall.

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[inactive]

Just another possibility to consider how to deal with racoons. And other wildlife.

I KNOW there are multiple solutions to these kinds of problems. And I also know that folks might want, need and perhaps appreciate alternatives being fully represented.

So, on that note:http://www.paws.org/humane-wildlife-solutions.html

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[grr]

well..the mrs didn’t plant the garden to feed the racoons, that’s for sure. I don’t want to kill them. If I can capture it and take it out to the woods (like..Mt Si or somthing..) I will.

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[GenHillOne]

“It is unlawful to release wildlife anywhere within the state, other than on the property where it was legally trapped, without a permit to do so (RCW 77.15.250; WAC 232-12-271)” – on page 9 of the animal shelter document above. Same page describes how moving a raccoon will very likely kill them. Please read about the vacuum effect there as well. You may figure out how to get rid of one/some, but as long as there is a food source, others are likely to move in and take their place.

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[inactive]

GenHill –

exactly. It is about where racoons find food. When that is removed, the problem is less likely to present itself as aggressive behavior. Aggression is most often found when the path to that food source is impeded, by whatever.

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[WorldCitizen]

Just out of curiosity (I’m taking no stance here)…for those of you out there with the argument along the lines of “we caused the problem as humans, so should live with it”, do you feel the same way about mice/ rats? Are they ok to dispense of, or should one live with them as well? What constitutes a pest ? Raccoons seem to be of the same ilk as mice…just bigger and able to fight back, right?

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[grr]

I know, Gen. I’d rather let some other creature kill/eat the thing than me…Circle of life and all that.

it sucks that humans have cause this problem, and it’s one with NO easy solution.

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[LisaM]

Please just try to be humane in your actions.

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[Author]

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