(no subject)
It's been awhile since I updated this thing. Figured I'd share our raccoon story.
For awhile now since we moved into the new house we had spotted an injured raccoon on several ocassions in and around our yard. We eventually determined that it was actually living under our sun room/porch. I decided action needed to be taken, mainly due to it's health, because as you probably know raccoons are pretty mean to begin with and then having an injured one in the yard with the small dogs just didn't seem like a good idea. I went to Ace hardware and rented a large animal trap. I didn't think it would take much to catch the little guy. Night 1 I just threw a hot dog in there and hoped for the best. Much to my pleasure when I woke up the next morning to take the dogs out I heard a rustling from the cage in the backyard. Excellent, victory was mine. Well I get outside to check things out after I took the dogs back inside. All I caught was a neighbors cat. I'm scoring this one Raccoon 0, me -1.
After that I tried a different bait. I switched to fish, which I read raccoons were quite fond of. No luck for several nights with that approach. I finally contacted a vet from Chesterton who is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator and asked for the best bait for a raccoon. He said that they love KFC. So that afternoon I went out and bought a 4 piece meal. I ate the leg for myself and figured I wouldn't need more than one piece to catch the guy. Turns out I was wrong. He was able to get in and out of the trap with the chicken twice. Third time was a charm, for me. I eventually caught him, and from the looks of things he had struggled most of the night trying to get out. He did however find time to eat the entire chicken breast, bones and all during the night.
I called several places trying to find a home, I would have let him go far away but was concerend to do so knowing he was hurt. Eventually I spoke with Dr. McAfee and they were willing to accept him. I took the raccoon in on a Saturday morning. They said they would check him out and help him if they could.
Fast forward to the following tuesday. I was taking a nap in our media room when I was awoken by the most god awful noises. Sounded like it was coming from the porch, but it sounded like some type of bird attack or something. I went out back to check it out. Low and behold, two baby raccoons out from under the porch making this awful chirping/crying noise.
I loaded them up and took them to the vet on wednesday. I asked about the raccoon that was brought in over the weekend and they told me it was picked up by someone on Tuesday so they could nurse it back to health. It appeared to have a broken leg. Anyways it seemed as though the same person would be picking up the babies so they could be reunited with their mother. Thankfully it ended well for all parties involved.
For awhile now since we moved into the new house we had spotted an injured raccoon on several ocassions in and around our yard. We eventually determined that it was actually living under our sun room/porch. I decided action needed to be taken, mainly due to it's health, because as you probably know raccoons are pretty mean to begin with and then having an injured one in the yard with the small dogs just didn't seem like a good idea. I went to Ace hardware and rented a large animal trap. I didn't think it would take much to catch the little guy. Night 1 I just threw a hot dog in there and hoped for the best. Much to my pleasure when I woke up the next morning to take the dogs out I heard a rustling from the cage in the backyard. Excellent, victory was mine. Well I get outside to check things out after I took the dogs back inside. All I caught was a neighbors cat. I'm scoring this one Raccoon 0, me -1.
After that I tried a different bait. I switched to fish, which I read raccoons were quite fond of. No luck for several nights with that approach. I finally contacted a vet from Chesterton who is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator and asked for the best bait for a raccoon. He said that they love KFC. So that afternoon I went out and bought a 4 piece meal. I ate the leg for myself and figured I wouldn't need more than one piece to catch the guy. Turns out I was wrong. He was able to get in and out of the trap with the chicken twice. Third time was a charm, for me. I eventually caught him, and from the looks of things he had struggled most of the night trying to get out. He did however find time to eat the entire chicken breast, bones and all during the night.
I called several places trying to find a home, I would have let him go far away but was concerend to do so knowing he was hurt. Eventually I spoke with Dr. McAfee and they were willing to accept him. I took the raccoon in on a Saturday morning. They said they would check him out and help him if they could.
Fast forward to the following tuesday. I was taking a nap in our media room when I was awoken by the most god awful noises. Sounded like it was coming from the porch, but it sounded like some type of bird attack or something. I went out back to check it out. Low and behold, two baby raccoons out from under the porch making this awful chirping/crying noise.
I loaded them up and took them to the vet on wednesday. I asked about the raccoon that was brought in over the weekend and they told me it was picked up by someone on Tuesday so they could nurse it back to health. It appeared to have a broken leg. Anyways it seemed as though the same person would be picking up the babies so they could be reunited with their mother. Thankfully it ended well for all parties involved.